Bottle Conditioned

This weekend, I built a jockey box to dispense my homebrew. Since I know this is a common project that a bunch of people would like to take on, I thought I’d post a guide on how I did it. Hope this helps someone!

Building a jockey box

By: Justin Davis

These instructions outline my building of a jockey box with a cold plate. There are two ways to construct a jockey box: with a cold plate or with a copper coil. I chose a cold plate for a few reasons. First, with the price of copper, the cold plate is simply more economical. In addition, the cold plate allows you to still use the cooler to store drinks in while using the jockey box - a pretty big plus for parties, etc… These instructions would also work for a coil, however, you’d need to alter how you connect the coil to the lines. Everything else should be the same.

For those who don’t know, a jockey box is a converted cooler that allows you to serve beer with the kegs warm. This is a nice thing to have, as lugging around garbage cans full of ice isn’t fun, and hardly practical. For the box outlined below, it will cool beer down to the mid to lower 40s with no problem and only requires 7 lbs of ice. I’ve tested this box in an average consumption situation, with several people drinking beer from the box. If you’re planning on building a jockey box to use at high-demand events, you might want to try a copper coil or use two cold plates inside the box instead of one. That said, this design will satisfy almost anyone’s needs.

Total cost for this box was right around $190 for me. Time required for assembly was around 45 minutes.

Materials Needed:

* One (1) Cooler. I used a cheap $20 igloo cooler. Anything that will fit the plate will work fine.
* One (1) cold plate. Check eBay. You’ll need a two pass plate. If you can get more passes for cheap or the same price, get that. You’ll have expansion room later. This plate should also come with posts that screw into the holes with washers. If not, you’ll need to buy those separately.
* Two (2) Beer faucets. I used standard brass faucets. If you want, you can go more expensive and get forward sealing faucet (Shirrons or Perlicks), but these should work fine for occasional use.
* Two (2) faucet shanks. Mine are around 4″ long.
* Two (2) faucet barbs, 1/4″.
* Two (2) ball lock disconnects, 1/4″.
* Four (4) barb stems, nuts, and washers, 1/4″.
* Eight (8) Oetiker clamps, 5/16 ID Stepless.
* 14′ clear beverage tubing, 3/16″ ID.

Tools Needed:

* Drill with 7/8″ paddle bit and 1/4″ bit.
* Wire cutters
* Adjustable wrenches, small and large

All the parts ready to go.

Step 1:

The first thing you’ll need to do is drill the cooler to accept the shanks and lines out to the kegs. Using your drill and the 7/8″ paddle bit, drill two holes in the front of the cooler. Space them enough to give room between the taps, and go high enough so that you’re able to get a glass under the faucets when installed.

Don’t worry about if the holes don’t look pretty. The shanks will cover the holes nicely. That said, try as hard as you can to get a clean cut. The plastic on the side of the cooler is pretty flimsy and will tear up easily. Drill fairly slowly and steadily.

After drilling the two front holes for the faucets, flip the cooler over and drill two holes in the back for the lines out to the kegs. You can also use pass through shanks here to give a nicer and more sealed joint, but it’s not necessary. I used a 1/4″ bit and rounded out the holes slightly to get a snug fit. The hole from the bit itself is a bit small for the hoses, but rounding it out gave a perfect fit that is quite snug and airtight.

Step 2

After you’ve drilled the cooler on both sides, you are ready to install the plate, faucets, and hardware. Start by installing the shanks through the cooler. Simply place them through the wall of the cooler, and using a large adjustable wrench, tighten the nut on the inside of the cooler until the shanks are snug.

Step 3

Install the faucets. Faucets attach with a ring on the shank that screws onto the faucet. Simply position the faucet at the end of the shank and screw the ring onto the faucet threads. Note: the ring may not screw all the way to the end of the threads. This isn’t a problem, just get it screwed on as far as is necessary to assure the faucet is secure.

Step 4

You’re ready now to start assembling the inside of the jockey box. When I built mine, I put it all together inside the box. It doesn’t really matter whether you do it inside or outside the box, but assembling everything outside will give you a bit more room to work with wrenches, etc…

First, screw the posts into the cold plate. These should have come with the cold plate, else, you’ll need to buy some. As you see in the picture, they’ve got a small washer that goes down inside the hole of the cold plate first, then the post is screwed on top of it into place. For a two pass plate, you’ll have four of these posts. Tighten these hand tight with a small wrench.

