# Miracle Box



## GMK (21/8/04)

Just helped Poodz make a Miracle Box for 100.00.

Cost Breakdown...
SS Coil 30.00
picnic tap 15.00
esky (chipaschips) 30.00
liquid disconect 15.00
clamps and line 10.00

Advice frrom GMK....PRICELESS  

All up 100.00 for a miracle box that he is taking to a party tonight...
Here are some pics...


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## GMK (21/8/04)

Miracle Box with Ice...


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## GMK (21/8/04)

Pouring the first beer.....


:chug:


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## Poodz (22/8/04)

...and it works great!!!

My mates at the party loved it, and didnt mind the beer either 

Cheers for the help GMK.

Nice photo, who is that bloke?


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## dicko (22/8/04)

Went to a small get together on Saturday and I thought I would take MY Miracle Box. 
Its called an "esky".

Got sick of drinking "swill".

See pic


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## Poodz (22/8/04)

That'll do the job.

One day ill stick a tap on the side of the esky so i dont have to open it to pour a drink.


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## daveisbludging (23/8/04)

Poodz,

How cold was the beer poured from the miracle box? I'm heading down exactly the same path and will be using the miracle box to cool beer from a warm keg. I'm curious as to what sort of performance I can expect.

Cheers,

Dave


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## kman (23/8/04)

Take beer to a party?

BRILLIANT! BRILLIANT!

thats awesome, that will be one of my up and coming projects for sure.

Just wondering, what is the lenght of the coil? I mean, i want to know so i can buy an esky it will fit into. So the lenght coiled, not uncoiled.

Cheers


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## GMK (23/8/04)

Coil is approx 120mm square by 400mm long uncompressed - over 15m of 6mm ss tube pre-coiled - only 30.00 ea from GMK Enterprises...


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## Poodz (23/8/04)

Dave,

The beer was cold. I had my keg in the fridge before taking it to the bbq. But well into the night the beer was still very cold out the tap even after the keg had been out the fridge for 5-6 hours.

Im curious to try it with unrefridgerated beer in the middle of summer but its easy enough to just have the keg cold before hand and the miracle box will do the rest.

I recommond a set up like this, its a great talking point too and everyone is impressed. Although i got a few "thats a bit over the top" looks. But who cares!


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## daveisbludging (24/8/04)

Poodz,

I'm planning on taking this setup camping so a cold keg isn't a option unless I put it on ice. I'm hoping the miracle box can effectively cool warm beer but only time will tell. All parts ordered from Ken and I'm hoping to have it set up for the first camping trip in September.

Dave


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## Hoops (25/8/04)

Dave

I have a proper miracle box and have used it very successfully with warm beer kegs. The only reason it would not work with the SS coil is if the surface area is too small. If this is the case there are 2 ways to improve it.
1. Provide more surface area, ie get another coil and add it after the first coil. Still for $60 it's pretty good, and you could always split them later to run 2 cool kegs at once.
2. Reduce the flow so that the beer has more contact time with the coil. To do this you would probably need a flow regulator which will cost about the same ($20-$25)

Hoops


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## daveisbludging (25/8/04)

Hoops,

Where can you get a flow regulator from and what do they look like?

Dave


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## Poodz (25/8/04)

Dave, i was pouring off head pressure through 15m of coil in ice, i didnt even add water to make the coil cool quicker. The beer was cold and coming out slowly so i wouldnt bother with a flow regulator yet. Try it out first the same set up as mine and then modify if its not cold enough for you.


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## Doc (26/8/04)

daveisbludging said:


> Where can you get a flow regulator from and what do they look like?


 Dave,

See this thread here. Page 1 for the picture posted by Asher.

Beers,
Doc


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## kman (2/12/04)

just thouhgt i would bring back this topic from the past, as im in the process of building one of these now.

So GMK if you see this, im in need of a SS coil of you still have one. 

I already have an esky (drainage plug in the bottom is broken but nothing alittle silicon wont fix i thik) I have a picnic tap on the way, and i have beer line lyinging around, but i just wanted to know how i attach the beer line to the coil as i read it is 6mm, and i only have 5mm and 4mm line. do i need to go find some 6mm line and a reducer (to fit the disconnect?)

Still on the look out for a gas and liquid disconnects so if anyone wants to sell me them for dirt cheap ill take em, other wise ill just go through the local shop.

cheers


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## kman (2/12/04)

also wanted to know if anyone had tryed one of these with kegs that had not been fridged?

What results did you get, rough temps and stuff, 

cheers


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## daveisbludging (2/12/04)

KMan,

I've taken mine camping twice now and poured cold beer from a warmish keg. No ideas of temps and haven't yet tried it in the middle of summer. When the temperature warms up I'm planning on wrappig a wet towel around the keg and leaving it in the shade.

My mates have labelled it the UCA - Ultimate Camping Accessory.

Dave


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## kman (2/12/04)

yeah, i want one mainly for camping, and also to take to partys and such.

Unforunately GMK just got back to me and he has no more coils to sell, so its back to the drawing board.

