Home Brew Keg/bar Setups

[chris_718]

Here's one for all you people out there with home bar setups......

I'm currently setting up a home bar (I have a fridge, with 2 home brew kegs in it. I'm finishing off the bar at the moment (red gum slab on top), and have a flooded "Pacific" cobra style flooded font (two tap). I have set up the font to be cooled using a glycol reservoir in the freezer section of the fridge....

my questions:
- After using the keg, will beer "go off" in the beer lines when not used?
- what stops the beer from freezing in the font (I'm trying to get the typical pub "icy font" look, but don't understand how the beer remains unfrozen.....).

Thanks, :beer:

Chris

 

[tangent]

yes - if you're a dirty bastard and don't clean your lines.
alcohol doesn't freeze when water freezes.

 

[PistolPatch]

Hi there Chris,

1. Eventually, your beer is will go off in the beer lines. But, the beer line is usually just full of CO2 and beer so this process can take a while. Not sure if it happens these days but some pubs never used to clean their lines. Matilda Bay, over 20 years ago, was the first mob in Australia to address this. We flushed the lines each night with water and cleaned them with MSB (I think it was MSB) once a week.

For the homebrewer, such a regime is a little over the top. You probably should however clean your lines every time you empty a keg though no one does after a while!

If you are spending money on a new set-up you should definitely look at John Guest fittings as they are not only cheaper than normal fittings but make cleaning a lot more manageable.

2. Can't answer your second question fully but the freezing point of beer is minus two degrees (possibly -4) if my memory serves me correctly. If you don't get your complete answer here, PM Ross. He has a HUGE flooded font!

Cheers
Pat

 

[tangent]

see why your answers read like a meeting with my Grandparents Pat?
and almost roundabout answered one question You really should run for Government.
No sh!t I'd vote for you.

 

[Wortgames]

You can expect to see condensation but your font is unlikely to 'ice up' - this is a deliberate marketing gimmick, it uses huge amounts of energy and really needs a proper temperature-controlled glycol system to keep it cold enough for ice to form without freezing the beer inside.