brite tank serving tap

[McClellandBrew]

I'm trying to build and wondering if anyone has ever seen a brewery that taps directly from their brite tanks. As in a faucet hooked up to a ~6' insulated beer line that sits next to or on the brite tank. Acting as a giant keg. We have four jacketed brites behind our bar and would like to use them as serving tanks without the hassle of glycol lines to a draft tower system.
Any ideas, comments, and referrals?
Thank you.

 

[maierhof]

post deleted due to stupidity

 

[ColoHox]

If you carb in the brites, you can serve off them. You just need to push make-up gas to the tanks to maintain carbonation and head pressure. You can carb and dispense from any tank with the right fittings and pressure ratings.

IME, it is difficult to maintain temperature without glycol though. You will end up having to dump the 6' worth of beer in the lines before pouring a pint, unless your taps are always flowing. A trunk line is a pretty easy addition, and not too expensive. Plus you already have glycol lines at the tanks anyway, right?

 

[Westermans]

My local brewery carbs their brite tanks with a huge air stone and serves from them seems fine if it works for them.

 

[Westermans]

My local brewery carbs their brite tanks with a huge air stone and serves from them seems fine if it works for them.

The brite tanks are inside a massive cooler to keep them at temp.

 

[McClellandBrew]

If you carb in the brites, you can serve off them. You just need to push make-up gas to the tanks to maintain carbonation and head pressure. You can carb and dispense from any tank with the right fittings and pressure ratings.

IME, it is difficult to maintain temperature without glycol though. You will end up having to dump the 6' worth of beer in the lines before pouring a pint, unless your taps are always flowing. A trunk line is a pretty easy addition, and not too expensive. Plus you already have glycol lines at the tanks anyway, right?

Thanks for the input. We are looking into building something that resembles a jockey box. Coiled 6' 3/16" SS tubing hidden inside a larger tube, much like if you were to put a coiled line in a kegerator draft tower. Then we could potentially fill that volume with ice/ice water, and/or some type of glycol system to keep that 6' line chilled. Now if this isn't insulated, if my math is correct, 6' of 3/16 only holds about 1.25 ounces of beer? I don't see it being much different than pouring beers out of draft system. I've consistently seen bartenders pour out a good couple ounces of foam religiously. Obviously, I'd like to avoid this loss if at all possible.

Also, if I were to keep the carb stone in and hooked up to a serving pressure of my liking, wouldn't that balance the carbonation level as the volume decreases? Or I could hook up a Co2 line to the CIP arm to force a maintained pressure to dispense beer, much like a keg.
In a perfect scenario, I would fill up the brite, carbonate it, attach this tap system contraption on (yes we are trying to make it just a triclamp connection to take off with ease) serve about 50-75% of the tank, then close the tap system via isolation valve, and keg the remainder. Clean the brite and fill it up the next day with an awaiting fermented beer.

I appreciate all thoughts, ideas, and concerns.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Also, if I were to keep the carb stone in and hooked up to a serving pressure of my liking, wouldn't that balance the carbonation level as the volume decreases?

Presumably with a six foot line you'll have to dispense at lower pressure than what you need to maintain the original carbonation level.

The better option is to dial the CO2 pressure to what is needed to maintain the desired carbonation level, then use 1 foot of 3/16" ID beer line per PSI. That way the beer will stay at whatever carbonation level you wanted it to be.

The jockey box idea would work if all you're serving is light lagers...

Cheers!