Do you have any pics of your box? Or can you tell me what its made up of and where you got everything (actually mainly just the coil)

cheers


hope to have something up and running before new years, so i have about 4 weeks


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## daveisbludging (2/12/04)

I used one of GMK's stainless steel coils and the setup looks very similar to the picture posted on the first page. The only difference is I've mounted a Andale tap on the front of the esky.

If you can't get hold of a stainless steel coil then one option would be to use a mass of beer line with spacers between them to allow the ice and water maximum surface area.


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## kman (2/12/04)

damn, i was hoping you wouldnt say that  

yeah, it seems i might have to use heaps of beer line, really would have prefered SS but oh well maybe its not to be.

But if anyone else knows where to source a similar coil from, can you let me know.

thanks


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## Justin (2/12/04)

Kman, I've seen 1/4" stainless coils for sale on US ebay (will post worldwide) for bargain prices. I'll see if I can find the ones and post the link.

JD


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## Justin (2/12/04)

Here's one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...sspagename=WDVW

Another:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...ssPageName=WDVW

Another, nice one, could be a goer:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...ssPageName=WDVW

Another:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...ssPageName=WDVW

Hope it helps. It comes up pretty often, and for the size your after will ship pretty cheap I reckon.

Cheers, Justin


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## kman (2/12/04)

cheers for that justin, might look into that for the future, but for right now i have a deadline of getting everything up and running by new years, so shipping time might be an issue.

Price too might be an issue, because the one GMK had were 15m, which i think is over 45 feet, and at $1US per foot and then add on shipping, it would probably come out being close to $70 or so i guessing. But ill email them and find out.

Also i think bunnings sell copper tubing, does anyone know if that would be suitable, and what it costs? And where would i go to get it coiled properly?

thanks for the surggestions justin


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## kman (2/12/04)

i think i might bite the bullet and buy one of these.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...mMakeTrack=true

i think they would be better and last longer too.

and all of the plate sits under the ice and you could use a really small esky.


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## dreamboat (2/12/04)

I have a couple of SS coils at home. 
I will try to remember to take a piccy tonight and get some measurements, but generally, I would guesstimate a 6-8mm diameter, with a coil length of less than 300mm containing at least 10m of tube..... as I say, let me measure it all up, and I will get back to you.



Dreamboat


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## kman (2/12/04)

very interesting, very interesting indeed.

If the tubing is 6mm id be pretty keen to take it off your hands


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## Justin (2/12/04)

Well you could use copper tubing too. 1/4" cost around $4p/m so it might add up quick but because you only plan to use it for parties and it's not a permanent set up it copper wouldn't matter (no different to a CFC). Also easy to bend.

JD


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## dreamboat (3/12/04)

Righto...
Surprised even myself by remembering to take photo's last night, and even more so, by bringing the camera with me to download them!!!

The two coils shown are slightly different.
Both are around 8mm diameter (couldn't find the micrometer to be sure).
Both have 20 coils.
The smaller one contains around 6m of tube, the larger 7.2m. The straight sections of each coil are 80mm, with 45mm and 65mm bends respectively. one end of each has a flared fitting, and the other is pressed and welded to close it off.


Dreamboat


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## kman (3/12/04)

i think 8mm would be too big, and couldnt cool the beer properly (as less surface area of beer would be touching the coil)

6mm stuff you be the go i think


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## Poodz (3/12/04)

Thats me on page 1 

I got a fridge extension for my esky to stick a pull down tap on the side, havent got around to installing yet as ive been too lazy.

Anyway... to answer kmans question, i had my beer cooled in the fridge, not freezing but cool. I had the keg out at room temp for 4-5 hours and the beer was still pouring very cold. My esky must be pretty good as the ice cubes still hadnt melted the next morning... mind you it was a cold night.

BTW kman, are u using that thermostat in your freezer?

Poodz.


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## kman (3/12/04)

yeah i am poodz, got it too work in the end, the highest it sits at in my freezer was 1 degree, any other setting it would freeze the beer, thats thats alright, cos i like em cold.

the only incident ive had with it so far was when i had heaps of people over, and we kept opening and closing the lid, i think the change in air temps kept triggering it to start, and frooze 2 kegs. I think i can remedy that by covering the temp sensor with something, so its not affected as much.

i like the idea of the mounted tap, i think when i order some stuff from the states ill invest in a few, and maybe a proper 2 circuit cooler plate, so i can have two kegs running from a very small esky cooler with 2 mounted taps

should look a treat. But ill save that for about mid next year, first ill get this baby up and running. Mine will be pretty much exactly the same as yours, with the picnic tap and cooling coil in a medium esky


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## Poodz (7/12/04)

Glad to hear the thermostat is working for u kman. I had a cover over the temp sensor. Wish i hadnt sold it now as it turns out i think my freezers snuffed it...

Anyway, just wish i had a few more occasions to use my miracle box!!! xmas is coming up and new years. I think it might get some service then.


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## kman (8/12/04)

i think once i have finished my box, it will be close to the most used piece of brewing equipment i own. As im a 20yr old uni student, so it will be somewhere at a party every weekend, and during holidays, it will be in use most days.


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