Jockey Box Question

[Homercidal]

I'm thinking about making a jockey box from a small cooler that didnt' work out as a mini mashtun ( I think BIAB is much simpler for small batches...)

Anyway, since I dont' want to mess around with Copper coils for the safety reason, and SS is so friggin expensive, I think that I could do ok with plastic tubing. But I can't remember which diameter would be appropriate. I'm guessing that 25' will fit in the cooler, although I have not actually measured it yet.

 

[SweetSounds]

Plastic isn't going to transfer the heat very well...

Just some quick math:
Lets say you get 1/4" ID plastic hose and it's 25' long. That's 14.73 cubic inches, and 8.16 ounces in the cold. If your pour takes 4 seconds, that beer will have that 4 seconds in plastic to chill from ambient to 30 something...
But that first 8 ounces will be cold! (As long as you didn't just pour a pint before )
Not a huge issue in SS or copper, but I don't know about plastic...

On the other hand, 40' of 1/4" ID tubing will hold just over 12 ounces. As long as you wait between pours it would get cold eventually.
But you'll also have CO2 coming out of suspension inside the coil causing foaming and displacing beer from the actual cold part...

But hey! 1/4" tubing is pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things. Give it a shot!

 

[shortyjacobs]

What's unsafe about copper? Plastic is an insulator...I feel like you'd need a LOT, (50 feet, by SweetSounds' calculations), and you'd only be able to pour 1 pint per few minutes minimum to allow it to dump heat through the tube.

 

[Homercidal]

What's unsafe about copper? Plastic is an insulator...I feel like you'd need a LOT, (50 feet, by SweetSounds' calculations), and you'd only be able to pour 1 pint per few minutes minimum to allow it to dump heat through the tube.

I'd much rather use copper, but there are regulations about using copper in acid solutions. The acid can leach unsafe chemicals into the beer. Pre-fermented wort is ok, because supposedly the yeast metabolise those chemicals out before you drink it.

I forgot to mention that I planned on using a 5G bucket or small trash can to prechill the keg as well. The plastic tubing was more or less meant to keep the beer cold all the way to the faucet. I've had experience in foaming beer due to a warm hose.

 

[Homercidal]

Actually, I'd like to know how long it takes to leach those chemicals, because I'm not going to have the beer sitting in the lines for hours. Probably a few minutes between pours. In fact, I don't really have an event in mind for this, just have the cooler and would like to have one on hand in case it could be useful.

 

[Homercidal]

Just read a report which states that a business had a failure with a backflow and carbonated water was allowed to come in contact with some of the copper equipment over the weekend. That Monday several people complained of being sick and they discovered copper poisoning and found the problem at this business. Other customers complained of the flavor and hence were not sickened.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1619534/pdf/amjph00683-0077.pdf

 

[SweetSounds]

Actually, I'd like to know how long it takes to leach those chemicals, because I'm not going to have the beer sitting in the lines for hours. Probably a few minutes between pours. In fact, I don't really have an event in mind for this, just have the cooler and would like to have one on hand in case it could be useful.

Plastic will work - It just won't chill the beer very fast, and it won't help your foaming issues. You'll still have a slug of warm beer between the keg and the jockey box, and when the cold keg beer hits the plastic lines, regardless of how warm or cold they are, it will experience a temperature change, knocking CO2 out.

 

[Retarded_Penguin_Brewing]

here's another idea too besides having miles of tubing coiled up in your jockey box.

 

[Homercidal]

Plastic will work - It just won't chill the beer very fast, and it won't help your foaming issues. You'll still have a slug of warm beer between the keg and the jockey box, and when the cold keg beer hits the plastic lines, regardless of how warm or cold they are, it will experience a temperature change, knocking CO2 out.

So what your saying is that it's ok to go from warm keg to cold lines, but not cold keg to warm lines?

And I'm not considering a plate chiller. I am not interested in this enough to spend real money.

 

[SweetSounds]

So what your saying is that it's ok to go from warm keg to cold lines, but not cold keg to warm lines?

And I'm not considering a plate chiller. I am not interested in this enough to spend real money.

Yep - It's OK, it'll just knock CO2 out of solution.
That's exactly why people build tower chillers for their kegerators. They foam when the beer hits warmer stuff. It's also why it takes more pressure to carb the higher the temp of the beer...

As temperature drops, your beer will hold more CO2 in solution. But as the temperature rises, it's harder to keep in solution. Warm up cold carbonated beer and it'll outgas = Head

 

[OMJ]

I just got a cold plate from chicompany.net for $25 plus shipping. Only 1 circuit but thats all I really need. I think it was the only one but you could always email matt he may get more in.