Line length and Cooling for Temporary Bar

[Ester Trub]

I am building a temporary bar for an event and am seeking some advice.

I am running 12 taps, and I planned to buy flooded fonts and run the beer through andale beer python from a coolroom.
Budget constraints mean I can't afford an ice bank or glycol solutions, so I planned to use a small pump to pump ice water through the lines and into the fonts.

Line balancing calculations suggest that I'll need 6m of python with 6.35mm lines.

I made a call to Andale to get a quote on the Python and the guy there (who was really rude and didn't want to talk to me) suggested that this setup wouldn't work and that I'd probably get frothy beer.

Does anyone with experience have any suggestions on line length, size, and cooling of lines and fonts?
How would you set up a temporary bar with 12 taps, and no powered chilling solutions?

 

[klangers]

It doesn't add up to me that you can afford flooded fonts etc but not the cooling solutions.

The problem with using ice water on a flooded font is that the surface areas etc are all set up for glycol, which is sub-zero. I'm not saying it wont work, but rather that it won't work as well.
Then there's the issue of keeping the ice water cold. Every beer you pour will take cold energy from the ice water.

There is no generalised answer, so answers to the questions below will help:

• What is the average rate of dispensing (beers per hour)? This determines how much cooling/insulating we need
• How are you keeping the ice water cold?
• What temperature is the cool room?
• What style of beers are you pouring?

 

[Ester Trub]

I am working to a budget based on a crowdfunding campaign. The flooded fonts are cheap ones.
An ice bank or glycol solution is going to cost me thousands extra which I simply don't have.

As for the ice water, I feel it should work in theory. The plan was to salt the ice so it stays sub zero but still liquid.
I was planning to keep it cool just by adding more ice every half hour or so.

Beers per hour: hard to gauge lets say approx 200
Ice water will be kept cold by adding more ice every so often.
Coolroom is at 4c I think.
Beer style is unimportant in this case. All beers are carbed at 12psi.

 

[Ester Trub]

Does anyone know if you can hire glycol machines? Maybe that could be an option....?

 

[klangers]

I'd avoid adding salt.

You're better off keeping the ice in a slurry but as much of it as solid as possible. This means your energy density in your esky or whatever it is is far higher, as you now have the latent heat of melting the ice as well as the specific heat of changing the temperature. If you do have ice on hand to regularly add then that should work.

As for will it work, yes it will - as you say in theory. You may have to play with pumps and flow rates - as you have reduced the temperature differential since you're not using glycol you'll have to compensate with higher flowrates or put more back pressure in the line and have a slower pour.

Beer style does matter significantly, but usually there's a mix so one cannot do too much about it. A mass produced lager, with virtually no body, can be served at a higher pressure/flowrate and will not foam anywhere near an all-grain lager.

 

[klangers]

Yeah you should be able to hire a whole bar really, including an glycol chiller.

 

[MastersBrewery]

One of the brew clubs built this: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/index.php?/topic/89365-Portable-Bar-Build
Way cheaper and easier than flooded fonts and when your done you can sell or hire out. And you can make it as big/ little as you need.

 

[mckenry]

I have 6 taps at home and flood them with iced water.
I use a pond pump submerged in a 3L plastic milk container - hacked out the pouring side so the handle remains. The amount of water my 6 tap takes is probably about 5 - 6 litres. The pond pump does 8L/min (from memory)
I turn it on and the water level in the milk container drops as the pipes fill (obviously). I am ready to top up the container as this goes. Once its full and the returned water is at full speed its good to go. The return hose for the flooding goes back into the container.

Works pretty well.

 

[MastersBrewery]

I have 6 taps at home and flood them with iced water.
I use a pond pump submerged in a 3L plastic milk container - hacked out the pouring side so the handle remains. The amount of water my 6 tap takes is probably about 5 - 6 litres. The pond pump does 8L/min (from memory)
I turn it on and the water level in the milk container drops as the pipes fill (obviously). I am ready to top up the container as this goes. Once its full and the returned water is at full speed its good to go. The return hose for the flooding goes back into the container.

Works pretty well.

Capture.JPG

mckenery if you are ever found mugged, kidnapped or otherwise molested; it'll be some font jealous ******* who done it.
And no it won't be me, bullet proof 9l keg still doin fine!