BM23c with dual shotgun tap

[chrismatteson]

This is just proof that stubbornness can overcome sanity. I thought I'd post this since I saw a lot of talk and very little success stories about people putting extra taps in a 2.5" tower.

Anyways, so I picked up a BM23c in stainless steel for $85 (not working). Bought a used compressor off http://www.coldparts.com for $90 shipped. I then found an off duty air conditioning/refrigeration tech to install it for $200. Happy me, I have a great kegerator for <$400. Course like anyone who brews beer, I eventually decided I need two taps.

The BM23c has two problems, first, it has a 2.5in tower, and no room for a 3in tower, so you can't just buy a dual faucet. Second, the drip tray is really small, so even if I put in offset taps, as I've seen some people do on 2.5in towers, none of the taps would drip onto the drip tray.

Eventually, I got lucky and nabbed a shotgun tap on ebay for $30. They are normally about $100, and they aren't a hot seller anyways, so this was great luck. I then destroyed all value in the part by taking my angle grinder and cutting off most of the threads so that I could try to fit it in the tower. Even then, the beer tubes stick out too far, so they had to be bent. I originally bought a tube bender, however it requires that you have copious extra room on the tube next to where you want to bend, which I don't. The solution was to pack the tubes full of salt, tape off both ends, and then hammer it around a pipe of the right diameter. It took forever, and its hardly perfect, but it works.


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kyvlMkHb-.../rIZR1q7IP8Y/s320/IMG_20130804_212639_485.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T7Iw05UUF.../qeIxwkTxrro/s320/IMG_20130805_220241_850.jpg

 

[DMDecoy]

This is terrific. Have you been happy with it? Anything you’ve learned now that you’re (checks original post date) nine years into it?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

He hasn't been online since 2015, so it's not likely you'll get an answer.

 

[DMDecoy]

I figured it was a long shot, and really also wanted to just give the guy some kudos.

Quite honestly, when I saw his solution, I knew he had solved a problem I was racking my brain to figure out. I hadn't even heard of a shotgun tap, but I was hooked at the first glance. Two weeks later, I had a new shotgun tap, and everything else I needed to get to work.

I am absolutely deLIGHTED with this solution. I essentially followed his instructions to the letter. I used a tiny cutoff wheel in a hand-held (dremel-like) rotary tool I have, and just took my time carefully cutting about half the shank away. I packed the metal tubes with salt, taped both ends, then wrapped the tubes themselves with several layers of duct-tape. Then Just started hammering away over a piece of 3/4" black pipe. It did take some time, but eventually got to almost 90 degrees.

I used the decorative ring that came with the original tap to hide the shank outside the tower.

Here's how mine turned out

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Looks great. @DMDecoy