Walk in Cooler size for Brewpub - If you had to do it again

[Jedi]

Here is some background info;

10BBL Brewhouse
Planning for 12 serving tanks (includes expansion).
16 taps - mix of kegs and serving tanks
Taps will come off the cooler
2500 sqft public seating space
Only keg distribution, no bottling or canning.
Growlers & crowlers

My designers are battling with me on the cooler size and its consuming effects on the public space. Right now I am planning a 20 x 12 which fits 10x serving tanks and room for stacking kegs. I still feel this is small and worry about the future. How much room in the middle (the walkway) will a person need between the serving tanks if the serving tanks are against the walls on each side lengthwise?

Second issue is the refrigeration unit; the desingers want the compressor and such plumbed to the basement to reduce noise and heat from it. Seems like a headache to me and my thoughts are to keep it simple.

I did look at jacketed tanks instead of a cooler, fed off my main chiller it was waaaaay more expensive. That doesnt help with kegs, added costs of keeping the serving lines cold, and makes the chiller a single source of failure. My planned chiller is a double 7.5hp x 2 but it one fails I would not be able to hold fermentation and serving so that is too risky for me. I cant imagine the day I have to close the taproom cause of that. At least if the cooler refrig unit goes I can have somone come in an hour to fix, not to mention the cooler will keep cold for a while on its own.

Any feedback or lessons learned would be appreciated.

[TGTimm]

Well, I did have to do it over again.

I assume you'll have a kitchen? One walk-in for the kitchen, one walk-in for the kegs.


This was our old cooler, shared with the kitchen--kitchen stuff piled around and on the kegs, a nightmare to change a keg or clean:



The new keg cooler--nothing but kegs, lines nicely arranged to keep everything neat and clean:

[Jedi]

Hey Timm,

Ya separate coolers for kitchen, our health code doesn't allow the sharing. is Your cooler refrig unit in your serving space?

[Jer]

Maybe a rookie question, but how come no stacking of the kegs??

I sure like the neat and tidy plumbing....

Timm - are you daisy chaining two kegs to each tap??

[Jedi]

Maybe a rookie question, but how come no stacking of the kegs??

I sure like the neat and tidy plumbing....

Timm - are you daisy chaining two kegs to each tap??

He is dasying, you can see the gas is only in the furthest from the wall keg.

[TGTimm]

Maybe a rookie question, but how come no stacking of the kegs??

I sure like the neat and tidy plumbing....

Timm - are you daisy chaining two kegs to each tap??

Ever had a hernia? Ever had a blown disk? We don't have a tool for keg stacking, and actually don't have room--the picture was taken with a rather extreme wide-angle lens, and makes everything look bigger.

Yep, we're "daisy chaining" the kegs--more commonly called serial kegs. Always keep a full keg at the front. Eight of the twelve stations are serial; four are singles for specials.

[mmussen]

Jedi,

I would say you want the biggest cooler you can fit. You will always more things you'd like to fit in there. And its never ever big enough for everything you want to do.

[Jer]

Ever had a hernia? Ever had a blown disk? We don't have a tool for keg stacking, and actually don't have room--the picture was taken with a rather extreme wide-angle lens, and makes everything look bigger.

Yep, we're "daisy chaining" the kegs--more commonly called serial kegs. Always keep a full keg at the front. Eight of the twelve stations are serial; four are singles for specials.

Neither.

I have almost pooped my pants lifting full 1/2's, so I hear you. Just asking cause that upper airspace seems kinda wasted. Maybe a lift, or a buddy to help lift, or a rookie D-lineman??

The serial kegs makes perfect sense, just never seen it before. Interesting.

[TGTimm]

Jedi,

I would say you want the biggest cooler you can fit. You will always more things you'd like to fit in there. And its never ever big enough for everything you want to do.

Hear, hear!

My dedicated keg cooler lasted about a week before the kitchen started clamoring for space. We installed shelving along the wall opposite the kegs, with room enough under the shelves for spare kegs. The kitchen still want more space!

As for stacking kegs, when a server has to run back to the cooler and change a keg, we want the system to be a simple as possible to get them back out and selling beer. Stacking kegs is one more operation to perform, especially with the serial kegs, as the full keg always goes on the tap end of the chain. Even with a keg lifter, it's one more way for employees to get hurt.

[TGTimm]

Hey Timm,

Ya separate coolers for kitchen, our health code doesn't allow the sharing. is Your cooler refrig unit in your serving space?

We ran out of space in the pub, so the new keg cooler lives outside. We had to heat the cooler this winter when the outside temps dropped below -20F. We keep it locked up like Fort Knox when the kitchen isn't open (the cooler door is right outside the kitchen door, where it's clearly visible at all times).

[Jedi]

Thanks for the feedback!

I have specced an 12 x 20 cooler. It looks like it will hold 10x 8 BBL serving tanks, plus kegs or 5x 8 BBL serving tanks and 70 kegs stacked between 2-3 kegs high (3 for storage, 2 for serving in series). Thats around 70 BBL a week capacity, 3640 BBL a year capacity which I feel is good for triple growth numbers. I am in a prime location, high traffic, high hipster, active medium size city. Let me know if you think I will need bigger than that. Again there will be not kitchen food in it, just extras like shanks, co2, serving pumps, etc.

I was looking at the keg jokey to lift kegs.