Installing taps into walk in cooler

[Darkness]

Hello friends. Our 8x16 walk in cooler will be up and running soon. We are going to start with between 6 and 8 initial taps, with a move up maximum to about 12-14. Nothing fancy just the stainless with the black pulls.

That said, is there anything I should be mindful of installing these? Seems pretty straight forward, penetrate/seal tap/fitting in to the lines right?

What is your preferred method of waste collection/draining for waste/foam?

Thanks in advance for any help, happy brewing!
Ron

[Starcat]

A few suggestions

Ron this would qualify as a short draw system I believe, so there will be some others who have done this type who will no doubt have suggestions.
The Draft Beer quality manual from Brewers association has been mentioned before as a good resource.
If you are going though typical walk in panels with 4 hole flanges, you need to be sure and use SS hardware and go all the way through the box and best to use lock nuts on the other side. Cooler panels, especially galvalume are fragile. IN making the penetrations its important not to be trying to hole saw through a cam lock fitting or on a seam where the panels fit together. You need to be in free space in this respect. I might even be inclined to get a Stainless overlay of a decent guage for the fromt side just to make things stronger. I would oversize it and run it the entire length and then use it as a template to penetrate the box once it was mounted.
This would be one reinforcement strategy.
ON the drain system, I advise you plumb things out to standard 1-1/2' sink type flanges then transize to 1.5" abs. Then go to nearest floor drain.
If you have ever seen draft boxes where people try to run something like 1/2" id vinyl tubing, you are asking for immediate trouble.
We run 12 taps on 2, 1.5" drains like I am speaking of and there is zero problem as was in the olden days.

[TGTimm]

Consider using a box through the cooler wall rather than individual bores for the faucet stems. This way, the entire stem stays in the cooled air of the cooler, making your first pour as good as the rest. Some folks go so far as to mount a small circulation fan into the box--a 4" computer cooling fan works fine. The box needn't be fancy--ours is made of galvanized flashing--just a simple box through the wall, with an SS plate sealed to the outside with caulking. Some foam insulation on the back side of the plate helps to keep the cool air cool, and condensation off your backplate. The faucets mount on the SS plate, which can also support your drain tray. Just be sure to give yourself enough room to easily mount the faucet stem nuts--we use a modified "crow's foot" wrench that goes on a long ratchet wrench extension.

One big b**ch of mine is that all the commercially-made drain trays I've found are too shallow as measured from the backplate (usually 6"). Any gushing of the beer and it over-shoots the tray, especially if you place the faucets high enough to easily fill growlers. As Warren mentioned, they also have undersized (typically 1/2") drains, making it very easy to overflow them.

[Darkness]

Ron this would qualify as a short draw system I believe, so there will be some others who have done this type who will no doubt have suggestions.
The Draft Beer quality manual from Brewers association has been mentioned before as a good resource.
If you are going though typical walk in panels with 4 hole flanges, you need to be sure and use SS hardware and go all the way through the box and best to use lock nuts on the other side. Cooler panels, especially galvalume are fragile. IN making the penetrations its important not to be trying to hole saw through a cam lock fitting or on a seam where the panels fit together. You need to be in free space in this respect. I might even be inclined to get a Stainless overlay of a decent guage for the fromt side just to make things stronger. I would oversize it and run it the entire length and then use it as a template to penetrate the box once it was mounted.
This would be one reinforcement strategy.
ON the drain system, I advise you plumb things out to standard 1-1/2' sink type flanges then transize to 1.5" abs. Then go to nearest floor drain.
If you have ever seen draft boxes where people try to run something like 1/2" id vinyl tubing, you are asking for immediate trouble.
We run 12 taps on 2, 1.5" drains like I am speaking of and there is zero problem as was in the olden days.

Great info and thanks for the resource! That makes sense too about the sizes.. right on man. Thank you.

Consider using a box through the cooler wall rather than individual bores for the faucet stems. This way, the entire stem stays in the cooled air of the cooler, making your first pour as good as the rest. Some folks go so far as to mount a small circulation fan into the box--a 4" computer cooling fan works fine. The box needn't be fancy--ours is made of galvanized flashing--just a simple box through the wall, with an SS plate sealed to the outside with caulking. Some foam insulation on the back side of the plate helps to keep the cool air cool, and condensation off your backplate. The faucets mount on the SS plate, which can also support your drain tray. Just be sure to give yourself enough room to easily mount the faucet stem nuts--we use a modified "crow's foot" wrench that goes on a long ratchet wrench extension.

One big b**ch of mine is that all the commercially-made drain trays I've found are too shallow as measured from the backplate (usually 6"). Any gushing of the beer and it over-shoots the tray, especially if you place the faucets high enough to easily fill growlers. As Warren mentioned, they also have undersized (typically 1/2") drains, making it very easy to overflow them.

Ahh I hadn't considered a box through the cooler like that good idea. I will look into that. Thanks for the affirming of Warren as well, we'll make sure to stay large!

[BemidjiBrewing]

Another suggestion, if drilling individual holes, is to oversize the diameter of the hole and use a piece of PVC pipe as a sleeve around the shank. This prevents condensation from the shank getting into the foam on the interior of the cooler panel. We chose this approach as we needed to go through a cooler panel and a wall, so a full 8+" instead of just the cooler panel. Also, if going with individual holes for each faucet assembly consider picking up a nice long HSS or TiN-coated drill bit that is a bit smaller than the pilot bit on the hole saw and can reach through the thickness of the cooler wall. Use this long, smaller bit to drill straight through both faces of the cooler panel...making sure you are square and level. We discovered that as soon as the hole saw hits the foam it wants to walk all over the place. With this smaller hole drilled first you can drill in from both faces of the cooler wall and know you are going to have a clean, level bore. We have 13 taps ran through our cooler wall in this fashion and this was our way of making them level and consistent.

This all being said...cutting a box has some clear advantages too!

Cheers,
Tom

[Beer-me]

we have done quite a few taps through walk in coolers.

a local distributor taught us to use 8" shanks with 1/4" bore, then your normal 3/16" beer line at 6 feet to the coupler.

the extra shank and bore helps keep /transfer the cold btu to the beer sitting in the insulated wall, I think of it as a stronger fight against the warming effect of the faucet being on the hot side.

it seems to work pretty well with little to no initial foamy shot at the start of a pouring session. the faucst to sweat nicely which is a good thing i suppose..

if you make a big custom backsplash try to get the holds punched by the stainless fabricator. we went through 3 hole saw bits drilling through our stainless backplate.

[rdcpro]

if you make a big custom backsplash try to get the holds punched by the stainless fabricator. we went through 3 hole saw bits drilling through our stainless backplate.

Yes, Stainless is pretty tough to cut. Takes a lot of pressure, low tool speeds and very sharp cutters. A hole saw dulls very quickly. What I do to punch holes in stainless panels is to use a step drill to get the pilot hole big enough for the draw stud, then I use this tool:

http://www.greenlee.com/products/DRIVER-SET%2540dQUICK-DRAW-(7804%2540dE%2540dM4).html?product_id=17361

The hole will need a bit of de-burring, but it's fast and easy to do it this way.

If you have an electrician you use, he may have one of these you can borrow for some beer. I've had mine for at least 30 years, though, so it could be a good investment.

You can get manual hole punches that use a bolt, but if you do, make sure you get the kind that has a ball bearing, though. It's MUCH easier to use.

Regards,
Mike Sharp

[RipRap]

We used one of these to cut a bunch of holes in pretty thick stainless and it worked beautifully. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o05_s00