10 Gallon cooler kegerator

[Homercidal]

For an upcoming event I need to bring a 5 gallon keg of homebrew. Since I do not own a jockey box I decided to see about building something. I've seen coolers with kegs inserted through the lid and that seemed like a decent device, except the top of the keg, and the serving line were above the ice water level, meaning that any lull in serving would create a warm spot and probably foam.

my solution would be to turn the keg upside down so the serving line and fittings were submerged in the ice water. The only part not cold would be the bottom of the keg, far away from the serving portion of the beer.

I happened to stop at a Lowes for some stuff and picked up a 10 Gallon Drink Cooler for about $50. More than I wanted to pay, but I think I can make this into a multitasker device, so that would make the thing well worth the money.

I first removed the posts from the keg and swapped the Long and Short dip tubes. The short tube should be at the bottom when the keg is flipped upside down, and the long tube would then be above the top of the beer.

Then I reassembled and filled the keg with water.

I removed the spigot on the cooler and matched the hole to the shank on my kegerator. ALMOST fits! I didn't force it, but I did grab a dremel and using a coarse sanding attachment, I carefully took just a tiny bit of plastic off to enlarge the hole. The shank fit easily.

I rigged the shank to sit as close to the inside wall of the cooler as possible and used the shank nut to tighten it down. When in actual use, there should be a rubber washer between the tailpiece nut and the cooler wall to keep ice water from dripping out.

I wrapped the keg in serving line and attached the gas gun. I flipped the keg upside down and placed it so that a piece of 2x4 on the bottom of the cooler held the keg up by the keg handles. This is to keep the QDs from bearing the weight of the keg and breaking.

The test was positive, as the water served just fine from the faucet. It came out a bit fast, but for the test I didn't have an actual regulator connected. I might even use a bit longer serving line for the event to help prevent foaming.

The test proved positive, so I'll be hopefully using actual beer for a test with ice water and extended periods between pours this weekend. I haven't actually modified the cooler, so if anything doesn't work I can always take the cooler back to the store!

The second nice thing about this, besides not having to purchase a Cold Plate AND a Cooler to put it in, is that I can also use this cooler as a mash tun if I wanted, or as a drink cooler (by using a custom fitting piece of foam for a lid when serving beer, I can keep the original lid for the other uses.)

Once I get set up for the beer test run I'll take pictures and report on how it goes. I'm sure someone has already tried this. I've seen upside down kegs at the NHC last year, which gave me promise that this could actually work. I haven't had a need to try it until now.

 

[radamson]

I especially like your signature!
Hail Roger; you'd better Run.

 

[Homercidal]

I especially like your signature!
Hail Roger; you'd better Run.

Thanks! I have been meaning to swap it out, but haven't found what I want yet. Thought about Spinal Tap's Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight, but the lyrics are... inappropriate, I think.

 

[fosaisu]

Sounds pretty cool, looking forward to seeing pics!

 

[Roadliner]

Looking forward to seeing how it work out when you have the real beer test!

I wouldn't take it back though, you did cut into it to get your shank in there.

 

[Homercidal]

Looking forward to seeing how it work out when you have the real beer test!

I wouldn't take it back though, you did cut into it to get your shank in there.

Nope, barely sanded the inside of the hole where the spigot goes. I could probably have forced it in, but I thought it would do less damage to sand it.

 

[kenny_d]

Are you concerned with getting beer in your co2 line? Or are you using co2 at all while its connected since it will be gravity fed?

 

[fosaisu]

Are you concerned with getting beer in your co2 line? Or are you using co2 at all while its connected since it will be gravity fed?

He said he swapped the tubes, so the CO2 outlet should be above the liquid (except maybe when the keg is completely full).

 

[Homercidal]

Are you concerned with getting beer in your co2 line? Or are you using co2 at all while its connected since it will be gravity fed?

Not really.

He said he swapped the tubes, so the CO2 outlet should be above the liquid (except maybe when the keg is completely full).

Because of this.

I also want to get a check valve for my kegerator, just for insurance.

 

[kenny_d]

Ah! I must have missed that line. Are you adding more serving line to make up for the difference in tube lengths? I definitely want to see pictures!

 

[fosaisu]

I also want to get a check valve for my kegerator, just for insurance.

Never a bad idea!

 

[Homercidal]

Ah! I must have missed that line. Are you adding more serving line to make up for the difference in tube lengths? I definitely want to see pictures!

Not sure at this point. I will likely just take the shank, faucet, and serving line from my kegerator and see how it works. I'll also bring some extra tubing I just bought in case the flow doesn't work out.

But for temporary pouring, you can be quite flexible in line length and simply adjust the serving pressure. There isn't any risk of over or under carbing in a few hours.

But I want to be ready in case it still pours foamy.

Now I need an excuse to have a party and give it a real test!

 

[Homercidal]

Trying to get a thing going for Saturday when I can try this out.

