Jockey Box - worthy or trash? pics included

[1KD1]

A buddy of mine found out that I was getting into kegging and remembered that his brother had scrapped a "lunch wagon" food truck a year or two ago. In the truck was 4 pin lock kegs, a 20lb. CO2 tank with single regulator and a manifold, a jockey box with three taps and a big chill plate. They have been sitting in a barn this whole time but I got the whole lot for free. My questions are:


Is it worth the trouble (I mean this thing is filthy)?? Are these plastic taps worthy or trash (can a fella find parts for these)? Should I just clean the chill plate and scrap the rest? The lid of the cooler actually has a tag that says it is made by Cornelius.

 

[beaksnbeer]

Plate,kegs,tank,regulator are all useable the plastic taps imho would be a waste of time

 

[JRems]

I agree. Ditch the plastic taps and hoses, but everything else is useable

 

[Special Hops]

I would get new taps - but the rest is awesome IMO. Especially free.

 

[1KD1]

I didn't make myself clear enough. The kegs, CO2 and regulator are definitely being used. Just unsure of the cooler and taps. Sounds like you guys all agree that the taps are junk. I figured as much and that doesn't break my heart.

But... The cooler should be ok, after a real good cleaning, correct? I would love to actually have a Cornelius jockey box. Not that there is any "real" reason behind that. I have lots of coolers, I just think this one needs a chance at a second life.

Also, how would I go about cleaning the chiller plate? Obviously I can scrub, scrub, and scrub some more on the outside but what is the best way to really clean the inside?

 

[landshark]

Soak the plate in PBW for a week. then start running clean PBW through the lines. May repeat once but that should be fine. then run lots of star san through it prior to use.

 

[1KD1]

Thanks for the tip. I have been holding off on that project cause I wasn't sure. Once the chiller is cleaned, how do you store it when not in use? Fill with sanitizer or blow the lines out and cap them?

 

[JRems]

I think the cold plate is aluminum. I wouldn't soak it for very long in pbw

 

[landshark]

I have SS coils for my Jockey, so I just fill them w/ Star-San and let them sit for storage. You could probably do something similar. Takes a little running to get the starsan out when you start up, but you know what's been sitting on the coils at least. Blowing them out would work. However, you just risk blowing something into your coils doing so.

And While JRems is right the plate is Aluminum, typically the actual lines in those cold plates are made of stainless. The Plate is the only aluminum part.

 

[evandena]

I have SS coils for my Jockey, so I just fill them w/ Star-San and let them sit for storage. You could probably do something similar. Takes a little running to get the starsan out when you start up, but you know what's been sitting on the coils at least. Blowing them out would work. However, you just risk blowing something into your coils doing so.

And While JRems is right the plate is Aluminum, typically the actual lines in those cold plates are made of stainless. The Plate is the only aluminum part.

I've had bad luck with anything sitting in aluminum for an extended period of time. I wouldn't trust starsan off PBW for more than a couple hours. Even boiled and cooled water for a few days caused corrosion in my aluminum pitcher.