Does anyone know how this kegerator works?

[716cider]

Hello,

I recently moved into a new home and in the basement there appears to be a bar with what I think is a built in kegerator. I can see how to run a beer line to the tap but what I can’t figure out is how it is supposed to keep the beer cool between the keg and tap. Based on the age and look of it I’m sure I will need to replace some lines/pieces but would be great not to have to take out the whole thing. Has anyone seen a set up like this that could advise how it is supposed to work?

 

[bracconiere]

nothing realy to add, except i like the tap with the hose faucet handle!

 

[Transamguy77]

It looks like maybe your supposed to add ice to keep it cold? If it’s something from the 30’s early 40’s refrigeration was not everywhere so maybe they would get a block of ice for parties. Hard to tell from the pics. And I second the awesome tap!

 

[day_trippr]

Seems fairly evident you fill that whole box with ice. It even has an overflow drain pipe...

Cheers!

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Looks like a jockey box setup as opposed to a kegerator. I’d venture a guess that the keg would go in the large open section then packed with ice to keep cool you’d run your serving line down the tube and up through the coil area for chilling as it taps. Just a guess though.

 

[Transamguy77]

If it’s just a big jockey box then you could just add a small fridge and circulate glycol through it to keep it cool all the time.

 

[day_trippr]

I doubt any keg of that era would go inside.
If you follow the plumbing, only one faucet is actually connected to anything, and the input to the coil is from the outside.
It's literally a jockey box of a different style...

Cheers!

 

[BeerFst]

@day_trippr has it right

my wife’s great grandfather was a rheingold salesman and her great uncle kept a lot of the paraphernalia. He’s since gifted me several older items, one of which was a similar, copper lined, jockey box just like this one

 

[NGD]

Wonder what the chances are of any lead fitting or solder. Those taps are cool as hell.

 

[day_trippr]

I expect that old beast is loaded with lead/tin solder and of course lots of old school brass - which incorporated lead in the mix for tooling ease.
A nice display piece for sure. Dispenser? Maybe not...

Cheers!

 

[Where's my beer?]

A beautiful piece of beer-drinking history! Congrats on the archeological find

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Geez... I see brass and copper "blue streaks". How was this item originally used?

Copper = no concern.

Brass = concern.

 

[day_trippr]

How it is used was covered.
What you can see wrt stains has no bearing on the beer.
What does is whatever is lurking inside that coil...and the faucet and piping to it...

Cheers!

 

[odie]

too cool...gotta clean and sanitize it and get it going. Leave the copper coils in place but disconnect the coils and run beer line.

 

[jrgtr42]

Agreed with Odie. I would be very leery of using any of the existing plumbing on that thing. Looks super cool, though. I would use a second fridge / freezer as a glycol chiller, using that to keep the beer cold. Disconnect the coil from the taps, probab;y replace those with SS ones, hope to be able to keep the handles. and Certainly put the original equipment aside to keep for posterity.

 

[IslandLizard]

From what I can see, I think the tap on the right, having the pull-down handle, is for beer, dispensed from a keg kept cool in the ice box. The tap on the left, with the turning valve, is for dispensing cold water, chilled through the coil.

 

[IslandLizard]

IMO, a "jockey" system is meant for portability.
This (almost) antique curiosity is not portable, thus, it's an old kegerator.

 

[NGD]

Try a borrowing/renting a fiber optic camera to run inside the coils assuming it would fit. You likely wont get far but it should give you an idea of the condition. I’d be surprised if the coils werent copper. That setup must have cost a pretty penny back in the day.