very stupid qustion

[johnnyboy]

ok i know nothing about kegs or anything like that so sorry for the stupid question but im builign a grill for some1 that will connect to a trailor hitch for tailgating and stuff like that. they also want a beer tap on the grill but i have no idea waht i need. they said it will be for a single keg and i have to get them everything they need besides the keg so any help i can get would be great...

[USMC - Retired]

Will this be a refrigerated system or are they planning on cooling the beer with Ice?

Semper Fi,
The Gunns

"Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy" - Benjamin Franklin

[johnnyboy]

ice

[USMC - Retired]

Simple solution would be to buy a refrierator conversion kit and install it on a 55 gal drum (plastic or steel your choice but plastic won't rust) then make a bracket on the trailer to hold the drum. Make sure to add a valve on the bottom of the drum to drain water off as the ice melts. You will also want to add some sort of bracket beside the drum backet to hold the CO2 bottle. Make sure to tell your customer to be carefull when putting kegs in or taking them out so as not to damage the hoses or faucet hardware. Even easier but a bit more expensive is to buy a MicroMatic Party cart and make a ramp and holding bracket for it on the trailer, this will also give your customer the ability to move the keg away from the cooker once he gets to his location. Heres a link to the party cart:

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-...d-JEPK-DA.html

Semper Fi,
The Gunns

"Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy" - Benjamin Franklin

[johnnyboy]

what do i ned co2 for? sorry but ive never used a keg before. they were wanting the keg to sit in the bed of a truck and just have a tap on the grill.

[USMC - Retired]

First off, you don't want the tap on the grill, the heat the grill puts off and a tap system DO NOT MIX! Now, the CO2 is used for two things, one, it provides the pressure to make the beer flow from the keg, and two it maintains the CO2 volume in the beer(this is where them bubbles come from). Sounds like the best solution for your customer would be the MicroMatic Party Cart. That way they can move the keg around to a good spot AND keep it away from the keat of the grill (can't stress this enough). And, unless they like warm beer, it would be very costly to mount a keg in a truck bed and run a line any distance from it, this is because you need to keep the beer line from the keg to the faucet chilled just like you do the keg or you will have foam problems and warm beer, neither of which are cost effective or good to drink. Where are you located? If it is somewhere close to my area I wouldn't mind sittin down with you and helping plan it out, sounds like a fun project.

Semper Fi,
The Gunns

"Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy" - Benjamin Franklin

[johnnyboy]

im in alabama, could i not just insulate the hose? its not like there gonna be gettin a beer every 20 minutes, it till be for ailgatting at football games and stuff like that, alabama football is a big thig here. the place i was thinking of mounting the tap was actully about a foot away from the grill so that might help with the heat a little

[johnnyboy]

that and i was planning on mounting the tap on a box type thing, i could just put a door in the back with a drainhole in the bottem and have the beer go throguh a copper coil and just fill the box with ice. is there any insulated taps out there?

[CoreyD]

Sounds like you should bet a ready made jockey box form micromatic.
http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-...s-cid-163.html
You could mount it anywhere on the truck and use pipe insulation for the beer lines. You could mount the co2 tank near the keg.

"If you tap it, they will come."

[USMC - Retired]

Well, I was going to help you till you said it was for Alabama tailgaters... GO DAWGS!!!!

Ok, differences aside, I still think you would be better off keeping the entire system seperate and mobile, reason being, even if you do rechill the beer at the faucet end of your line you still will have some issues with foaming due to the temp of the line between the keg and the jockey box at the faucet. Plus, even though the setup is for tailgating, your customer may like the flexability to move a keg indoors after the game at the hotel or home and also be able to use the setup for other purposes like bowl game parties at the house and such. The choice is obviously up to you and your customer, just don't limit yourself for the sake of "bragging rights" that a tap is "built in" to the grill.

Semper Fi,
The Gunns

"Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy" - Benjamin Franklin

[bubbad]

Come on Devil Dawg, tailgating is all about bragging rights. Your set up needs to both look good and be functional. I currently run a jockey box system at my tailgates up here in Seattle. It works well. I keep the keg in the back of a truck with the jockey box right in front of it sitting out at the end of the truck bed.

The current system works great as it is. The truck has a canopy top so the keg and jockey box are out of view of the cops. There is no problem with cleaning up empties like I used to have with cans and bottles. Not having to hide opening and pouring beers out of cans is also much more discrete. The overflow and spillage run down between the truck bed and the tailgate. The tailgate is still available for setting up food and whatnot. So everything is working great really.

That being said, I have always dreamed of setting up a tailgate trailer so I hear exactly what you are saying. In my mind I would set it up as a short one axle trailer. It would have two diamond plated boxes that each has the capacity to hold four kegs across (just to give you an idea about the size). And before you say that I am nuts just hear me out about my vision.

Only the middle box would actually be a cooler. This one would be directly over the axle and would house the entire keg assembly. Two kegs, one 20lb cylinder, you get the idea. The shanks would come out of one end. This would ensure that the entire system is always running at a good cold temp. The two kegs would sit in two wells in the middle of the box. The outside wells would be used to keep food cold and to house other drinks.

The other box – the non insulated one closer to the tongue – would look exactly the same from the outside but on the inside it would not be insulated and could be used to store all your stuff. Both of the boxes would be built with matching diamond plated lids that lock down with pad locks.

So, if you were looking down on the trailer from above it would be divided into three equal sections. There would be two diamond-plated steel boxes up front and a big space to mount a grill in the back. You could easily customize a grill to mount right on the back by cutting down the legs and welding it down. Mount the propane tank up front and you are all set to go. All you would have to do is load up and ice down your kegs the night before along with everything else in the cooler. Top it off with ice before you leave in the morning and you are good to go. This would also be a great set up for a mobile picnic… you know like a family BBQ or something like that.

Damn I love tailgating… how many more months until college football?

[USMC - Retired]

Bubba, No arguement from me that tailgating has big bragging rights factors built in, I just don't think there would be alot to brag about if your beer is all foam. My point was that by keeping the keg system seperate and mobile you have more flexability and most importantly, you isolate the system from the intense heat that is going to be put off from the grill. Your setup sounds real nice but, I think if you added a grill the heat would become an issue, just my opinion mind you. Like you though I live for college football and a chance to see my SEC Champion Georgia Bulldogs in action first game for us this year is Sep 2, gonna be a long summer....

Semper Fi,
The Gunns

"Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy" - Benjamin Franklin