Tap in the kitchen.

[Currell]

I have been reading this group for awhile now and doing some research on how to install a beer tap in my new kitchen. I am in the process of installing the cabinets and thought running the lines might be easier without the counter tops installed. I am not a home brewer so I would like to just purchase beer in kegs at the beer store here in Ontario.

So far this is what am planing:

- I have a fridge that I would like to use to keep the kegs cold. Was going to add a Johnston Control unit to ensure the correct temperature is maintained.
- I will need about 25' of line between the fridge and tap - I may install a two tap tower.
- with 25' of line I would need to make a glycol circulation system to keep the beer cold in the lines. Not sure what pump to use since I would need about 10 to 12' of lift from the pump. Another question about glycol lines is that there must be two of them to circulate the glycol but there seems to be very little space in the tower. Do you just bend a piece of soft copper into a "U" and use a few clamps?
- The beer lines and glycol lines would have to be wrapped tightly together to have the best heat transfer and I guess I can use foam pipe insulation.
-I have seen a few videos of some guys using soft copper as beer lines. Is this ok? I like how copper transfers cold but am worried about cleaning it over time.
- Co2 tank - I was going to start at 8 psi and increase the pressure if needed over time. Easier to increase the pressure then to try and reduce it.

Am I missing anything? Any suggestions on a pump to use would be great.

Thanks Chris

[jason.loxton]

Honestly, this sounds like a pain to build. Why not just install a kegerator? You could build one into your cabinets, if you want the aesthetic of an integrated tower.

You're essentially talking about a professional draft system, which comes with costs and difficulties. 25' of beer line is not only going to be a pain to cool (proper glycol line has multiple layers of insulation, etc., and costs a lot: http://www.kegerator.com/2-product-2-gl ... 440-X.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, but is going to produce a lot of resistance. There are calculators for it, but the standard number is about 13 psi to maintain proper carbonation on chilled beers. 25' of pushing with regular beer line will require much higher psi, which means that you're going to have to use beer gas (nitrogen/CO2 mixture) to avoid over carbonation, etc.

You can play around with calacultions here: <http://www.calczilla.com/brewing/keg-line-balancing>.

And the theory is here: <https://byo.com/yeast/item/164-balancin ... ed-brewing>.

Someone else here might want to weigh in with advice on how you can get around all the issues with some ingenuity, but I would be tempted to either buy bar grade stuff, if you've got a bunch of cash, or stick with a kegerator.

See here for a list, for example: http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbee ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jason.loxton]

Here's a bunch of images of kegerators built into people's counters: https://www.google.ca/search?q=kegerato ... IQ_AUIBigB" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RubberToe]

Jason's right about the gas and pressure.

Also, I wouldn't use copper for the beer lines, I think it's toxic given the pH of beer.

[HoweFox]

I've looked into this awhile ago. If you go with a fridge built into the cabinets you will need a special fridge that dissipates heat out the front at the bottom of the fridge, otherwise you risk it overheating (no where for heat to go out the back). Of course these are substantially more than the ~$200 ones you can get at princess auto or costco. Still much more straightforward then running lines that need to be chilled.

[gyorke]

The OP post is very close to my setup. I have my keezer in the basement and my taps near the kitchen.
- I used 1/4" Bev-seal Ultra for line. It has a lower resistance because of size and construction and it is PET lined and many people report less flavour impact.
- I use a water line for cooling because the keezer does not get cold enough to freeze the water and water has a bit better thermal transfer. Water cooled by the keezer means the beer at the tap is a little warmer than the beer in the keg but that's fine with me. I bundle the beer lines around the water lines in some pipe insulation for the run upstairs. I have large copper line U behind my taps in an insulated box but I have quite a it more room than in a tower but a loop would probably still work for you.
- I wanted to use a small pump and started with a small fountain pump. ( I replaced it with a 12v solar pump when the fountain pump died). The fountain pump was too small to lift 11' of water so I created a sealed system which effectively makes the hight much less, near 0.
- you will want to look at the charts for CO2 carbonation volumes to get a good pressure and temp combination otherwise you may end up with over carbed beer.

http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... =268#p9420" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Currell]

Thanks guys for all the information. This is exactly the information I was looking for. I wish I had the room to install a small fridge in the kitchen... maybe in the next house.

Thanks again.