[uisgue]

My tax return gift to myself this year was a 2-tap jockey box.  Does anyone have any tips or hints for a first time user.  I'm guessing that it might need higher pressure than my kegerator.  Does it make any difference whether the kegs are warm or cold? (I have coils, not a plate.) Anything that might surprise me? I want to break it in at the Humboldt Homebrew Festival early April.

[Stevie]

Cold kegs are not a must, but make pouring so much easier. Use plastic keg tubs to keep the kegs on ice.


Lower pressure is sometimes needed because the kegs have recently been jostled. This is especially the case if you are relying on the coils to cool the beer.


Store it clean and dry. Remove the faucets after cleaning and blow out with CO2 to get as much water out as possible. Storing with StarSan in the lines and faucets closed is good as well, but you will want to replace the StarSan from time to time.


Be sure your manifold has check valves if you plan on pouring beers from other brewers. I have seen plenty of backflow due to high pressure kegs. Bleeding the PRV is good before connecting a keg, but it's easy to forget.


Use thick walled line. I like the thin wall for my kegerator, but jockey boxes get moved an abused so much that I have seen the line split at the barb connections.

[The Naked Brewer]

I've built 3 different sized jockey boxes that all use coils (1 tap, 2 tap, and 3 tap).  I've found that while you can serve with the kegs warm, it helps A LOT with minimizing foaming to have them cold.  I typically keep the pressure lower (4-5 psi) than in my kegerators (10-12 psi).  Definitely clean it after every use and don't wait too long to clean it.  I run hot PBW followed by StarSan and store it with StarSan in the lines/coils.  I find the little faucet caps help too when you're outside to keep the bugs out of the taps in between pours. 

[uisgue]

Thanks for the info.  I must say, I'm a bit surprised at using a lower PSI than the kegerator.  I would have thought that with the longer lines, i.e. coil, it would have need higher pressure.

[troybinso]

I have to keep mine pressure higher on the jockey box because it runs through a long stretch of stainless steel tubing which increases the resistance. I have found that 18psi works for mine.

You can use a calculator and add in all of the factors and lengths of the tubing to get to your ideal balance.

[uisgue]

That was pretty much my train of thought.

[bboy9000]

DO NOT fill the jockey box with  ice before pouring beer through the lines or it may freeze over.  Pour a beer every 15 minutes for the same reason. Always run a little beer through then add the ice.

Other than that, look up articles online to determine serving pressure.  Serving pressure depends on line length and diameter (and coil length if that's what you have inside).  I heard a lot of generalizations (serve at a higher/lower pressure because...) but I was able to run mine at my normal serving pressure.

Edit:  I have 50' 3/8" diameter SS cool and 8' of line with a Perlick 525 SS tap and room for another if I invest in another SS coil.