I have a keggerator that I made out of a chest freezer that, as of right now, has the taps coming out of the collar of the keggerator. I am doing a basement remodel and am going to have 4 taps coming out of the wall with my keggerator backing up to the back side of the wall. The beer lines will come out of the keggerator and through the wall to the taps. Do I need insulated beer lines for that? If so, what would work best?
I think AmandaK did something like this. Search for her Redbird Brewery projects post.
I don’t know if insulation works, or if you need recirculating glycol. I think you need the glycol (or other means of cooling) but those what have done it will know better than I.
I worked in a restaurant back in the day that ran the lines from a cooler in the cellar. The lines were in an insulated tube and a fan blew cold air from the cooler into the tube. It worked so-so but for a short distance I bet it would work very well.
Yes, I’ve done this. Yes, they need to be chilled and insulated. My lines are chilled via air being sucked from the bottom of the freezer, through the 4" insulated PVC through the tap box, and back into the freezer.
I would recommend against doing the project unless you have a large amount of experience in draft line balancing or know a draft technician. Case in point: I don’t have that experience. Now that I’ve built it, I need to have a gas blender installed to keep the thing from pouring foam. Or I can go back to vinyl lines, which I won’t do.
…ah, the life of a persnickety homebrewer. 