Basement Cooler, Livingroom Dispensing Help

[jackers252]

Hi folks,
I've searched around the forum for a while but forgive me if I'm asking redundent questions.

My old Magic Chef six-tap keezer finally kicked the bucket. I was attempting to locate another keezer but it seems the Magic Chef that I used in the past has been discontinued. I didn't want to go bigger on the keezer size since it is in my dining room, but I didn't want to decrease the number of taps either.

Well I stumbled upon some people who keep their keezers in basement and run the beer lines upstairs and out the wall. After pricing it out, it seems like this doesn't seem like it would cost more than buying a new freezer and turning it into a keezer. I already have a freezer that I use for a fermentation chamber but it is much bigger than the Magic Chef, so it would be perfect for my new keg cooler, as long as it stays in the basement.

So I measured everything out and it looks like I'll have about a 12'-14' run of beer line, depending on how I want to mount my faucets. I decided to run trunk lines. Cooling will be with an external dorm fridge I have sitting around.

The plan is to install the largest water reservoir I can find to fit in the dorm fridge, put a DC aquarium pump (I have a reef tank and DC pumps are variable speed) in the resorvoir and pump just cold water (set colder than my beer) up through the trunk line and immediately back to the reservoir.

Is there anything I am missing here? Any tips? It seems pretty straight forward. Just drill the hole in the floor and behind the plaster, fish the truck line down to the cooler, and connect the lines to the kegs and faucets. For the cooling lines, I plan to just install a 180 degree elbow at the top for the return.

Any recommendations on pumps? I'm looking at the same pump I use for my reef because I like the variable speed, but it is $150. If there are any other recommendations on a pump with 15 feet of head pressure, please let me know!

 

[IslandLizard]

Most trunk lines are chilled with glycol. There are a few threads on how to DIY with converted AC units or fridges.

I'm afraid using plain water may cause freeze ups, if your dorm fridge can cool that low (<32F). Now you could add salt to drop the freezing temp.

 

[jackers252]

Thanks. I looked at glycol but I'm hoping I won't need it for my 12'-14' run. I think if I store my beer at 42 degrees and my water reservoir at 34-35 degrees, I'll be ok, especially with the insulated trunk lines. But I could be wrong!

 

[IslandLizard]

It may work with water, perhaps with some salt added for security if your system allows it, as long as your trunk line is insulated well enough. Glycol has a much higher cooling capacity, also partly due to the higher temp difference.

I'm looking to doing something similar in the future, with about a 14-18' run.

Are you building the trunk line yourself? It's not that hard.

 

[day_trippr]

For such a short run I suspect that the viability of this solution (no pun intended) comes down to how well the trunk line is insulated.

Taken to the extreme, if there was zero thermal loss in the trunk, the dorm fridge set just a couple/few degrees colder than the beer temperature would work fine. Every degree loss means pushing the dorm fridge colder and thus closer to a slushy loop and perhaps seized pump, so I'd concentrate on that insulation thing and keep the breakout at the faucet end as short as possible.

Also, fwiw, for a 12-14' run with presumably a basement-to-first-floor rise of around 9 feet, I'd recommend going with Bev Seal Ultra 235 in 3/16" ID, as its intrinsic low resistance just might balance out the system even with that rise without doing anything special.

Otoh, if you went with something higher resistance like Bevlex 200 in 3/16" you might end up needing too high a dispensing pressure to keep the beers at their desired carbonation level.

You only get the one shot when building a trunk line...

Cheers!

 

[jackers252]

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/glycol-pid-CDI642.html
That is the trunk line I am planning on using. It has 1/4" beer lines and 3/8" cooling lines.

This is the pump I'm planning on getting
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00INTDJD0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I've used that pump in my saltwater reef for over a year now with absolutely no issues. I like how I can adjust the output flow. If anyone knows a cheaper pump that has the head pressure, I'd be all ears.

I would imagine gravity plays a role in the return line, but balancing the system shouldn't be too hard.