Uncooled beer lines??

usmcamp0811 · Nov 17, 2009

I am in the building stages of building my bar and I am trying ensure that it will be able to except a home made kegerator in the near future.. Here is the dilemma, I don't want the tower to by where the kegerator will be. I want to run beer lines through the bar to a spot about 2-3 feet away. Do y'all think that I have to cool the lines? I had planned to just insulate them real well... I've read about running PVC pipe and using a PC fan to cool them but I'm not sure if this is going to be a freezable option just yet. It might be.. the fridge is going under the counter and only has about 2 inches of over head space... just wont know till I'm further along..

Below is a picture of what the bar will look like. I have a black box standing in for the kegerator and an tall cylinder looking thing filling in for the tower. The lines would be run through the bar in the most direct manor...

mitch171 · Nov 17, 2009

If you want to pour beer and not foam, you will have to cool the lines. At the place I work if the blower for the tower falls out the beer becomes foamy within a couple pours and that is only the distance from the fridge to the tower.

shortyjacobs · Nov 17, 2009

Yeah, you want them cooled....the best insulation in the world still leaks heat.

Just run PVC like you said from the kegerator to the tower. Run a return PVC, (or any piping) back to the kegerator. Rig up a fan so it either blows or sucks air into the return PVC, (easier, since no beer lines in that one).

wildwest450 · Nov 17, 2009

Definitely cool the lines, nothing is more frustrating than foamy beer. It's easy and cheap. I used 2 1/2" plumbing pipe with 1 1/2" flex pipe in the center (run beer lines in small pipe). This allows for an air return back to the freezer. I just made a ghetto air box out of some cardboard and a computer fan, the whole thing cost's around $10.

And when you get it done, i'll come over and do a quality control check.:cross: