Building a Jockey Box

So I need a jockey box. I figured I should just build one since I am a homebrewer and I love to build everything!

I was looking at using these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/316-316L-SS...037?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item439cb046fd to chill the beer. I plan to get a cooler big enough to run 4 faucets. Will 25' be long enough?

The real reason for all of this is my wedding in August. I plan to have 3 beers and 1 cider.

 

I would strongly recommend getting a cold plate instead of a coil. They take up much less space in the cooler and work extremely well. You can put a 2 product coldplate in a very small cooler... They are more expensive than coils, but work much better IMO. I have never poured a beer even close to warm from mine.

 

What temp does your beer go into the cold plate? Does the plate sit right in the ice water at the bottom?

 

I would be careful about using anything less than 50 feet of coil for your jockey-box. If you are pouring any kind of volume, you'll end up with warm and foamy beer.

If you are dead set on only using 25 feet of coil, plan on keeping the serving keg on ice too.

 

Are you keeping the kegs chilled while serving? Everything I have read is in line with your statement except you have to keep the keg chilled in addition to keeping the plate above any water that's created from the ice melting. I dunno if I would consider that making a cold plate a better performer. For most homebrewers I think the pros of a cold plate outweigh the cons of a coil. OP I vote cold plate for you.

For me I went with 120' coils but I built my jockey box to last multiple days of hot 90+ degree summer weather while camping with no access to ice within a 45 minute drive.

 

Not dead set on anything. 50 is okay. What diameter is best?

 

The bigger diameter the more efficient with the trade off being you have to serve at a higher psi which can cause pours of foamy beer. Mine are 1/2" for the first 100' and then neck down to 1/4" for the last 20' . This allows me to serve my beer at lower psi. It's been a while since I've used my box but iirc I serve around 14 psi.

 

Hey Doc-

My kegs will likely be around 70-75 degrees F. It sounds like a couple of cold plates is what would work best. Why is it better for them to be out of the water?

 

If your kegs are going to be that warm - you should go with coils over cold plate.

Gospel according to Micromatic:

What is the difference between a party cooler with a cold plate and one with a coil?

Both the cold plate cooler and coil cooler are used in a party/special event environment to quickly chill warm beer to the ideal dispense temperature of 36-38°F.

In a cold plate cooler, the beer is run through a aluminum cold plate that is covered with ice. The ice coming in contact with the plate causes the plate to become cold, which in turn causes the beer running through the plate to become cold. It is important to continuously drain the melted ice water from the cooler, and periodically push the ice down on the cold plate surface as it will occasionally bridge up and lose contact with the plate. The typical 10" x 15" cold plate has 18’ of stainless steel tubing within the plate that beer goes through.

Cold plate coolers are only recommended for use when the internal keg temperature can be kept colder then 55°F. In such a case, beer can be continuously dispensed from the faucet at 36-38°F.

In a coil cooler, the beer is run through a length stainless steel coil that is covered with ice and water. The ice water coming in contact with the coil causes the coil to become cold, which in turn causes the beer running through the coil to become cold. The coils vary in length from 50’ to 120’ depending on the model of coil cooler.

The advantage of a coil cooler over a cold plate cooler, is that the coils are longer than the tubing in the cold plate. This allows the beer a longer contact time in which to become cold. Therefore, Coil coolers are recommended over cold plate coolers when it is impossible to keep internal keg temperature colder than 55° F. With a 120’ coil cooler, beer can be continuously dispensed from the faucet at 36-38° F even if the keg is at room temperature.

For Cold Plate and Coil Coolers 30-35 lbs. of applied pressure is recommended for dispensing beer that has an internal keg temperature of 50-55°F. A keg that is kept cold requires less applied pressure for dispensing. A keg that is being dispensed at room temperature or greater has a recommended applied pressure of 35-40 lbs. Cold Plate Coolers are not recommended for dispensing beer that has an internal temperature greater than 55°F.

 

I read that on the micromatic site. I guess I am just trying to get a feel for how effective each method of cooling the product is. Do I want my beer in contact with the aluminum that the cold plate is made from? Does anybody use dry ice with cold plates or does that cause too many problems with beer freezing when the pour frequency slows down?

 

I think you would run into problems with frozen beer. As for keeping the cold plate out of water I'm not sure why but most everything I've read says that is the case. I tried to Google it but haven't had any luck with finding a definite answer as to why. Hopefully someone else can elaborate more.

 

I have never seen any documentation as to why. Maybe some day I will know.

Well all this banter and I think I am going to go with coils. Now, can anyone calculate how quickly I can cool beer through a 3/8" diameter stainless steel line? How much cooling do I get per foot. That would be handy. Then I could figure out the ideal coil length. I am considering 50' be I don't know if that will be enough.

The basic parameters I would like to work under are this: beer @ 75 degrees, serve around 45 degrees. 1 (16oz) pour every 2-4 minutes. 4 different beers pouring out of a 80-100qt cooler.

Is that even possible? ?I don't like super cold beer. These are going to be well crafted beers that will benefit from being a little warmer. Also, it will be August in Northern Arizona @ 7000' elevation, so daytime high between 80 and 90. Kegs/serving area will be indoors.

 

Your beer does not contact the aluminum cold plate...........The beer is in a coil, cast into the cold plate............A stainless coil.

 

Ahhh, ok that sounds better. I just saw that the description was saying made from cast aluminum. Missed the SS coil part. Thanks.

 

Interesting... I have never kept my keg cold while using my cold plate and have never poured a warm beer. And I usually use it during the heat of the summer.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

I just wanted to follow up with this. I have used my jockey box twice now. I built it with two 4-product plates from micromatic. I double pass the beer line so that all four beers go through both plates. I put the plates on block ice and then fill in all the gaps with ice cubes. I drain the water constantly with a hose into a bucket. The kegs that I serve are typically around 75ºF. The beer line from the kegs is 5/16" and the jumpers between plates are 5/16". The coil inside the cold plates is 1/4". The final run to the shank is 3/16". All of the beer line is bevlex200 clear tubing. The biggest problem that I have is the beer freezing. If I used a cold keg I could not get the beer out... All the beer was carbed to about 2.5 volumes and I served at 14psi. It worked amazing. Perfect pours all night long. Both events were weddings and the beer was a hit. I have served a couple bbl of beer just at weddings. Not bad.

If anyone is looking to build a jockey box I would highly recommend cold plates. They are easy to work with and work really well. I don't see any problems serving cold beer with beer up into the 80's in the keg. I don't think that will be a problem since I never store beer that warm. Cold plates are awesome and really blew me away. I bought two of these brand new at wholesale prices... http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/jockey-boxes-pid-CP-0814-4.html