But I had a conversation with a guy at work and it got me thinking why not just find a tall kitchen trash can and completely submerge the keg in ice water? All of the hoses and fittings would be kept cold.

The cooler is nice for an all-day kind of deal, but honestly, a trash can would probably work fine for a few hours of partying/beer festival. I'll have to see what's available at the store. I have several kitchen trash cans, but I think they are just shy of being tall enough to cover a keg completely. (Or close enough, probably. The ENTIRE serving line doesn't have to be kept cold.)

 

[kenny_d]

So youll be keeping it vertical/upright with this method?

 

[Homercidal]

So youll be keeping it vertical/upright with this method?

In the dirnk cooler, upside down with dip tubes swapped.

In a trash can, I'd try to leave the tubes as normal and keep the keg right side up.

The important thing is to keep the beer cold through it's entire journey from the keg to the glass. At least as much as possible. Having warm spots causes turbulence and foaming.

If you are serving often enough, the beer stays cold enough in the serving line to not foam, but if you take too long between pours the warmer section of the serving line cause the CO2 to come out of solution and creates bubbles in the line.

 

[Newsman]

Homercidal, I still like your idea. May have to play with that, but I want a two-tap JockeyBox. I have a cold plate, and a cooler. Just need the rest of the parts.

 

[Homercidal]

Homercidal, I still like your idea. May have to play with that, but I want a two-tap JockeyBox. I have a cold plate, and a cooler. Just need the rest of the parts.

Yes, this is a good idea for a single tap.

Unless you were to buy a big rectangular cooler and put two kegs in it...

I thought about going cold plate and cooler, but I'd still need the cooler and I only foresee needing a single keg at a time and pretty rarely at that.

I've actually been pretty successful using a trash can and a picnic tap, but you have to throw out the first bit of pour if it's been sitting. Not good enough for a beer festival.


Hmm... This makes me wonder if I'm supposed to stay at the homebrewer's table and serve my own beer. I kind of assumed they would have people pouring for us. I'd rather move around sampling beer checking out the different music acts. If I have to stay at the table then I'd probably have to stand there and chat with people asking all kind of homebrewing questions.

 

[Roadliner]

That's how the one's I've been to have been. You have to talk a friend into trading places with you for a little while. Or split the time with another brewer, so you can both have time to wander.

 

[Homercidal]

Well, I promised a few pics and this time I'm delivering!

I used what I had on hand, but when I put it together again I'll probably use just a flat rubber washer between the tailpiece nut and the inside wall of the cooler. This worked and did not leak, though.

I also only bought 1 small bag of ice for the test because there was only 1/3 keg of beer and I nobody really showed up to drink it all and I overestimated how much a small bag of ice would last. So the serving line stuck up out of the ice water in 2 places, but it did not affect the pour at all.

This was not a foamy beer and I did not have any issues with foaming. The beer was ice cold in a hurry. I did not cut or use the lid because I am considering making a replacement lid out of foam and saving the original lid for use as a Mash Tun or Drink Cooler. For a short test like this it worked fine without a lid.

 

[Homercidal]

What I didn't get a good picture of is that I cut a 2x4 just long enough to fit inside the cooler. I lined it up so the handles of the keg would rest on the 2x4 when inverted. This gets the QDs off the bottom of the cooler.

It makes wrapping the tubing around the keg and connecting the tailpiece a bit interesting, but with practice it should be pretty easy to manage.

I also think that a smaller keg, like 2.5 or 3 gallons would fit beautifully in there and not even need to be inverted or the dip tubes swapped. This might make a good option for serving less than 5 gallons as the kegs could be changed out in moments.

 

[Homercidal]

So I took this system to the Traverse City Microbrews and Music Festival last weekend. I poured 5 gallons of Hanabero IPA to cautious festival-goers. (I kept having to tell them I wouldn't hurt them with my beer!)

This thing worked flawlessly. It's a bit of a PITA to get the keg in there upside down and wrap the beer line around it and get it all hooked up, and heaven forbid you have to pull the keg out and try to get it back in with the ice in there, but it worked great. Many of the other homebrewers serving with jockey boxes had foaming issues due to exposed lines warming up.

Now, I do have to say that I am curious to see how this compares with the Keg Post Faucet they sell Draft Brewer Snap Tap Faucet that simply snaps on the keg QD. Considering the beer and most of the serving line/hardware will be kept cold during serving, and there are no long lines to warm up, once you get the CO2 pressure adjusted to pour properly, it seems that one of those would serve as well for an event like this. I am not sure the price is a factor either. By the time you factor in the price of a spare shank, faucet, lines, hassle of setting it up, I think it's actually cheaper to just go with the QD faucet.

Several people asked me how I was serving beer in an upside down keg. One of them correctly guessed I had swapped the dip tubes.

One guy commented on how many people are steering away from SS coils and going back to Cold Plates. I can't imagine what the difference could be between them if the coils were the right diameter and length and kept under ice water, but he said they were having more issues with serving.