Need advice on wall taps in the kitchen

[RyanSweeney]

We're building a house on a hillside, which means I have TONS of "crawl space". At the lowest point under the house, it'll be about 4 feet from the ground to the bottom of the floor joists. Anyway, I want to build a level platform and put a freezer under there and have 4 taps in one of the kitchen walls. I estimate the height from freezer to wall tap to be ~10 feet.

I'd like to hear what you guys suggest on a couple of issues:

1.) How much pressure would you expect it to require to push beer 10 feet straight up? I know it depends on the thickness of the beer, but I'm mostly into pale ales and pilsners with the occasional porter. Would there be any risk of overcarbonating the beer under said pressure? If so, is there any way to prevent that?

2.) What's the best way to insulate the lines both under the house and in the wall? I'm in middle Tennessee, so it's not like we have really cold winters. We do have hot and humid summers though!

 

[passedpawn]

1: Add 0.433 psi per vertical foot to your normal serving pressure. Yes, you will probably overcarbonate. The solution in a commercial setting would be to carbonate normally with CO2, then push to your taps with beergas (mix of CO2 and nitrigen I think).

2: I'd use micromatic multi-product tubing. It's got X colored beer lines, 2 additional lines for a glycol chilling loop to keep the lines cold all the way to the tap, and nice thick insulation all around. It's not cheap, but it's the correct solution to your problem. Yes, you'll need a chilling loop or expect foamy pours.

http://www.micromatic.com/brewmaste...-inch-5-product-lines-w-2-glycol-lines-cdi542

 

[RyanSweeney]

Thanks for the info on the hose. I'll go that route for sure. Got me kinda worried about the overcarbonating issue though. Hmm...

 

[broadbill]

Keep in mind there is more to this than just using an insulated line. The glycol chilling system is critical and is a separate system that would need to be purchased/built. Good luck!

 

[RyanSweeney]

Keep in mind there is more to this than just using an insulated line. The glycol chilling system is critical and is a separate system that would need to be purchased/built. Good luck!

I'm all about some DIY. I'll do the glycol for sure.

 

[crane]

Thanks for the info on the hose. I'll go that route for sure. Got me kinda worried about the overcarbonating issue though. Hmm...

One way to lower the resistance is with using larger diameter hose for the beer. Most of us use 3/16" hose because we need the resistance, otherwise we would need longer hose between the keg and faucet.

I have seen a few people here on HBT build their own trunk line for cheaper than the micromatic stuff, in case cost is a concern.

There is another thread out here somewhere, where someone did what you are looking at doing, but I believe his total trunk line length was on the order or 30 feet, plus vertical from basement to first floor. He used some pumps that are meant to boost the pressure up to 30psi or something like that to overcome the long trunk line pressure drop.