do you have a Hemi in that thing??
(New?) Idea for locking out taps
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smellysell
Well-Known Member
I just lock the door to the room? 
More concerned with my 2 year old bumping a handle and losing the brew to the floor.
More concerned with my 2 year old bumping a handle and losing the brew to the floor.
That is/was also my main concern when I considered tap locks. I've got a 7 year old, a 5 year old, and a 2 year old. I'm not worried about them drinking the beer... just making a huge mess if they pull the handle when no one is looking.
I did buy faucet locks, but never installed them because they wouldn't fit on my taps due to my oversized DIY tap handles. While shopping around for real tap handles, my 5 and 2 year olds pulled the handle open on a keg that had just recently kicked.
It hissed loudly at them and spat out a blast of foam that scared the bejeezus out of them. They haven't touched the kegerator since that day and I'm selling my faucet locks.
HarkJohnny
Member
ahahahah!!!! perfect solution!
but FF a few years when they are late teenagers and want to sneak some of Dad's homebrew.
Yeah, I've thought about that. I figure anything I try to to will probably fail (they will still get the beer) but I will have assisted them in picking up other nefarious skills like lock-picking or hot-wiring.
Yep, that's my concern. I have two teenage girls and our house is where many of the other kids come to hang out. I'm fairly confident that my kids wouldn't be indulging, but you never know about the other kids.
I used my lock picking ability to break back into my apartment yesterday. I grabbed the wrong set of keys going out the door.
I've always said my 'active' childhood taught me a lot of useful, but not quite legal, skills.
keep a battery around so you can still drink if the power goes out.
Don't these valves have a manual override.... In a pinch you could just physically position them to the open position
A skill is a skill. Its the application and intent that differs.
I have no idea whether they do or not. I have not investigated the components that shorty linked to other than to glance at the materials used in the construction of the valves.
extra_medium
Well-Known Member
the potential here is awesome...a rechargeable battery from a power wheel, UPS or some other application wired up for power failure, then key locks in parallel where when on power an LED light, with a rechargeable battery you could even wire it into the temp controller (depending how frequently it kicks on). it will be interesting to see how long my homebrew lasts when my teenage son is cut off. (he still tries to deny he has been drinking! )
)Foosinho
Well-Known Member
As I mentioned earlier, this is an elegant simple locking mechanism, but one alternative is to record the time and volume of all pulls. Not as simple, but has the added benefit of notifying you when the keg is low.
http://keg.maager.com/
Combine with a camera recording to a DVR, you could look at the logs, find pulls at suspect times, and know exactly where to look in the video logs. Teenager busted!
http://keg.maager.com/
Combine with a camera recording to a DVR, you could look at the logs, find pulls at suspect times, and know exactly where to look in the video logs. Teenager busted!
Would there be any concern with brass solenoid valves? Plenty of faucets have brass internals. My uncle can order the same style valve with a brass body for $7 each
jeffmeh
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Probably not a good idea to run the finished beer through the brass internals. The acidity of the beer could leech lead from the brass. Whether it would truly constitute a danger of lead poisoning I could not say, but I would not do it.
wyzazz
Well-Known Member
I'll respectfully disagree on that one, like it was stated above, there are plenty of faucets/shanks that have brass internals. If you're worried about it you could always "pickle" your brass.
So, did anyone ever do this? I wasn't worried about my older son drinking my beer, but I may need to lookout for my 13 year old.
i agree with the spirit of this statement entirely, but try telling that to a cop if you get caught with a pick set or bump keys and no locksmith license. that being said, i have picked a couple locks (junkyard cars and my garage door lock) bypassed car alarm systems (my own) and hotwired a car (again, my own)
sirhc1210
Well-Known Member
If you really wanted to keep it simple and lowtech then you could do something similar to the OP, but instead of a electically actuated valve just use a manual one with "Lockout" equipment on it. These might function a bit better than the faucet locks perhaps?
http://www.bradyid.com/bradyid/pdpv/113231.html
http://www.omarksafety.com/category...S01_Ball_Valve_Lockout_(3_8_in__1_25_in_).cfm
http://www.bradyid.com/bradyid/pdpv/113231.html
http://www.omarksafety.com/category...S01_Ball_Valve_Lockout_(3_8_in__1_25_in_).cfm
Inodoro_Pereyra
Well-Known Member
Wouldn't it be much easier/cheaper, and just as effective, to put regular ball valves in the beer lines, so that they would be locked inside the keggerator?
Not as fancy, but if we're talking about KISS...
