Date:         Fri, 14 Feb 2014 13:05:12 -0500
Reply-To:     Jason Ellsmere <jasonellsmere@ME.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jason Ellsmere <jasonellsmere@ME.COM>
Subject:      Re: chilling westy draft (beer)
Comments: To: Tom Carchrae <tom@CARCHRAE.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <CAFNeVpE4XKSaDBFRmWs3YhSdwVvjYR8eta7C4Qo9=J2oBzCVZQ@mail.gmail.com>
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I am in the beer business so I can help you out a bit.

First point - it's not worth the effort.  Too messy and complicated for not much gain.

The keg needs to be cold or you will end up with a foaming problem using a basic draught system.  You can ice it but that water will need to drain and re-icing is a pain.  Refrigerating a coil is beyond my expertise, cool if you could do it.

Driving with a partially full keg will cause foaming issues, again with a basic draught system.  You can spend money on a system that will help with that but it will take more space...and money.

Wow that all sounds pretty negative.

I can help trouble shoot if you do decide to take a crack at it.

Jason
Toronto



> On Feb 14, 2014, at 12:56 PM, Tom Carchrae <tom@CARCHRAE.NET> wrote:
> 
> So I have ended up with a small (5lb) CO2 canister.  It seems it would be
> pretty easy to install in the van.  A 20L keg is pretty compact and would
> fit nicely at the back of the 'wardrobe'.
> 
> This seems like a practical way to carry an adequate supply of beer.
> However, how would I chill it?  Has anyone looked at ice bucket immersion
> chillers, series of peltier coolers ($3 a pop on ebay), or any other things
> that might make sense for a tight space.  Perhaps a copper line wrapped
> around the fridge cooling elements?  Doubtful I think.  I had previously
> dreamed about using heat from the engine coolant to drive the westy fridge,
> but that started to get way too far out.
> 
> Or just stuff it and enjoy it english style (aka warm).
> 
> Just dreaming of other work to do on the van while I slowly reassemble the

> engine.
> 
> Tom
> 
> ps, if you recall the off-with-her-heads thread, I out-with-her-engine, and
> then off-with-her-pistons, and now I am making good progress putting it
> back together.  doing it with the engine the van was hell, glad to be on
> the 'other side' of vw owners now.