Troubleshooting a Tap Tower design

[Warthogrugby]

Hello All,

I'm getting ready to start building up my Keezer and tap system. Being the dedicated engineer that I am I decided to draft everything up just to try to limit as many surprises as possible. I just wanted to get some input just in case I am missing something in either my line of thinking or my approach.

Assuming the picture attachment went through you'll be able to see what my desired design is. If not, here is the breakdown. My man cave has a Marvel comic theme (I'm a huge nerd) and I would like the tower to be Thor's Hammer.

The current plan is to convert a 14.9 cubic foot freezer. I've read about the issues of designing a tower on the lid, so my plan is to build up a 5.5" collar and route my tower out the side vs. the top. The advantages of this will allow me to clean my taps with the lid open, but it means that my length of line outside the freezer is going to be considerably longer... To counter this, I'm planning on using 3/16th Polyethylene line (better taste with a thinner wall section) and snaking it through a copper pipe (ideally .315" ID, but the tolerance may be too tight, so likely .408" ID). I want to try to match in the outer diameter of the PE line as close as I can to the copper to better transfer the heat.

The copper will go as far as I can to the tap spicket without impeding the connection. I'm going to insulate the hell out of the four copper pipes and nest the sub assembly into a 3" PVC pipe. The PVC will be both the hammer handle and the protection for the insulation and routing into the freezer. I'm going to have a 45 degree bend and then mount into the collar. I'm thinking of having about 2 feet of addition copper in the freezer to help with the thermo transfer opposed to trying to design a more compact heat sink.

Does anyone foresee in problems with this sort of construction? Should I have a way to easily access the spickets? Should I also design for disassembly, how often does one need to access all the inner workings of the line routing? My hope is to start building the collar and tower this Wednesday, assuming the fittings come in, and the bar and finishing touches soon after.

Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Warthogrugby]

Also, to clearify, the 4 holes that are going up the length of the handle will each be it's own tap. Also, this is a front view, so the length of the freezer is coming towards you.

 

[Stevo2569]

How long a run from cooler to tap. In my bar setup, I have 3' in the fridge and 6' out(insulated) and I get perfect poors. Point being, I'm questioning the use of the copper.
You should not have to maintenance the beer lines except regular cleaning and sanitizing unless a infection gets in there that you cant clean out.(Which I've never had and very few have had from what I hear). I like the Thor hammer idea. Is it built totally out of PVC? Are the taps going to run up the handle?(Where the holes are on your illustration)

 

[day_trippr]

All kinds of awkward going on there. Glass height under the faucets for one. Drip tray for another. Maybe take a de-nerdification class?

Cheers!

 

[Warthogrugby]

De-nerdifying is not a likely solution unfortunately... I was also going for a tower that was a bit different and a little striking. The first tap height is around 8 inches and I was thinking of making a recess in the bar for the drip tray. What would you think the minimum height should likely be? I can increase that height easily enough, but much over 9-10 inches will likely make the overall proportions seem a bit odd.

As far as the copper, I had been reading a lot of foamy beer when there isn't a cooled tower. I saw this idea in a thread and thought it to be a simple and elegant solution.

 

[day_trippr]

For the faucet height (especially the one closest to the business end of that hammer) 8 inches would be on the tight side for pint glasses, and those really nice tall pilsen glasses probably won't fit standing up.

The faucet spout will drop a couple of inches from the location of the shank, and you don't want to be clanging glass rims on the spout - especially fine glassware (read: thin wall). And that's assuming the drip tray isn't elevated and aggravating the clearance problem.

The copper sleeve is a fine idea, been done lots of times and definitely helps. The poly line, otoh, may prove to be a pita to work with in such tight confines...

Cheers!

 

[Warthogrugby]

For the faucet height (especially the one closest to the business end of that hammer) 8 inches would be on the tight side for pint glasses, and those really nice tall pilsen glasses probably won't fit standing up.

The faucet spout will drop a couple of inches from the location of the shank, and you don't want to be clanging glass rims on the spout - especially fine glassware (read: thin wall). And that's assuming the drip tray isn't elevated and aggravating the clearance problem.

The copper sleeve is a fine idea, been done lots of times and definitely helps. The poly line, otoh, may prove to be a pita to work with in such tight confines...

Cheers!

Good to know about that hight. I'm going to play around with it and see if I can't get it at least 10 inches up.

 

[A4J]

how about something like this?

 

[Warthogrugby]

A4J, that is a fantastic idea! I could also put a valve at the bottom for easier drainage. Thanks!

 

[deflagratio]

Have you considered having the tabs come out of the head of the hammer? Two on the flat and one on each end.

 

[Warthogrugby]

Have you considered having the tabs come out of the head of the hammer? Two on the flat and one on each end.

That what my original plan was. I was going to do a more standard Tower design with the Hammer, but I wasn't sure how to route the ethylene and copper through the 90 degree bends without buckling the tubing. If I go that design route I may do two 45 degree joints to increase the minimum bend radius. A more traditional Tower would also make the inscription on the hammer more legible.