How would you keep your keezer faucets cold?

[OrionPax]

I'm in the R&D planning phase of building a collar and converting a freezer for my brews.

While researching I noticed on a couple of occasions where the brewers mentioned the faucets were warm enough that they were getting excess amounts of foam.

One youtube video even mentioned the use of a heat sink on the back of the shank. Once I find the video again I'll try to link it here for reference.

Has anyone else here done such a modification? what materials were used or where were you able to purchase such an item? Any information you may have on this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Jason

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

A simple fix for warm faucets is using a longer shank. I use 5 inch shanks on my fridge kegerator, and I can tell a huge difference between them and the 2" shanks I used to have.

 

[Tom]

Ditto on the length of the shanks. I think the longest stainless steel shanks I could find were 6".

 

[BillKlineVT]

in addition, some people have recommended putting a small fan in there to circuilate the air better. Since it's a freezer, all of the coldest air will settle to the bottom (i.e. temp stratification), unless a fan is used to keep it circulating and consistently cool throughout the freezer.

 

[Catt22]

in addition, some people have recommended putting a small fan in there to circuilate the air better. Since it's a freezer, all of the coldest air will settle to the bottom (i.e. temp stratification), unless a fan is used to keep it circulating and consistently cool throughout the freezer.

+1 IMO the easiest and least expensive solution it to install a muffin fan int the freezer to keep the air circulating which will keep everything at a uniform temperature, including the shanks and taps. This solved the problem for me. I run the fan continuously. I tried running the fan intermittently which did not work nearly as well. A fan will cause the compressor to cycle more frequently, so it's a trade off on energy consumption vs. uniformly cooled beer, lines and taps.

 

[Tom]

How do you have the fan hooked up to power? And where and in which direction is it going?
TIA, Tom

 

[Catt22]

I'm using a 120 mm 110 v AC muffin fan. The power cord is run through the collar. The fan blows downward, although I don't think it would matter which direction is blows. It's mounted to the lid to keep it out of the way. I have the temp controller probe mounted directly below the fan in the air stream and it is also run through the collar. The fan is simply hooked up to a power strip mounted on the wall behind the freezer. I only regret that I did not do this sooner. It works really well. I figure the power to run this little 22 watt fan costs me about 5 cents per day or thereabouts. I have the controller set point at 40 F with a 5 degree differential. The compressor is on 37% and off 63% of the time at an ambient temp of 74 degrees FYI.

 

[Tom]

Thanks.
Nice faucets too.

 

[jbthuis]

Hey Jason -
You can always do what I did with the "Portland Tap". I eliminated the problem by mounting the faucets inside the freezer. If you needed the faucets to be available full-time, it would not be a good solution. But for me, it is perfect!

John

 

[DanPoch]

Awesome information, Thanks
I'm not the OP but just got my first freezer and am in the R&D stage also.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Hey Jason -
You can always do what I did with the "Portland Tap". I eliminated the problem by mounting the faucets inside the freezer. If you needed the faucets to be available full-time, it would not be a good solution. But for me, it is perfect!

John

Very cool. James Bondish.

 

[OrionPax]

Hey John,

Thanks for the idea, however since my freezer has a uniformed bottom I'm hoping to either have the kegs all cold and maybe keep extra's chilled or maybe even lager some fermenter's.

Still deciding what I'm going to place in the freezer, but need to get the materials first.

Thanks everyone.