(New?) Idea for locking out taps

[Inodoro_Pereyra]

Wouldn't it be much easier/cheaper, and just as effective, to put regular ball valves in the beer lines, so that they would be locked inside the keggerator?
Not as fancy, but if we're talking about KISS...

 

[Turlian]

If you really want to KISS, just unplug the liquid QD.

 

[Inodoro_Pereyra]

liquid QD.

 

[Mongrat]

This is so geeky I love it. It would be cool to get wide open faucets and have a push button on the outside of the keg to dispense beer......

 

[Turlian]

Liquid Disconnect

 

[Inodoro_Pereyra]

Liquid Disconnect

Thank you. You Americans drive me crazy with the acronyms...

Yeah, you could do that. Either solution would be simpler (and potentially less problematic in the long run) than setting up an electric rig for the job.

Or you can go the REAL KISS way, and just stay single...:rockin:

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

The original eBay links in the OP are no longer active. Anyone have a good link to this stuff?

FYI, for all of you worried about inability to get at your beer during a power outage, you can pretty easily connect a picnic tap if you absolutely have to...

 

[JonW]

Hey Brad, good to see you here!

Just search Ebay for 1/4" solenoid valve and you'll see a bunch.

I bought one of the white nylon body ones back when this original thread was started and did a proof-of-concept test with it. The valve introduced a ton of foam in the line, likely due to the very small orifice that it has (it is not 1/4" through).

It could probably be mitigated by adding some additional tubing after the valve, but I never got that far in testing.

If you want to try it out, I can bring the valve to the next BC meeting and you can work up a test system with it.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Thanks Jon... I might take you up on that. This project will eventually be a part of a larger keezer build sometime within the next 1-2 years. Where in your line did you add the valve? Near the liquid QD or near the faucet?

Anyone with experience, is there a difference between the white nylon and the brass body valves regarding foaming?

 

[JonW]

I removed my liquid line from the QD and attached it to the valve. I then added another 3' section of tubing from the QD to the valve. I've done some other changes to my kegerators since then, so I should probably give it another test to see just how bad the foaming still is.

 

[dudasaj]

The original eBay links in the OP are no longer active. Anyone have a good link to this stuff?

FYI, for all of you worried about inability to get at your beer during a power outage, you can pretty easily connect a picnic tap if you absolutely have to...

Most of these miniature solenoid valves have a manual open position as well.

 

[JonW]

Most of these miniature solenoid valves have a manual open position as well.

On the white nylon one I used, there is no manual option. It has to be opened by the solenoid.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I removed my liquid line from the QD and attached it to the valve. I then added another 3' section of tubing from the QD to the valve. I've done some other changes to my kegerators since then, so I should probably give it another test to see just how bad the foaming still is.

Hmm. I wonder if the issue might have been due to the *extra* 3' of line rather than not enough. I'm wondering if the serving pressure was wrong for an 8' line but correct for a 5' line?

After all, inside the corny's out port and QD there's plenty of agitation of the beer as it's moving through the poppet & springs, then through the QD, so maybe it's worth trying a 2-3" tube between the QD and the valve rather than 3'.

 

[thomashp]

For most of the cheap 1/4" solenoid valves the orifice size is 2.5mm... that's about .01 inches... less than 1/8". This restriction is probably the reason for the foaming. On the kegbot page they recommend using a 3/8" valve with the necessary reducing couplings for 1/4" line. This would hopefully fix the foaming issues. I think I have to try this.

 

[mcl]

Found this http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-8-Nylon-Solenoid-Valve-Barbed-Hose-Control-Water-12V-/110500867492?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19ba5d6da4

 

[Clementine]

I love it! I'm in the process of moving right now and when I get to PA a kegerator is my first priority (after getting some beer brewing!) I'm so making one of these.

If you want cheap 12volt power just get an old PC power supply if you ask a repair shop for a 20pin ATX power supply (motherboards now use 24pin) you can probably get it for free. For any home project you can use PC power supplies as they also have a 5volt rail and you just ground the green wire to turn them on. I have hundreds of them lying around as I work in IT

Instead of a phone blue tooth you could use a proxmity card to turn them on like a Toyota smart key. Hmmm you could even then keep track of how many pours you made.... actually that a really bad idea if SWMBO saw that data she would suggest I brew less...

Clem