Keezer Vs Jockey

[FourSwitch]

So... Im thinking to myself... "do i want to buy a nice new freezer from costco, or a couple heat exchangers from ontario beer kegs, and put them in a small fridge.?"

Point of the question is i have had some pretty good beers from a jockey box heat exchanger... if i am about to get set up with taps... why not save the space and only refrigerate a small heat exchanger and leave the keg at room temp? either way you get a nice cold beer... is there some advantage to keeping the keg cool at all times (as opposed to stable 20C basement?)

anyways let me know!

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Jockey boxes work great for short term serving, I have one myself, but just putting a coil in cold air won't work well. Air is a terrible conductor and the beer won't get cold enough fast enough. What stays in the line will cool off but the new beer coming in won't cool off fast. Plus the btu capacity of a small fridge is pretty low. A jockey box has the coil in a ice and water bath which works great because direct liquid contact is efficient method of heat transfer. Same reason an immersion chiller works for chilling your beer.

 

[microbusbrewery]

+1 what sandyeggoxj said. If you had your exchanger (coils?) submerged in a 32F liquid, it would probably work ok for a couple beers, but the incoming room temp beer would be warming the liquid faster than the fridge will be able to cool it back down (the BTU issue). Kegs served on jockey boxes are usually pre-chilled then packed with ice to keep them relatively cool while they're being poured.

FWIW, I use a 7 circuit cold plate in a four tap jockey box when pouring away from my house. Three of the taps make a double pass through the cold plate and the fourth makes a single pass. We poured at a fest last year and one of our kegs didn't make it up in time to get stored cold overnight, so it was served at ambient temp (~72F). I didn't have a temp probe so I don't know the exact output temp. While it was cold, it was noticeably warmer than the other beers we had on tap and was pouring about 33% foam and had reduced carbonation due to the CO2 coming out of solution. Long story short, I think you'll find this approach problematic. There's a reason that draft beer usually involves refrigeration units.

Another issue, jockey boxes aren't all that cheap to buy or build. I'm working on another one right now using some leftover parts from previous projects plus a few parts that I got at substantial discount compared to new retail...and I'm still into it about $250. Shanks, faucets, and fittings are where most of the money goes. You'll still have to buy those with a keezer/kegorator unless you decide to go picnic taps, but sometimes you can find used fridges or freezers on local classifieds for pretty cheap.