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Author Topic: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box  (Read 9443 times)

Offline AmandaK

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Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« on: October 16, 2013, 07:13:34 pm »
Here's a look at my party tap set up that I built out of a few old parts and some new ones.

I have had this little 5 gallon round cooler since I was a sophomore in college. I used it mainly for float trips or yard drinking and usually filled it with some sort of gin-based lemon-lime concoction. But I digress. Here's some pictures in it's new life!  :D



I use the jockey box in conjunction with two velcro-laden Reflectix wraps I made. They wrap each keg thre times and velcro onto themselves. What is really nice about the wraps is that I can take a keg out of the keezer, wrap it and it stays under 40F for 20-24 hours. If it's going to be longer than that out of refrigeration, I usually scoot the wraps up and put the kegs in a cooler with ice as shown at my mom's surprise birthday party:



The inside is packed full with the cold plate, beer lines and shanks. Seen here right after drilling holes in the ol' gin bucket.



With ice and beer:



The beer line is all 1/4" ID, with 10' coiled up inside the cooler for each tap run. The lines from the cooler to the kegs are each 5' long. This is most likely overkill, but go big or go home yeah?

The system works really well in terms of keeping the beer cold and not having any foaming. It's been a hit at several parties over the summer in it's short lifespan as a jockey box. In the future, I plan to either vinyl wrap it in white with my brewery logo on it or something similar.

Cheers guys!
-Amanda
« Last Edit: October 16, 2013, 07:17:29 pm by AmandaK »
Amanda Burkemper
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Offline Jeff M

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Re: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2013, 07:18:01 pm »
Nice, I was going to do something similiar with my 10G MLT when its retired, Cept just put a 3G corny directly in the cooler itself.
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Offline AmandaK

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Re: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2013, 06:09:00 am »
Nice, I was going to do something similiar with my 10G MLT when its retired, Cept just put a 3G corny directly in the cooler itself.

I started thinking about that, but after buying the shanks/faucets from a local friend and the cold plate for cheap off of eBay, it was less than the cost of a 3G corny!  8)
Amanda Burkemper
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Offline denny

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Re: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2013, 09:56:49 am »
Snazzy!  I'm SO glad to see that you numbered the lines.  My club has a 6 tap box with no indication of which line goes to which tap.  PITA!
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Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2013, 10:09:32 am »
Snazzy!  I'm SO glad to see that you numbered the lines.  My club has a 6 tap box with no indication of which line goes to which tap.  PITA!
No sharpie Denny? ;D
Tom Schmidlin

Offline duboman

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Re: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« Reply #5 on: October 17, 2013, 10:21:38 am »
That's a really nice set up, putting this lil project on my to do list! Thanks for sharing:)
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Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« Reply #6 on: October 17, 2013, 10:23:09 am »
+1.  Very nice. 
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Offline AmandaK

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Re: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« Reply #7 on: October 17, 2013, 12:54:40 pm »
Snazzy!  I'm SO glad to see that you numbered the lines.  My club has a 6 tap box with no indication of which line goes to which tap.  PITA!

Oh I hear ya! Our older club jockey box is a 5-tapper with no labeling. It's such a PITA to set up each time. When I built the club's new jockey box, I labeled everything with numbers.
Amanda Burkemper
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Offline denny

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Re: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« Reply #8 on: October 17, 2013, 01:14:57 pm »
Snazzy!  I'm SO glad to see that you numbered the lines.  My club has a 6 tap box with no indication of which line goes to which tap.  PITA!
No sharpie Denny? ;D

Not my duty, Tom.  If the keeper of the club box doesn't want to deal with it, it doesn't happen.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline AmandaK

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Re: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2014, 10:05:22 am »
This little guy snuck in as #10 in Zymurgy's 2013 Gadget issue! My friends really got a kick out of that.  ;D
Amanda Burkemper
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Offline AmandaK

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Re: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« Reply #10 on: March 14, 2014, 09:56:59 am »
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pimp-my-system/amandas-gin-bucket-jockey-box/

Now a featured Pimp My System! Knowing the cooler's former life as a gin-holding, party-starting hangover-machine... it's a bit odd that some people take it seriously.  :o Hahaha.

My college friends sure are getting a kick out of this though!  ;D
Amanda Burkemper
KC Bier Meisters Lifetime Member - KCBM 3x AHA Club of the Year!!
BJCP Assistant (to the) Midwest Rep
BJCP Grand Master/Mead/Cider


Our Homebrewed Wedding, AHA Article

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« Reply #11 on: March 14, 2014, 11:07:24 am »
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pimp-my-system/amandas-gin-bucket-jockey-box/

Now a featured Pimp My System! Knowing the cooler's former life as a gin-holding, party-starting hangover-machine... it's a bit odd that some people take it seriously.  :o Hahaha.

My college friends sure are getting a kick out of this though!  ;D

Well I like it ! It's a great design.
Jon H.

Offline CTbeerworks

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Re: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« Reply #12 on: May 27, 2014, 08:59:15 pm »
I'm new to home brewing... so I apologize if this is a dumb question... lol

But why don't people use copper tubing for the coils when making these? Most of them I see if not all, plastic tubing is used. Just curious why...
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Offline Stevie

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Re: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« Reply #13 on: May 27, 2014, 10:04:54 pm »
Copper is bad for beer once it is done. Good for wort, bad for beer. Can't remember the exact reasons.

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Re-purposed 'Gin Bucket', now 2-tap Jockey Box
« Reply #14 on: May 28, 2014, 09:01:30 am »
Copper is bad for beer once it is done. Good for wort, bad for beer. Can't remember the exact reasons.

Much lower pH will leach copper into the beer which is not good for the beer drinker. one could I suppose use stainless coils if one was inclined to spend the money.
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