New Build Questions

[Bar Build]

We entertain a lot and are building a home bar. Immediately behind the room where we are building the bar, is empty storage space. Our plan is to buy a chest freezer large enough to hold 2 half barrels, keep the freezer in the storage area and run lines to the bar. Right now we plan on using a temprature controller that does not require wiring. At the bar, we'll have a cooled ceramic tower with 2 faucets. At most, the change in height from the top of a barrel to the faucet will be 30 inches. Also, the maximum length of line outside the freezer is 15 feet, but, it is much more likely we will have only 10 feet. We anticipate two turns in the lines of 90 degrees, although we may be able to make one of the turns less drastic.

We are new to beer dispensing systems and have a few questions:

1) Can we keep the gas in the freezer with the beer? We plan on having Guiness and a pale ale of some type so we will need both nitrogen and CO2.

2) In terms of cooling the lines outside of the freezer, if we go with glycol, how loud is the pump? It will be seperated from the bar area and our home theater by only dry wall. If at all loud, it will be a problem. Related to this, can the pump be kept in the freezer to provide noise reduction?

3) If we go with a forced air system, how does it hook to the towers that are described as air cooled? There seem to be two types of forced air systems depending on whether you have two seperate air lines for your cooled air and return air vs. one line inside the other and it is somewhat confusing as to how both types could hook to the same tower without some type of adapter.

4) How big of a fan would we need and much harder does a forced air system cause a freezer to work?

5) Any recommendations on line size?

Thanks.

[Jeff_From_VA]

I am no expert but I can offer up a tiny chunk of what you ask, I know co2 will be fine inside the cooler area, not sure about nitrogen.

The rest i have no idea, I won't have a setup like you for a year or so when we build our next house which I plan to have a bar setup like you describe.

[edramshaw]

The glycol is not that loud but it is relative. You could probabally ask a bar to hear theirs to get an idea. With air you need to be sure that your refridgerator (compressor) can handle the extra work. Look in MM's equipment store under air products and you will see the blowers and then manifolds that make it all happen. Basically you use an insualted tube with a smaller tube inside of it. The lines run through one tube and the air is forced through it, the air then travels into the tower and returns through the other tube. It is hard to explain but if you look through their parts section of even under the education you can find a wealth of information.

[Buck]

You can get by with an air system but don't expect a perfect pour.

1. You don't want to put the gases in the cooler because they will not gasify properly at lower temps. You will use about 20 percent more gas.

2. If you use glycol the pump is connected to the glycol power pack so you definetly can't put it in the cooler.Some glycol units can get a bit loud but the smaller one from MM is fairly quiet.

3. If you use air you will have two sizes of flex tubing, usually for two lines I would use 4" and 3". MM sells a connection kit so both the tubes will attach to the tower.

4. If you insulate the air system good enough it won't be too hard on your freezer, just make sure it's very airtight.

For 15' I would using straight 1/4 inch tubing.
if it's 10ft you will have to use 8' of 1/4 and 2' of 3/16
But if I was doing it for myself I would use a double blender and restrict the lines to 22lbs. That will take care of any temp problems up to about 50 degrees and you will get a perfect pour.

[Scott Zuhse]

Preferably utilize the MMPP4301-EP glycol power pack. The pump for this unit is very quite. It is ideal for this application unlike the inefficient air cooled systems which can overload the keg storage refrigerator resulting in temperature fluctuations.

Always attempt to place gas sources outside of the refrigerator so that you can easily monitor the high pressure gauges for gas content in your cylinders. You will require two cylinders - a blend for the Guinness and CO2 for the ale. Or you could utilize a dual gas blender. Pricey for home dispense but worth it if your budget allows.

If you are going the glycol route, do not skimp on the tower. Use a glycol ready tower which is designed for use with the power pack.

When you are ready to install, refer back to the forum for specific details on balancing and connections.