I’m borrowing a friend’s jockey box for a week this summer and have a few questions on how to use it. I’ve read a few posts saying that the keg still needs to be chilled, but isn’t the whole point of a jockey box to server room-temp kegs at serving temps? If I keep the keg below 70 degrees, should that be ok? Also, we don’t plan to drink both kegs in 1 day, but over the course of a week. If I set my PSI to ~30, should I try to turn it down when not being used? The kegs will go from my kegerator (40 degrees) and transported. Should I bump up the CO2 for the car ride, since they will warm up quite a bit? Sorry for all the questions, just trying to figure out if this is the best option for me. I’d rather not have to bring 20 glass growlers in the car!
I think you are making it a bit overcomplicated here.
1- 30 psi seems way over the top for serving. Why not 10 psi?
2- Don’t have to bother bunping up the CO2 for the car ride. Assuming it has been carbonnated properly before transport.
3- I’d say keep the keg as cool as possible. I have used a draft box before and kept the kegs outside in the shade for up to a week and it served just fine. Just make sure it does not get too warm.
Another idea would be to keep the kegs in a cool water bath. Should be fine when using a draft box.
Big thing for me would be to make sure kegs are properly conditioned. Once they start to warm up it will be very dificult to get CO2 to disolve.
Thanks for the response. I just assumed 30PSI since the keg will be close to room temp and will lose CO2 over the week, and with 50’ of coil I’d need more pressure to serve. Kegs will be properly carbonated when I leave for the trip (~12 PSI at 40 degrees)
I see where you are coming from, but I don’t think the issue will be as drastic as you are thinking. Assuming the gas is already disolved in the beer most of it should stay in there (no where else to go) - especially since you will be cooling the beer back down in the box.
If you notice the beer getting a bit flat as you serve it would make sense to push up the preasure.
I’ve only used a draft box a couple of times (once over 2 days / once over a week) and did not have an issue (serving at 7psi).
However I have been to a wedding with the same set up and the beer was warmish and flat - so your concerns are not unfounded I suppose.
Hopefully someone else will chime in with a second perspective. But I do think you will be able to just go ahead and trouble shoot if needed.
I’ve driven 2 hours with a cold carbonated (10 psi) corny keg from my at home kegerator to a camp site, set up the jockey box (water, ice) and poured great beer.
I make sure I have towels around the keg during transport to help keep the keg cool. I do have to increase the regulator on my CO2 to a higher pressure to push the beer thru the 100-foot coils in the jockey box. Usually around 25-30 psi.
Jockey boxes with longer coils are able to recover between pulls of the tap, as the incoming beer from the keg has a longer contact time in the coils and cold temps. Also, longer coils are able to pour cold beer from a not so cold keg. I don’t have any experience with shorter coils, however.
With a 50 foot coil, you probably will need to up the psi to push the beer thru the tubing. Just test it out once it’s setup.
Don’t forget to clean and sanitize the tubing/tap after use.
