Serving From A True 3 Glass Door Commecial Fridge

[Magnitude10.0Brewing]

One of the last steps in getting my brewery up and running is setting up my serving fridge. I am currently using the 3 door fridge from true with an stc1000 controller. see picture.

I would like to set it up better with nice Co2 and beer line plumbing. I am also looking for a better way to set up the faucets. I can't find pictures anywhere on the net on this kind of a setup and was hoping for some ideas or pictures of something similar. Thanks.

 

[OnePlate]

Someone else will probably have better ideas, but my first thought is to replace the glass in either the far left or right door with some nice wood paneling, either stained dark or painted to match your room, with a blackboard on the top half with a tap list and below that a row of taps. Maybe put some cool blue lights inside the cooler for mood lighting?

 

[Jako]

i will be that guy. why is the tank on its side?

 

[phreaky]

Probably not what you're looking for, but you can always go all out...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...illed-long-draw-system-its-got-it-all.654428/

I've seen some people put the faucets on the end of the coolers too, if that would work out for you where you have it sitting.

 

[BoostedF150]

i will be that guy. why is the tank on its side?

Lol, not sure I was probably messing around with stuff and left it that way. I probably was sampling a few and it went down!

 

[BoostedF150]

Someone else will probably have better ideas, but my first thought is to replace the glass in either the far left or right door with some nice wood paneling, either stained dark or painted to match your room, with a blackboard on the top half with a tap list and below that a row of taps. Maybe put some cool blue lights inside the cooler for mood lighting?

I like the wood paneling idea, not sure how hard it would be to remove the glass but worth looking into. I think the faucets will go out through one of the ends, 2 rows of 6. I can fit 12 1/6 bbl kegs in there without stacking. I think I will put a nylon board across the back wall to mount all the Co2 & beer lines neatly on and maybe some black lights or blue. I like the idea of a tap list for the top panel, but it would need to be somewhat transparent so you could see the backlighting.

 

[FatDragon]

Is this for a commercial bar or a home bar? If it's commercial, you're probably going to be changing kegs out pretty regularly and don't want to have to open the front of your serving bar to do that. Similarly, unless you can keep enough kegs chilling to get through a night, you might want to consider using an inline glycol chiller that chills the beer on its way from the keg to the tap. That way you can keep your kegs under the bar and you don't have to worry about switching to an unchilled keg.

If it's a home bar, prettying up the fridge might be alright, but I'd look into cutting holes for the taps directly into the glass and putting wood paneling over it. Replacing the glass directly with wood would probably cause issues with condensation warping the wood pretty quickly, while my guess is that putting wood over the class might not be as bad. There might be a third option where you use something else to insulate the wood paneling against condensation as well, but the glass is already there so if it will do the trick, I don't see any reason to go another route.

 

[Magnitude10.0Brewing]

sorry for the confusion, I posted replies with my other hbt account which was logged on with my phone.

 

[Magnitude10.0Brewing]

Is this for a commercial bar or a home bar? If it's commercial, you're probably going to be changing kegs out pretty regularly and don't want to have to open the front of your serving bar to do that. Similarly, unless you can keep enough kegs chilling to get through a night, you might want to consider using an inline glycol chiller that chills the beer on its way from the keg to the tap. That way you can keep your kegs under the bar and you don't have to worry about switching to an unchilled keg.

If it's a home bar, prettying up the fridge might be alright, but I'd look into cutting holes for the taps directly into the glass and putting wood paneling over it. Replacing the glass directly with wood would probably cause issues with condensation warping the wood pretty quickly, while my guess is that putting wood over the class might not be as bad. There might be a third option where you use something else to insulate the wood paneling against condensation as well, but the glass is already there so if it will do the trick, I don't see any reason to go another route.

This is for a garage brewery, we are in the licensing process, however we will only be filling growlers out of the garage. A separate tap room is in the future which will have a cold room (which I have already to go).

 

[Jako]

Lol, not sure I was probably messing around with stuff and left it that way. I probably was sampling a few and it went down!

very cool set up BTW.

 

[yoop89]

i will be that guy. why is the tank on its side?

Appears to be a Nitrogen tank to me? Those are fine to run in any direction as they are all gas(no liquid CO2).

 

[Jako]

Appears to be a Nitrogen tank to me? Those are fine to run in any direction as they are all gas(no liquid CO2).

good to know. i thought it was for all pressurized tanks.

 

[Dland]

I'd get the gas tanks out of the 'fridge so there was more room for beer.

With my luck, the tank on is side would slide down and break a door, so might not want to do that.

It would be nice to put holes for tubing in wall or floor, but you'd have to know where refrigerant lines were, of course. I think just in walls, but not sure, someone probably knows.

The glass display doors do not insulate that well, so any doors you add panels to will save energy. I'd hesitate trying to replace glass with home made panels, might be hard to get to seal. Will allow a lot of condensation. Since they are double glass, putting a hole in them will ruin them & they will always be cloudy.

The same units were/are made with solid doors, so maybe put word out with a commercial refrigeration company to keep an eye out for a junked one. They're made in 1 to 4 door models, I believe.

Edit: It occurs to me one might be able to map refrigerant lines well enough to put small holes in side with a good point & shoot thermometer, from the inside of walls, outside is probably too well insulated.

 

[Magnitude10.0Brewing]

Yes, it is a nitro tank. I plan on mounting my tanks outside the fridge for final setup, just haven't drilled any holes yet.

 

[KIjames]

I just bought a 2 door True that someone had already converted. Just got it cleaned up and can't wait to start using it.

 

[Mic Carp]

This is for a garage brewery, we are in the licensing process, however we will only be filling growlers out of the garage. A separate tap room is in the future which will have a cold room (which I have already to go).

Woah that thing is a beast!

Super cool idea. Is the licensing process for garage pouring a *****? Is it expensive?