6 tap beer chiller

[RadicalEd]

Ok, so I just picked up this monstrosity:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300168704128&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=020

practically for a song. So does anybody here have a recommendation or plans for putting this into a kegerator type chiller? This will probably end up in a minifridge of some sort, any recommendations on models? No, sorry, I don't know the exact dimensions . Specifically, what kind of tap arrangement would you recommend for this many? An ordinary tower will be hard-pressed to hold 3 taps, much less 6.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Docapi]

How would you use it in a minifridge?

The only time I have seen these used in in a jockey box type thing, I dunno if it would even work in a fridge, or what the point would be if you did. If you have the fridge, why not just put the cornies in the fridge?

Heck of a deal, though. I coulda got one on craiglist just like it for $50 a while back, I'm kicking myself for not jumping at the time.

 

[RadicalEd]

Well, to use it in a fridge, just put a bucket of water in there, and this into that. That way, you can have up to 6 beers on tap, rather than just the 2 you can fit in a normal minifridge. which for me, since I brew considerably more than I drink, would be very nice .

 

[Bobby_M]

I think you could pull it off if you get that water down near freezing. A typical coldplate use is to have it sitting in icewater because the beer doesn't sit in there very long on continuous pours. You probably won't flow that much volume though so I'm sure it will work. I'd use the smallest fridge you can, put a controller on to keep it at 33F and put your 6 faucets right into the door. It can be a countertop thing. Or.... since you don't really need the cornies anywhere near the dispensing area, you could do a "tee" tower on your kitchen counter, run the fridge for the coldplate in the lower cabinet, kegs in the basement.

 

[camiller]

The problem is that it wont take long for warm beer to bring up the temperature of the water surrounding the cold plate the the little fridge really wont be able to keep up. Maybe if you had some way of putting the cooling coils of the fridge into the water reservoir you might have something there. I know of a place that uses one of those for their bar gun soda dispenser, but the plate is setting in a sink and they just keep throwing ice on it from the ice machine. For the jockey boxes we use for wedding bars and such we put 20 pounds of ice on the plate and by the end of 6 hours it's mostly melted, and that is with each keg setting in 60 pounds of ice apiece. I just don't think it is going to work out like your planning, but good luck.


Edit: I guess if your not throwing a partty and trying to pull a significant volume through it you would probably be OK

 

[RadicalEd]

Yeah, I'm not too worried about the cooling part. I won't be pulling much beer through there, and a few gallons of water has a surprising amount of thermal inertia . I already have a few buddies who have had success. Plus, I'm HVAC certified, so it'd be pretty simple for me to rig together a little chiller unit to keep it as cold as desired, worse comes to worst. My rough math estimates that a standard counter-top size mini fridge should keep up with 12oz of liquid every 40 seconds. More than me and 5 friends .

I'm thinking of perhaps finding a table cheap somewhere that is taller than the mini fridge, and hiding the kegs below/behind it with the taps on top of the table. Then maybe use a table cloth to hide the kegs, assuming they all fit. I'm in a tiny apartment now, but this arrangement should let me try the remote-keg setup in the future, as well. So that would just leave the matter of the tower...Anybody know a good tee tower they would recommend?

 

[Bobby_M]

Nothing cheap. That's why I suggested putting shanks right into the mini fridge or some other vertical surface. A 6-faucet tower is going to be quite pricy.

If you find that your beers start warming after spit-fire pouring, you could just add a small amount of ice to your cold plate resevior and it should last until the party is over.

 

[Warped04]

I'm no expert on the subject, but at our restaurant this would sit in the Ice bin, and get topped with Ice. As the room temperature soda came through it would be chilled by this with the ice. It never made the soda that cold, but if you are starting with already chilled beer...

 

[RadicalEd]

Nothing cheap. That's why I suggested putting shanks right into the mini fridge or some other vertical surface. A 6-faucet tower is going to be quite pricy.

If you find that your beers start warming after spit-fire pouring, you could just add a small amount of ice to your cold plate resevior and it should last until the party is over.

Fair enough; my only concern is getting 6 taps to fit onto the the front of a mini-fridge; I've seen a few chest freezers look crowded with 4...What is the
"standard" spacing between taps?

Good idea on the ice there; simple and cheap method of bumping the capacity up.

Now Warped, I don't quite follow. Your post seems to suggest that there is some way for me to pre-chill the beer before feeding it into the cold plate, and frankly I'm drawing a blank...Unless you were suggesting that I use the minifridge as a "regular" kegerator. Again, while this would work splendidly with 2 or so kegs, I would like to have more on tap, so as of the moment that isn't really a viable option for me.

