6 replies to this topic

[big harry deehl]

OK. I am about to build a jockey box for our brew club. It will be cold plate besed.It will likely be a 4 circuit plate and there are two plates that are in our price range have 11' or 12' circuit length.What are you guy's experience with cold plates with this sort of circuit length? Is the beer cold enough? What about foaming and dispensing pressures? Also, what about the temperature of your serving kegs? Are they chilled, slightly chilled or ambient?Brews Bros, give me the scoop.

[gnef]

well, I can only give you my experience.I am a big fan of cold plates. When I switched over to kegging, I didn't really know how to transport my beer to other places and still be able to serve it.I now have four cold plates, and three jockey boxes (two cold plates are in one jockey box I designed/made). I have two 2-pass cold plates, a 5-pass, and a 6-pass. The 5-pass and 6-pass are in one jockey box.I am getting married in four weeks, and will be using the 11 faucet jockey box to serve. I freeze my own blocks of ice to use.I have never run any of my jockey boxes continually. There is always some down time, so I have never run in to the issue of the cold plate not being able to keep up. This might be different for your brew club. If you think this may be an issue, then you need to consider getting a larger surface area cold plate (some are 18 inches wide, I think). I use the 2-pass jockey boxes for small gatherings where there will be at least a few who enjoy beer.foaming and dispensing pressures need to be set per cold plate. Every one of my cold plates has a different amount of restriction, so it takes a bit of practice. Generally, my beers will become slightly overcarbed if kept at the high pressure over night, but if you bleed it off afterwards, it will be fine.I have served my kegs in all manners of ways, all with success. Sometimes I just take it out of the kegerator or chest freezer, and take it wherever it needs to go. Other times, I take one of the kegs sitting at room temp, and they all work ok. You need to adjust how much ice you bring though.If you wait to look on ebay, you can find some amazing deals. This is where I bought my big cold plates. The smaller cold plates I bought off craigslist for very cheap.I also just built a randall, and will hopefully be testing that out soon with the jockey box as well.I prefer to use the flared fittings with the jockey box as well, and oetiker clamps if possible.Before you use it for the first big event, do a run through with water to check for leaks around everything, and even check the hour before you plan on serving from it with the actual beverages to make sure everything is still good. Always bring more ice than you think you need. You will start foaming a tremendous amount if you run out of ice - this happened to me once, and never again. I personally believe block ice works better than cube ice, but have no data to back that up.Hope this helps!

[MoreAmmoPlz]

...foaming and dispensing pressures need to be set per cold plate. Every one of my cold plates has a different amount of restriction, so it takes a bit of practice. Generally, my beers will become slightly overcarbed if kept at the high pressure over night, but if you bleed it off afterwards, it will be fine....

That happened to me the first couple of times I used my jockey box. To correct this I decided to just plan for serving the kegs at room temp and played with the amount of 3/16" tubing between the cold plate and the taps so that I had the correct amount of pressure.

[big harry deehl]

Is 3/16" tubing better than 1/4" or vice versa? I have seen both used. One guy on a NB thread said if he had to do it all over again he would use 1/4".The other concern is with the circuit length inside the cold plate. How long are your circuits? 12' seems to be normal in the 8"wide plates and 18' circuits in the 10" wide ones..... Also, how does that effect your choice of the size of your beer tubing (3/16" vs 1/4")?I know. Lots of questions. But I want to get it right the first time.

[MoreAmmoPlz]

Is 3/16" tubing better than 1/4" or vice versa? I have seen both used. One guy on a NB thread said if he had to do it all over again he would use 1/4".

For the lines going from the cold plate to the kegs I used 1/4" because I didn't want to correct the pressure outside the jockey box. This way the lines outside would be shorter and more manageable. Inside the cooler are the coiled lengths of 3/16" tubing that have a higher restriction and correct the pressure.

The other concern is with the circuit length inside the cold plate. How long are your circuits? 12' seems to be normal in the 8"wide plates and 18' circuits in the 10" wide ones..... Also, how does that effect your choice of the size of your beer tubing (3/16" vs 1/4")?I know. Lots of questions. But I want to get it right the first time.

For mine I just tried to guestimate the restriction provided by the cold plate and then just shortened the 3/16" lines until I had the correct pour for the pressure I was shooting for. Hope that makes sense.

[gnef]

I actually had the opposite problem (go figure) for my 6-pass cold plate. There wasn't enough restriction in the cold plate, and in my first time using it, I used 1/4'' line, and even if I turned the regulator pressure lower, it didn't matter as the keg pressure was higher at room temperature - this caused excessive foaming issues. For that 6-pass cold plate, I have now converted everything to 3/16'' tubing, and it works fine.Now, my 2-pass cold plates have significantly more restriction, so much so that I have to use 1/4'' line. I think it really just varies from one cold plate to the next - especially since mine are from random sources. If you can get all of the same cold plate (if you are purchasing multiple cold plates) then you can just figure out what you need, and be consistent.

[43rd_street_brew]

just purchased a two circuit SS plate for my jockey box. does it help to raise the plate off the bottom of the cooler? will this keep the lines colder/longer? i am considering putting 2 inch PVC under the plate to get it off the bottom of the cooler, but maybe i'm overthinking it. any other opinions? will it stay cold enough just by laying it in the bottom of the cooler? thanks.