Hard Piping Into Cold Room

[jags0401]

To those brewers who have serving tanks in their cold room, how do you address hard piping for beer transfers? I'd really like to avoid keeping the door open during transfers and this seems logical, though I've never seen it executed in person. My plan so far is to run two identical 1" stainless pipes (to establish a cleaning/sanitizing loop) such that a hose can reach the furthest tank from the point of entry in the cooler. The cooler is behind a block wall (fermenters on the opposite side of the wall) with a 12" air gap between the two. The pipes would go through both the block wall and the cooler. Should the entire pipe be insulated end to end? Should I try to slope the pipes a little to aid in drainage? Is silicone caulking sufficient to seal the pass-thrus in the cooler wall? Any other tips or best practices?

I've never dealt with hard piping and I appreciate any help I can get.

Cheers!
John L

[gitchegumee]

Great solution!

I've done it several times and really like the results. Your plans are sound. Insulate and clad the pipes wherever you can. Slope one way or another might be OK, but I've just installed level without issue. Be sure to have caps that can be used to seal the transfer pipes off when not in use. Install the pipes half way down your cold room so that your hoses can be shorter and still reach either end. This is a simple and easy solution. You'll like it! Good luck!