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Hi All,
This is my first post, so excuse me if I have not done it correctly.
Quick intro:
This forum has helped me out many times and I am thankful for the wealth of knowledge that Micro Matic has started here. Now I hope to contribute to maybe help somebody else down the road.
I have been a commercial draft tech/installer for several years now in a major city. I had a great start in this business with some great mentors and I had the privilege years ago of meeting Scott Zuhse and training under him at the Dispense Institute. A truly invaluable experience. Thank you Scott. I am forever grateful.
...Look what you have done to me! Cheers!
I have been fortunate in this large city to see a lot of different beer systems,equipment and crazy installations new, old, good, great, bad and ugly. I have learned to always stick to the principles taught here at Micro Matic to achieve the best quality dispensing and it has proven to be the right road time and again.
Although, I do love to keep things interesting and I am always up for a good artistic challenge, so I like to do whatever it takes to give the customer the system of their dreams.
So,I am currently looking into a project for a client refurbishing and modifying some old brass, air cooled mushroom towers that have no identifying markings on them as to whom the manufacturer is/was. For all I know they could be, from what the client told me, up to or at least 30 years old. He pulled them out of an old building's basement that had quite the history and he wants to put them to use. Normally I would sway the client away from reusing something second hand, because you do not know the care that the prior owner took with the tower, etc. The good thing here, is that this tower is air cooled and I know that I can remove and replace all contact services; faucets, shanks, lines, etc.
Preserving these towers could be worth the challenge because they do have a cool history and look very fitting to the bar that he is designing with a lot of other antique objects.
I want to know if I can find replacements for these shanks or if I will have to take another approach by retrofitting new shanks into these towers. I have done quite a few custom installations over the years, but have always respected the guidelines that were taught to me for achieving good quality dispensing. I refuse to just do a butcher job that does not perform properly just for the sake of doing it.
I guess the bigger question is has anybody ever seen these shanks before? If you have, please enlighten me.
(photos below) Shank Description: They are very thin about a 1/4 ID, and looks a long hollow bolt that at one end has the typical spanner ring to attached the faucet, the other end is a threaded end. These thin shanks slide inside a larger shank that then has the spacer and is actually secured in place on the tower. At the threaded end of the thin inner shank is what looks to me like a compression type fitting with a locking washer, nut and rubber grommet which then goes to a straight barb or elbowed barb.
For those of you who are visual like me, I have included photos here of these shanks and towers for review. Thanks again to all of you for your help in advance.
Any input would be great to point me in the right direction.
Cheers!
This is my first post, so excuse me if I have not done it correctly.
Quick intro:
This forum has helped me out many times and I am thankful for the wealth of knowledge that Micro Matic has started here. Now I hope to contribute to maybe help somebody else down the road.
I have been a commercial draft tech/installer for several years now in a major city. I had a great start in this business with some great mentors and I had the privilege years ago of meeting Scott Zuhse and training under him at the Dispense Institute. A truly invaluable experience. Thank you Scott. I am forever grateful.
...Look what you have done to me! Cheers!
I have been fortunate in this large city to see a lot of different beer systems,equipment and crazy installations new, old, good, great, bad and ugly. I have learned to always stick to the principles taught here at Micro Matic to achieve the best quality dispensing and it has proven to be the right road time and again.
Although, I do love to keep things interesting and I am always up for a good artistic challenge, so I like to do whatever it takes to give the customer the system of their dreams.
So,I am currently looking into a project for a client refurbishing and modifying some old brass, air cooled mushroom towers that have no identifying markings on them as to whom the manufacturer is/was. For all I know they could be, from what the client told me, up to or at least 30 years old. He pulled them out of an old building's basement that had quite the history and he wants to put them to use. Normally I would sway the client away from reusing something second hand, because you do not know the care that the prior owner took with the tower, etc. The good thing here, is that this tower is air cooled and I know that I can remove and replace all contact services; faucets, shanks, lines, etc.
Preserving these towers could be worth the challenge because they do have a cool history and look very fitting to the bar that he is designing with a lot of other antique objects.
I want to know if I can find replacements for these shanks or if I will have to take another approach by retrofitting new shanks into these towers. I have done quite a few custom installations over the years, but have always respected the guidelines that were taught to me for achieving good quality dispensing. I refuse to just do a butcher job that does not perform properly just for the sake of doing it.
I guess the bigger question is has anybody ever seen these shanks before? If you have, please enlighten me.
(photos below) Shank Description: They are very thin about a 1/4 ID, and looks a long hollow bolt that at one end has the typical spanner ring to attached the faucet, the other end is a threaded end. These thin shanks slide inside a larger shank that then has the spacer and is actually secured in place on the tower. At the threaded end of the thin inner shank is what looks to me like a compression type fitting with a locking washer, nut and rubber grommet which then goes to a straight barb or elbowed barb.
For those of you who are visual like me, I have included photos here of these shanks and towers for review. Thanks again to all of you for your help in advance.
Any input would be great to point me in the right direction.
Cheers!
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