 

[Bobby_M]

I think I have about 4" of horizontal spacing between centers on my faucets and it's plenty. It's not like you have 3 people trying to pour from 3 faucets.

One of the challenges with remote locating a pile of kegs is figuring out the line balance. At room temps, you'll have to run at least 23psi for 2 volumes. If the rise from keg to faucet is only a couple feet, you'll need either 10 feet of 3/16" or 30 feet of 1/4". Who knows how much resistence the cold plate adds. You'll have to experiment with one keg/line to know what to do with the five others.

 

[Warped04]

Yeah, I guess I didn't really understand where you were going....I saw kegerator and mini fridge, and thought you were running from an inside kegerator to like an outdoor minifridge.

 

[Grimsawyer]

Yeah, I'm not too worried about the cooling part. I won't be pulling much beer through there, and a few gallons of water has a surprising amount of thermal inertia . I already have a few buddies who have had success. Plus, I'm HVAC certified, so it'd be pretty simple for me to rig together a little chiller unit to keep it as cold as desired, worse comes to worst. My rough math estimates that a standard counter-top size mini fridge should keep up with 12oz of liquid every 40 seconds. More than me and 5 friends .

I'm thinking of perhaps finding a table cheap somewhere that is taller than the mini fridge, and hiding the kegs below/behind it with the taps on top of the table. Then maybe use a table cloth to hide the kegs, assuming they all fit. I'm in a tiny apartment now, but this arrangement should let me try the remote-keg setup in the future, as well. So that would just leave the matter of the tower...Anybody know a good tee tower they would recommend?

I don't know a good place to find it but a year ago on ebay I saw a SWEEEEEET ASS old Brass tower. It could hold 6 taps!!!!! Sounds like a perfect match.... that is if you could find one! Happy hunting!

 

[RadicalEd]

I don't know a good place to find it but a year ago on ebay I saw a SWEEEEEET ASS old Brass tower. It could hold 6 taps!!!!! Sounds like a perfect match.... that is if you could find one! Happy hunting!

Hahaha, just have to find it. Thanks!

I may just need to picnic tap for a while, and build a tower over the summer...I do have enough access to tools to come up with something nice. .

 

[RadicalEd]

Ok, I just got this thing (feeling bag for the UPS guy, we're getting our first snow and it's pretty windy too), and it sizes in at 14.5" tall, 9.5" wide, and 4.5" deep at the thickest (including barbs). So definitely no worries about fitting it into a counter-top high fridge, and this thing just might fit inside a larger cube. Woot!

 

[Grimsawyer]

Ok, I just got this thing (feeling bag for the UPS guy, we're getting our first snow and it's pretty windy too), and it sizes in at 14.5" tall, 9.5" wide, and 4.5" deep at the thickest (including barbs). So definitely no worries about fitting it into a counter-top high fridge, and this thing just might fit inside a larger cube. Woot!

SWEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!! GRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Post some pics, maybe with a beer glass or bottle so we can get the scale of it! :rockin:

 

[Schlenkerla]

Makes me jealous....

http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/towers/t-style4/index.shtml

:rockin:

 

[RadicalEd]

Grim: Here ya go, mate! This beast easily maxed my 10kg hook scale I have; I'd estimate it at 35 lbs or so. It's solid. Please 'scuze the mess.

Schlenkerla: wow, those are some very nice setups there! No chance of me affording them anytime soon, but maybe after the next summer. I just scored a pretty nice internship contract, so it'll be time to give myself a little present by the end of it!

Of course, there is always the PVC tee option, or the wooden box tee, both of which I can make if I have access to my old man's tools...I must counsel myself patience....

 

[Grimsawyer]

Sniff.... it's..... sniff... so beautiful... sniff.... Seriously, just a good scrub, a mini fridge, a few cobra taps and a bucket of water away from one nice piece of 6-tap nirvana!

 

[howlinowl]

First, who says ya gotta run 6 taps? You could daisy-chain the circuits together, and make 3 double long circuits, or 2 triple long circuits, or 1 circuit that is 6 time the length of one.

Myself, if that were mine, I'd daisy-chain them all into one circuit and use that puppy in a bucket of ice for a killer wort chiller for my brew kettle.

Allan

 

[RadicalEd]

Haha Grim, my thoughts exactly. Now if Craigslist would just cooperate and produce a decent minifridge...

Howlinowl: Ooooohhhh yes, I've given that thought as well. It'll be a little while before I get 6 kegs ready for tapping at the same time, so I'll definitely experiment to see if there's a noticeable benefit to double or triple looping. And the the wort chilling idea as well, but if I have the thing hooked up in a fridge, I wouldn't want to need to haul the thing out. If I have a free circuit or two it might not make for a bad pre-chiller, though. Hmmmmm.