Not as fancy, but if we're talking about KISS...
Turlian
Well-Known Member
If you really want to KISS, just unplug the liquid QD.
Inodoro_Pereyra
Well-Known Member
Mongrat
Well-Known Member
This is so geeky I love it. It would be cool to get wide open faucets and have a push button on the outside of the keg to dispense beer......
Turlian
Well-Known Member
Liquid Disconnect
Inodoro_Pereyra
Well-Known Member
Thank you. You Americans drive me crazy with the acronyms...
Yeah, you could do that. Either solution would be simpler (and potentially less problematic in the long run) than setting up an electric rig for the job.
Or you can go the REAL KISS way, and just stay single...
:rockin:
The original eBay links in the OP are no longer active. Anyone have a good link to this stuff?
FYI, for all of you worried about inability to get at your beer during a power outage, you can pretty easily connect a picnic tap if you absolutely have to...
FYI, for all of you worried about inability to get at your beer during a power outage, you can pretty easily connect a picnic tap if you absolutely have to...
Hey Brad, good to see you here!
Just search Ebay for 1/4" solenoid valve and you'll see a bunch.
I bought one of the white nylon body ones back when this original thread was started and did a proof-of-concept test with it. The valve introduced a ton of foam in the line, likely due to the very small orifice that it has (it is not 1/4" through).
It could probably be mitigated by adding some additional tubing after the valve, but I never got that far in testing.
If you want to try it out, I can bring the valve to the next BC meeting and you can work up a test system with it.
Just search Ebay for 1/4" solenoid valve and you'll see a bunch.
I bought one of the white nylon body ones back when this original thread was started and did a proof-of-concept test with it. The valve introduced a ton of foam in the line, likely due to the very small orifice that it has (it is not 1/4" through).
It could probably be mitigated by adding some additional tubing after the valve, but I never got that far in testing.
If you want to try it out, I can bring the valve to the next BC meeting and you can work up a test system with it.
Thanks Jon... I might take you up on that. This project will eventually be a part of a larger keezer build sometime within the next 1-2 years. Where in your line did you add the valve? Near the liquid QD or near the faucet?
Anyone with experience, is there a difference between the white nylon and the brass body valves regarding foaming?
Anyone with experience, is there a difference between the white nylon and the brass body valves regarding foaming?
I removed my liquid line from the QD and attached it to the valve. I then added another 3' section of tubing from the QD to the valve. I've done some other changes to my kegerators since then, so I should probably give it another test to see just how bad the foaming still is.
Most of these miniature solenoid valves have a manual open position as well.
On the white nylon one I used, there is no manual option. It has to be opened by the solenoid.
Hmm. I wonder if the issue might have been due to the *extra* 3' of line rather than not enough. I'm wondering if the serving pressure was wrong for an 8' line but correct for a 5' line?
After all, inside the corny's out port and QD there's plenty of agitation of the beer as it's moving through the poppet & springs, then through the QD, so maybe it's worth trying a 2-3" tube between the QD and the valve rather than 3'.
For most of the cheap 1/4" solenoid valves the orifice size is 2.5mm... that's about .01 inches... less than 1/8". This restriction is probably the reason for the foaming. On the kegbot page they recommend using a 3/8" valve with the necessary reducing couplings for 1/4" line. This would hopefully fix the foaming issues. I think I have to try this.
Clementine
Well-Known Member
I love it! I'm in the process of moving right now and when I get to PA a kegerator is my first priority (after getting some beer brewing!) I'm so making one of these.
If you want cheap 12volt power just get an old PC power supply if you ask a repair shop for a 20pin ATX power supply (motherboards now use 24pin) you can probably get it for free. For any home project you can use PC power supplies as they also have a 5volt rail and you just ground the green wire to turn them on. I have hundreds of them lying around as I work in IT
Instead of a phone blue tooth you could use a proxmity card to turn them on like a Toyota smart key. Hmmm you could even then keep track of how many pours you made.... actually that a really bad idea if SWMBO saw that data she would suggest I brew less...
Clem
If you want cheap 12volt power just get an old PC power supply if you ask a repair shop for a 20pin ATX power supply (motherboards now use 24pin) you can probably get it for free. For any home project you can use PC power supplies as they also have a 5volt rail and you just ground the green wire to turn them on. I have hundreds of them lying around as I work in IT
Instead of a phone blue tooth you could use a proxmity card to turn them on like a Toyota smart key. Hmmm you could even then keep track of how many pours you made.... actually that a really bad idea if SWMBO saw that data she would suggest I brew less...
Clem
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