A corny soda fountain for dispensing brew?

[jkpq45]

Hi Folks,

Insomnia strikes! Obviously I'm up late (currently 0306 CDT) and was thinking about using a soda fountain for dispensing brew, like these.

Has anyone done this with any success? Any tutorials/pictures of the setup (and the attached fridge?)

Just curious, thanks for putting up with my musings.

-jkpq45

 

[Jewrican]

not sure how but i would totally imagine it is doable.. but at that price.. phew.. that is steep.

 

[jkpq45]

Found this on CL, turns out it comes with an empty CO2 tank and a single 5 gal corny, no idea if pin/ball lock or if the tank is still certified, but appears to be a better deal:

Your Own Fountain Machine

Just trying to get a decent deal to start kegging and dispensing.

 

[Jonnio]

I think you will have some difficulty with that - the soda fountains are made to suck up some syrup and some water and then mix it as it comes out the faucet.

 

[jkpq45]

Oh well, I thought the ones that used corny kegs were always pre-mixed soda in the corny kegs, didn't know it was a keg full of syrup.

Or are you thinking of the bag-in-box soda machines? I used to work at a movie theater where they'd have a 25 lb box of syrup with lines running to a different style of fountain, where the syrup and carbonated water were mixed at the head of the fountain.

 

[Jonnio]

You might be right on that - I thought they were the same principle, but maybe not.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

The old ones are pre-mix. You should be able to convert it to a jockey box with a bit of effort. Clean everything really well, change the taps, and away you go!

 

[Jonnio]

Thanks for the correctipn Yuri

 

[Plan9]

Our brew club owns one of these. We use it for meetings and events.

The problem with having one of these at home is that you have to keep ice on the cold plate to chill the beer. It doesn't have any kind of refrigeration.

 

[beerthirty]

I have stainless steel 1953 3-faucet fountain with refrigerated glass chiller and ice water faucet. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it. I'm afraid the electrical draw would break me if I plugged it in.

 

[madewithchicken]

I got one like that on craigslist for almost nothing. It had been used as a jockey box (they took the ice maker/fridge off the top) but it looked the same. It worked pretty well. The faucets leak because all the seals were old. (anyone know where to order parts? they are not standard faucets.)

I ended up taking the cold plate out and submerging it in water inside my mini fridge. But if the fridge on the top of these units work it would work great the way it is. Though like me you may have issues with the faucets.

Do remember that the kegs will be carbonated warm, so that means that you should use about 30 psi.

 

[madewithchicken]

I gave it a bit more thought. Just buy a coldplate on ebay and stick it in water inside the mini fridge like i did. you will save money. that is unless you like the Coke signs and stuff.