Thermocouple in the tower ?? what you think about it ?

[rimfirejoe]

I just talked with one of my friend today and he work in a research lab in the energy efficiency domain.

They do a lot of research about heating , refrigeration, drying, etc ...

There is a lot of '' big brain'' in there !!

I talked to him about my project of '' Live monitoring'' of my beer temp in the tower. My point is if i can monitor the beer temp in the tower ( at the supposed hottest point of the kegerator) . I will have a perfect pour each time even after a several hours/day without pouring anything.

If the beer temp is 36-38 in the tower .. il will dont matter anymore because the temp of the keg will be the same or even colder.

He said he was able to build me at low cost a thermocouple sensor with a sensor monitor . He was thinking about putting a '' T '' fitting on the beer line about 3 to 4 inches below the faucet in the tower and plug in a thermocouple.


My only concern is do the T fitting can cause restriction or create too much movement in the beer and by the way cause any problem ???

Im very enthusiast about having live and precise beer temp monitoring in the line !


Please write down you thoughts and idea about this project !

I will post a picture of how the setup will be soon ...



Joey

[Hophead]

It's not quite that simple. It's more important to keep the beer temp consistent from the bottom of the keg to the faucet than anything else. If the tower is 38 degrees and the beer in the keg is say, 32 degrees, then you will probably still have foam issues. That's why so many people install small fans inside the kegerator - to move the air around and keep the temp from the bottom to the top of the keg consistent. That's also why a tower cooler/blower is a must for foam free pours all the time.

Also keep in mind, your CO2 pressure is based on the beer temp in the keg - not the temp of the beer in the tower. That's why maintaining the same temp is more important than just making the tower cold.

Finally, I wouldn't put anything in a beer line that wasn't specifically designed to be there. Any type of restriction can cause pour speed issues and foamy pours.

[cubby_swans]

I don't think I would want anything in the line impeding the flow and causing 'turbulence'. I agree with Hophead. You need to concentrate more on making sure the beer temperature is the same from keg to point of dispense.

[psychodad]

Bad idea IMHO. If you wanted to sense the temperature of the tower and run your tower cooler based on that, that is one thing (still not necessary). Trying to control the temperature of your beer by monitoring the very small amount of beer that is in the line is another.

[rimfirejoe]

All 3 of you are thinking nothing should disturb the flow in the beer line so i will not do that.

U have the same concern as me.

I will instead use the thermocouple which is far more precise than a standard digital kitchen thermometer and take the temp of the beer on the first pour to check if i can get something around 38 f which is my goal.

Thank you for your input

Joey

[cubby_swans]

actually, you want to take the temperature of a 2nd pour. Pour 1/2 a beer, chug it, or pass it to a friend, pour a 2nd beer right away, and take the temperature of that. THAT is the beer out of the keg, and that's what you want a temperature reading of. You need to clear any beer out of the tower, first, in case it is not the same temp as the keg.

[rimfirejoe]

I totally agree with you that the second pour will be the KEG temp but we also want the temp to be equal from the keg to the dispense point.

So the best would be to have the second pour at 38 F and when you have that ....check the temp on the first pour and upgrade your fan/blower setup to have the nearest temp possible of 38 f.

I will follow your route and adjust the whole think to have 38 on the second pour and see how is the first one and adjust my blower/fans after that.

Thank you for the info


EDIT ** By the way i have already done the 100 k resistor mod and installed a 12 v blower running at 7.5 to cool the tower . I just wait to have the more precise thermomether from my friends beacause mine is a taylor waterproof kitchen thermometer and precision is like +/- 2 f ..which is too much for me..

[cubby_swans]

I just wait to have the more precise thermomether from my friends beacause mine is a taylor waterproof kitchen thermometer and precision is like +/- 2 f ..which is too much for me..

If you create an ice bath (glass of water with mostly ice, let it sit a few minutes), then take the temp of the ice batch, your thermometer should read 32F (or 32.1 or so). If it doesn't, you'll know exactly how much +/- it is. Then you can use that +/- number to determine your beer temperature.

[TomK]

I don't see the need for more than about a degree of precision for the temperature measurement. If you enter the carbonation chart with 38.0 degrees for a 2.60 beer, for example, you come away with about 12 psi. If you use 37.5 degrees instead, you're going to get the same answer. Then you set your pressure using gauges that are maybe accurate to +/- 1 psi. Oh, and don't forget to add "maybe 1 or 2 psi" for push pressure. See what I mean?

[TomK]

Oh also, on the flow disturbance issue. I understand the idea, but isn't the faucet with a big ole rubber washer and nut right smack dab in the middle of the flow about as bad as you can get for a disturbance maker?

[rimfirejoe]

I like your last post TomK hahahahah

[TomK]

I like your last post TomK hahahahah

As persnickety as beer seems to be to coax out of a keg, I've come to realize it's something of a minor miracle that it can be done at all. And I thought it would be easy! You know, toss the keg in there, hook up some gas, grab a glass and open the tap! BWAHAHAHA!