Off topic post that nobody will care about

[Gene Pink]

Another compressor (freon) bites the dust. Can't have that, need cold beer.

Rather than patch up this old ice merchandiser** from the 60's yet again, I pulled the trigger on a brand new one from Leer. $2300 bucks delivered. That may seem like a lot of money, but it is really just a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of kegs that I go through. Note my avitar.

** An ice merchandiser sits out in front of convenience stores full of bags of ice for sale. You've seen them.

So, out with the old....

 

[Gene Pink]

A new unit deserves a real concrete pad, rather than just stacked up on concrete blocks that perpetually sink down into the dirt.

Note to self, I suck at floating concrete, but very level with a 1/8" pitch away from the house. At 61 years old, I'm too old for this, luckily, my 82 year old brother-in-law helped.  ;D

 

[JohnRoberts]

gravity will help leveling...

I hear the ozone layer is healing up...

beer good, cold beer better

JR

 

[Gene Pink]

New cooler in place. Note my kid's repurposed swing set that makes a good gantry crane, just add a Harbor Freight hoist and wheels to go fetch a keg from wherever, usually right off the tailgate of my pickup truck.

And yeah, still stacked up on concrete blocks like the old one, but this one ain't going anywhere.

 

[Gene Pink]

Innards, in case anyone gives a flying darn.

Alongside the beer line, there is a 3/4" vinyl hose connected to a transmission fill funnel. With a heat gun, I squared off the funnel flange to fit a 3" boxer fan, this is located a few inches off the bottom, to suck up the coldest air. Other end of the hose goes to the back of the beer faucet inside, so it sweats condensation, and ensures cold all the way to the faucet.

The red thing setting on the keg is one of those deals meant to cover hose bibs in the winter to keep your pipes from freezing, there is an outdoor temperature sender under it. I can sit inside at the bar and monitor keg temp.  8)

 

[JohnRoberts]

looks like you have it sorted...

JR

 

[gyraf]

..now where's the envy icon when I need it..



Jakob E.

 

[scott2000]

Awe  that's pretty great....

You have a bar?? I've always wanted to have one....

You could always attach a piece of drain to the gutter and bury it away a few feet away and have a bubbler attached just to keep all that downspout runoff away.....

 

[Matador]

So those taps lead through the wall to a bar on the inside?

I converted an old freezer to a keg cooler (a keezer?) with an Inkbird temperature controller, but the odd shape on the inside means it fits only a single mini keg.   That monstrosity of yours looks like it could hold 2 or 3 at least!

 

[pucho812]

beer good, cold beer better

JR

that is true. However I did learn to drink room temp beer while down in Mexico.  it's an acquired taste but a nice skill to have.

 

[JohnRoberts]

that is true. However I did learn to drink room temp beer while down in Mexico.  it's an acquired taste but a nice skill to have.

I have never been a fan of warm beer and cold temperature helps conceal bad flavors from crap beer. My beer doesn't suck so would be OK warm, but cold is better.  8)

I experienced drinking room temperature beer in germany back in the 70s. I recall being in one bar where they provided beer warmers,  those little heating coils used to boil one cup of water at a time, to the locals who used them to warm up beer that was chilled for the american GIs.  :

While on NATO maneuvers sleeping in tents in a Bavarian forest, I would line up flippies around the edge of the tent to be cooler (we had a kerosene stove heating the tent). Flippies are the flip top re-closable beer bottles widely used back then.

Warm beer is better than no beer, but just barely if it isn't good beer. That german beer was pretty good as I recall.  8)

JR

PS: When hurricane Katrina knocked out my power for several days, I had made enough ice in advance to never run out of cold beer, or have my food spoil. The (only) good thing about hurricanes is you get a lot of advance warning. The only people surprised by hurricanes  are probably surprised by everyday life.  :

 

[Matador]

I had an interesting discussion when I was last working in Munich:  I was surprised that ice was never available, and never served in drinks.

It turns out that Germans drink beer (and most beverages for that matter, including soda) at 'cask temperature', which is in-between 'room temperature' (average of like 65F), and standard US fridge temperature (36-38F):  German beer casks are stored underground, which is consistently at about 53F.  So it's neither warm nor cold.

I still prefer cold as in less than 40.

 

[john12ax7]

I quite liked some of the cask ales in London. In general don't mind warm beer at all, as long as it's quality.  Warm bad beer is pretty terrible though.

Overall my preference would be slightly chilled over cold or warm.

 

[Gene Pink]

So those taps lead through the wall to a bar on the inside?

Yup. See pic.

@ Scott: downhill is to the right in that pic, away from the pad and the cooler, and the pad is raised enough where there is no problem. But thanks for the tip.

BTW. the strange tap handle makes a better tap handle than it did a shifter handle that came on my last pickup truck.

Gene

 

[hodad]

Very nice, but not quite as nice as what Niels Bohr got for winning the Nobel Prize:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/11/28/for-winning-the-nobel-prize-niels-bohr-got-a-house-with-free-beer/#529758ad2759

 

[JohnRoberts]

I had heard about that elsewhere... when I was in germany on Nato maneuvers  I noticed that every town has a brewery in the local gaushaus (hotel).  Some living nearby reportedly plumbed a beer line direct to their home for fresh beer. (Sounds incredibly impractical unless a very heavy drinker.)


JR

 

[Tubetec]

They say in the vicinity of St James gate brewery (Guinness) in Dublin ,that old lead lines exist from the brewery out to pubs close by , not sure if it still goes on now ,but in the old days anything that didnt make it past quality control was gladly sucked down by the locals at a preferential price.

 

[Gene Pink]

One more gizmo to finish this project off, and could use some advice. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.

I need to know the relative weight of these kegs. Not so much how full they are, more like how close to empty they are, and will need swapping out. So I need a sort of scale, with some harsh environment requirements inside the cooler. No calibration is needed or wanted, other than empty consistently means empty.

Where I am thinking right now, is a couple of thick steel plates and links connecting them so that they remain parallel as they spread apart. A big spring between the plates to compress with the weight of the keg, and a way to monitor the deflection remotely (from inside).

The mechanical is easy, but the best I have come up with to show keg level so far, is a fuel gauge sender** out of a car gas tank, and a matching dashboard fuel gauge inside on the wall, near the faucet.

Calibration for empty would be easy enough, and making the gauge "expanded scale" is as easy as a slot with an, um, "biasing" spring,

**Gas tank senders are a wirewound pot with the wiper connected to the float arm, and have about a 90 degree travel from full to empty as the float moves with the fuel level.

I kind of like the Rube Goldberg / steampunk vibe of an automotive fuel gauge for beer keg level indication, but I am interested in any and all other opinions that anyone may have.

Thanks,
Gene

 

[PRR]

Propane tanks have a fill gauge. I had throught it was pressure but it is a float gauge (and can stick). It is sealed for 100psi. Variants support remote reading so you don't have to get up from your chair.

Drawback: does not indicate "empty" with precision. With propane, the residual can stay until you re-fill. With beer, you want to get the last drop or it will go stale and vile.

Why not a plain old stand-on weight scale? They talk to your smartphone now....
https://www.amazon.com/RENPHO-Bluetooth-Body-Fat-Scale/dp/B01N1UX8RW
https://www.amazon.com/Jobar-International-Digital-Bathroom-Extendable/dp/B07P75ML7L

$55

https://www.amazon.com/TUFFIOM-Electronic-Stainless-High-Definition-Computing/dp/B07HSZL9RC shipping scale $88. ($80 in blue)

 

[scott2000]

You could always designate/hire a barback for those nights when it really matters...lol