Bar Construction - Long Range Beer Plumbing

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Airgead

Ohhh... I can write anything I like here
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Folks

I am over bottling. Really really over bottling. I am ready to take the plunge and start kegging. I have a small problem though - no room for an extra fridge. Due to my habit of buying food in bulk to save money I am already running a kitchen fridge/freezer, second fridge in the laundry, second freezer in the laundry, chest freezer in the garage and bar fridge in the darkroom (for film). A fourth fridge (or freezer) just won't fit.

I am about to start building a coolroom in a garden shed next to the house to store my wine and beer. The thought occured to me that I could run beer lines under the house to where I want to build the bar so I don't need an extra fridge. I did some research and found that in theory at least it is possible to set up a balanced system of the length I am considerng but I though't I'd run my plans past the AHB sanity check before going any further.

The distance from the site of the new shed/coolroom to where I want to put the bar is about 20 feet. Pretty much all of that is under the house where it is nice and cool all year round. I am after a balanced system (pressure drop in line = pressure in keg - 1Psi for pouring) but I make a lot of diferent types of beer from English ales (1.5 volumes co2) to Germal wheat beers (3 volumes+) so my plan is to set up the system using a number of trunk lines that will balance the english ales (20 feet of 5/16ID or 3/8 ID will do that quite nicely) and then use a smaller diameter choke line in the coolroom to drop the rest of the pressure for the higher carbonated beers. I did read somewhere that the smaller diameter line should be connected to the font rather than the keg. Can anyone comment there? I would also like to run multiple kegs at diferent pressures. Is there gear to do this that won't make me re-mortgage the house?

I also have the problem of keeping 20 feet of beer line cool when I'm not pouring beer. I was thinking of running 5 or 6 trunk lines inside some insulation with a pair of glycol lines running in parallel (one forward one return). I will re-locate my chest freezer into the coolroom so I can make use of part of that for my glycol tank. A reasonably sized pond pump and a remperature sensor should serve to keep the lines chilled (hopefully without freezing one end of them). Since I wouldn't want a flooded font that ran all the time (bit messy) I would put in a valve that would allow me to keep the glycol to the beer lines running all the time but shut off the glycol to the font when I'm not using it.

Since the coolroom is also going to be storing my wine I was planning on running it at around 8-10 degrees rather than the 3-5 I have seen quoted for a beer cellar. I could use the 20 feet of chilled beer line to drip the beer the additional few degrees on it sway to the font but what would this do to the carbonation level? Would I need to gas the beer for the serving temp or the keg temp? I suppose I could also make a 2 part cool room with separate temperature control.

Has anyone out there tried this sort of thing before? Will it work? Am I completely nuts? Is there anything I have overlooked?

Cheers
Dave
 
OK - go and visit your local Andale outlet.
They make beer snakes - 4- 6 3/8 beer lines + 2 glycol chilled lines insulated and self contained. Can sometimes get it second hand all made up.
I would invest in some of those adjustable flow rate valves - talk to Ross or Doc and use these to get the balance right.

For different pressures u need an air presure reg like Supercheap sell.
That way u can put this in line and then drop the presure again from the normal reg - very cheap and easy.

It can be done - good luck.
 
I can only give a suggestion the keeping the beer cold in the lines problem without flooding the font all the time.

You would need to run two pumps, you have one line going all the way to the end of the insulation pipe and then loop back and pump back to the revivor. Then you have the other pump, pump glycol via the same route but rather than looping back you have it connect to the font and then back.

You then just need to wire up a switch that is at your bar to turn off the font flooding pump for when your not using it, seeing as your going to be cutting holes through walls for the lines to go through then this shouldn't be a problem at all.

You will need to get a pretty heavy duty pump to be going all that distance, something that your going to have to take a further look at.

It's a big job, but it will be bloody great when its done!
 
Thanks Guys

I had a look on Andale's website and managed to find a link to their "python" hoses. They do look exactly like what I need. Although I'm only planning 3 taps I would probebly go for a 6 line hose so I can expand later if I want (without having to run more hose). Mind you, by the time I've run 3 beers plus cider and soda water for the missus I may need to go to 8 lines to give me room to grow.

I had a thought about the flooded font. I think I can do it without a second pump - the beer line will have 2 glycol hoses running in parallel, one forward one return with a loop at the end to connect them to form the full circuit. If I have a second longer loop that runs up through the font and add a valve somewhere convenient that lets me either select the short loop (straight back to the coolroom) or the long loop (up through the font and back) I should be able to do it all off the same pump. I hope that makes sense. If not I'll try to draw a picture.

Since it all looks feasible I guess I'd better start measuring things up and making some detailed plans.

Of course step one is to build the new shed...

Actually, step one is to demolish the old shed and move a fence to make room for the new shed...

Cheers
Dave
 

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