69 replies to this topic

[gnef]

I was reading through the thread in the PH on Ken's Son, and that got me to thinking about my own setup.

 

Right now, our daughter is only 2.5 years old, but eventually, she will be curious, and we will definitely do our best to raise her with a healthy respect for alcohol, especially my homebrew. I also have a bit of a collection of Scotch that I need to figure out how to lock up as well.

 

With that said, I have been thinking about ways of locking down the taps just in case, and I can't think of the most practical way to go about it.

 

The first thing, is that I have 14 through a coffin box on the side of the walk-in, so the individual tap locks just don't seem to make sense to me because it would be atrociously expensive ($30-50 per lock). 

 

The next thing I thought of would be some sort of metal bar that goes across to prevent the handles from moving, but there would be so much flex (coffin box is about 4 ft wide), that I would think the taps in the middle would still be able to move.

 

The last idea that occurred to me was to build a hinged portion that can be rotated down over the taps and locked. Only thing is that I keep my glassware on top of the coffin box, so I would need a new place for glassware, but I could figure that out. This seems to be the best idea I have come up with so far.

 

I would also need a lock to the door of the walk-in, as it would next be easiest to just open door, swap some fittings, and pour directly off the kegs.

 

The other thing that could complicate this, is I have been thinking about adding even more taps, offset above and in between the current taps, which could potentially make things more difficult.

 

Thoughts?

[MyaCullen]

shut off the gas?

[positiveContact]

shut off the gas?

 

still plenty of pressure in the headspace usually.  i don't leave the gas on any of my kegs.  i just "charge" them from time to time.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Inline ball valves with a lock on the walk-in door.

 

That sounds like a winner there.

[Big Nake]

This thought has crossed my mind too but I don't think I would pull the trigger on it. I'm looking at 4 taps, not 14 so it would be easier. I was actually just thinking of disconnecting the gas (I have 2 tanks serving 4 kegs) so pop the GAS IN connector off all 4 kegs and release the pressure until there is little-to-no pressure in the keg. Clearly I wouldn't do this ALL the time but if my wife and I needed to leave anyone home by themselves again, I could do that and I'm pretty sure no one would know how to get beer to flow. Also, my daughter is 18 and on her way to college. I suppose she could disappoint me by having friends try to tap beer when given the opportunity but she does not like beer. My 16-yo is my concern at the moment. Unfortunately, I don't make beers that most teenagers would wince at. Stouts, IIPAs, Tripels, etc would turn off most teenagers that I know.

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

webcam pointed at the taps. 

[Big Nake]

webcam pointed at the taps.

LOL.I always thought it would be cool to have some sort of digital display so that every time the tap was pulled, the number would change (go up or down by one, whatever) and even if it didn't work, at least the kids would be freaked out by it.

[realbeerguy]

Inline ball valves with a lock on the walk-in door.

Might create foaming issues

[realbeerguy]

How so?

If you have a valve in line, there is a pressure drop from the inlet (P1) to the outlet (P2).  You will have some turbulence in the line downstream from the outlet.  If the pressure drop is severe enough, cavitation can occur.

[SchwanzBrewer]

If you have a valve in line, there is a pressure drop from the inlet (P1) to the outlet (P2).  You will have some turbulence in the line downstream from the outlet.  If the pressure drop is severe enough, cavitation can occur

 

 

You might be able to find food grade plastic valves the same diameter as the serving hose, which would reduce the chances of foaming.

[realbeerguy]

You might be able to find food grade plastic valves the same diameter as the serving hose, which would reduce the chances of foaming.

Every valve, no matter what the material, has an inherent pressure drop.  Full port valves will have a lower value as opposed to standard port valves of the same size.  Full bore may help.  With any ball valve, you will still have issues with media being trapped in the cavity behind the ball leading to contamination.  The only true sanitary valves are pinch, diaphragm, butterfly.

[MyaCullen]

Every valve, no matter what the material, has an inherent pressure drop.  Full port valves will have a lower value as opposed to standard port valves of the same size.  Full bore may help.  With any ball valve, you will still have issues with media being trapped in the cavity behind the ball leading to contamination.  The only true sanitary valves are pinch, diaphragm, butterfly.

pinch valves might be hard to cinch down on thick walled beverage line

[SchwanzBrewer]

This is true. Any way you do it, it's gonna be a giant pain in the butt.

[ChefLamont]

Locked door to where the taps are?

[matt6150]

This thread reminds me I shouldn't have kids.

[Stout_fan]

• Convert to metal handles.
• Insulate the taps.
• Charge with this:

 

https://www.tractors...e-fence-charger

 

Warning: Your son may grow up hating beer for no good reason.

[positiveContact]

game cam!

[StankDelicious]

14 taps?

 

[MakeMeHoppy]

remember once successful with this you've only eliminated the problem of kids having friends over and drinking YOUR beer. You still haven't solved the problem of them bringing alcohol into the house while you are gone.

 

 

I like the idea of some lockable cover over all of the taps the best. It is likely the most effective and cheapest.

 

How do you keep the beer fresh running 14 taps?  It must take about a year for a slow mover to finally kick.

[Big Nake]

remember once successful with this you've only eliminated the problem of kids having friends over and drinking YOUR beer. You still haven't solved the problem of them bringing alcohol into the house while you are gone.  I like the idea of some lockable cover over all of the taps the best. It is likely the most effective and cheapest. How do you keep the beer fresh running 14 taps?  It must take about a year for a slow mover to finally kick.

I always thought the 14 taps was awesome and crazy, nutty at the same time. My wife originally thought that "kegging homebrew" was one of those YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING! moments but now that I have a modest 4 taps in the bar, who's at the taps as often as me? My wife. Gnef, don't you have something like 90 kegs too? Or was that someone else? Ah, the things we do for beer.