Step 5

Now, you’ll need to attach the barbs to the ends of the shanks in order to accept the hoses. These simply screw on the end of the shank. Make sure to position the washer on the end of the shank and behind the barb. Tighten these hand tight with a wrench. Holding onto the faucet while turning these will help assure a tight connection.

Step 6

Now we’ll get the hoses ready and attached. You’ll need to cut two 1′ lengths of hose for the inside of the box. This will leave you with two 6′ lengths that will eventually go from the box to the kegs. Cut those two lines, and then assemble the barb stem, nut and washer assembly and screw those onto the posts of the cold plate. You will have a total of four of these assemblies. Tighten them hand tight onto the cold plate posts.

This is the barb stem, nut and washer assembly. The barb stem slides through the nut, with the washer on the back of the stem inside the nut. It’ll make much more sense when you have it in front of you. Once you’ve put those together, attach them to the cold plate posts by screwing the nut onto the posts.

Step 7

As you see in the photo above, onve you’ve attached the barb stem assemblies to the cold plate posts, you’re ready to run the hoses from the plate to the faucets. Slide two Oetiker clamps on the hose, then push each end of the hose onto each barb (the shank to the cold plate). Position the clamps on top of the barbs and clamp tightly.

A note on Oetiker clamps: This was the first time I’ve used these, and it took a bit to figure them out. These clamps are widely used in the beverage industry, as they are stepless and won’t damage the hoses when clamped. Plus, they’re cleaner and more simple…less stuff to break. To clamp them you can simply use a normal pair of wire cutters. On top of the clamp, there is a flat area with an indention. Position the clamp where you want it, then using the wire cutters, squeeze on each side of the flat area. The flat area with buckle in the middle, closing the clamp. Searching for “Oetiker Clamps” on google will turn up more instructions on using them. While you can use regular screw type clamps, I’d highly recommend these.

Step 8

After you’ve connected both 1′ pieces of hose to the faucets and cold plate, you’re ready to connect the hoses to the kegs. This is the exact same prodecure as you just went through with the shank-side lines. Run the hoses through the holes in the back of the cooler, slide clamps onto the hose, push the hoses onto the barbs and tighten the clamps.

Step 9

Almost done! The only parts left to attach are the liquid disconnects on the keg-side of the out hoses. To connect these, simply slide an Oetiker clamp onto the hose, push the barb end of the disconnect into the hose, slide the clamp down and clamp. Done!

Step 10

You’re all finished! Clean everything up and get to using it! To run two kegs, you’ll either need to split your CO2 source with a tee or a manifold. Hook your disconnect up to the liquid out on the keg, hook your gas up to the in post, and you’re ready to serve beer! Here is a picture of the final box, with tap handles attached:

Tips on use:

* To cool the box down for initial use, place ice in the box and let it sit for about 15 minutes. You’re ready to serve after about that amount of time.
* The first few pours are going to taste like rubber hose. Run some water or sanitizer through the lines first to get any junk inside the plate or lines out.
* Running water through the box is also a good idea once you’re finished using the box. Simply keep a keg full of water or (better yet) sanitizer, and run that through the lines before putting the box up. This will keep junk from growing in the plate, and will also help prevent the faucets from sticking. (Note: you won’t need to worry about sticking faucets if you use forward-sealing faucets).
* I use a 7lb bag of ice in mine to do the cooling. This has worked to provide adequate cooling over the course of several hours. Adjust accordingly for cooler size, location, keg temperature, and frequency of use.
* If you are using the box in a high demand situation, cool the kegs before hand and keep them in a bucket of ice when serving. You don’t need to keep the whole keg iced, just put them in a plastic storage container with ice on the bottom third of the keg. You shouldn’t have a problem. That said, this is only really needed for very high demand situations, such as festivals.

I hope this guide has been somewhat helpful. This is an easy project that gives you a great deal of flexability when it comes to serving your beer. If you have any questions or comments, email me.

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