Home-Pub Mini-Project . . . .

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Roadkill

I just need my tap plate.

Picking it up tomorrow . . it'll need more work to make it do the job so it'll keep me busy over the weekend . . .

Have also ordered (hopefully) all the hose and clamps I need to get everything plumbed, too.

Fingers crossed it arrives before Chrimbo as it'll mean I can enjoy a nicely "pulled" pint with dinner.

[Roadkill]

Utterly failed to get anything done on this over Christmas and the New Year . . . As a result I have a stockpile of Beer that's not getting drunk very fast !!  

Gonna try to put a bit of time into this later . . .

[art b]

Quoting: Roadkill

Gonna try to put a bit of time into this later . . .

is that the drinking part ....

[Roadkill]

O.K . . . Continued tidying the modifications where the old window was (i.e. fitting conduit for the monitor cables and fitting architrave to match the adjacent area).

Just need to add a top-coat on the architrave and then a bead of silicone to finish that off - but more on that later.

Progress on the actual taps / plumbing / drinking part of this project has been next-to-nil recently so I decided to work on this today . . .

First was to fit the tails to the pressure gauges (1 is currently in use as a test - so these are the remaining 2).

I tried using PTFE tape initially but this was too much . . and me being me tightened the fitting too much and split one of the tails . . . thankfully I had a spare and switched to thread-lock to lock and seal the threads.

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Next the "tap plate" . . . mounting all this individually to the wall proved too much and left my new wall in a state when I test-fitted the first tap.  The plate was laser-cut, leaving me to chamfer the holes and edges, add corners to three of the larger holes (these will take the gauges) then mark, drill and tap the holes for the tap-bases . . .

Looks a little messy but it'll get some wrinkle paint so will be fine . . .

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Next mount the taps to their bases and trim the pipes as required . . .

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Next mount the taps and degrease . . .

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I was going to leave the brass on show . . . but decided black, white, brass and chrome was too many colours in one small area . . . so the brass will be black, leaving the chrome taps and white gauge faces to stand out . . .

Am currently painting . . .

[art b]

nice work ....

[Roadkill]

I cut and ran the vacuum lines last night, as well as drilled the necessary extra holes . . .

Here's a picture of the tap plate all painted and test-fitted (I needed to do a little filing of the timbers in the wall so it sat level).

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The plan tonight is to mount all the pressure gauges to the plate, then connect the vacuum lines at the shed end and mount the plate . . .

In order to connect them at the keg end it means releasing the pressure in all 3 kegs which seems like a waste of CO2 so I'm going to wait until the pressure drops naturally in each one before installing the tail and connecting each one.

Just means I've gotta up my drinking !!  

[Roadkill]

Real progress, now !!

Drank enough of the IPA to get the pressure down to 1psi so I could remove the "test" pressure gauge . . .

I mounted the three gauges on to the tap plate . . . it was a pretty tight fit as I'd filed the round holes square just enough for them to fit . . . That said to be on the safe side, I also used Araldite around the fitting on the back "just in case".

Once dry, I taped over the areas to help prevent the Araldite sticking to the wall (to aid any future maintenance).

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The three vacuum lines were attached to the back of their respective gauges and the plate screwed to the wall.

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Back out in the shed I tidied up the vacuum lines and supported them under the Keg-shelf.  The three lower holes are 15mm and lead to the taps . . . I'll get some pipe collars for the vacuum lines so they look a bit neater.

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And overall . . . so far only one keg is connected to its gauge . . . as the pressure drops in the other two I'll connect them, too (shouldn't take long).

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Next stage is to finish painting and silicone-sealing the architrave in the garage-end . . . . I should get this done over the weekend . . .

After that I need to connect the lines for the beer itself but I'm waiting on some inline valves to arrive, first.

[Incursus]

Looking awesome

Quoting: Roadkill

Drank enough of the IPA to get the pressure down to 1psi so I could remove the "test" pressure gauge . . .

Piss head!  I've only ever had to use one CO2 capsule.. ...must try harder

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Incursus

Piss head

It took 10 pints over three nights . . . It never reached high pressures as it was my "test rig" for my first pressure gauge and leaked.

It was only after I fixed the leak that it started building pressure . . . even then it only got to 7psi.

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Roadkill

Next stage is to finish painting and silicone-sealing the architrave in the garage-end . . . .

Painting's finished.

Assuming it's dry enough I'll attempt to add the silicone tonight meaning that end of things will be finished . . .

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Roadkill

Assuming it's dry enough I'll attempt to add the silicone tonight

Yup, all done inside the garage now . . . It's like the window was never there !

BEFORE

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AND NOW . . .

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I'm really happy with how this has turned out . . . The taps are a little closer together than I'd like but at one stage I didn't even think I'd get the three of them in . . . so I can't complain.



Just need to finish the beer-plumbing and pressure lines and - more importantly - test !!

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: Roadkill

AND NOW . . .

What a great project! Looks really good!

You could literally run a pipe from the tap, turn it on and game whilst slurrping down beer

Have you thought about adding a nostalgic 'pub' surround to the taps?

[Cunning Plan]

P.S. Can we see under the bench

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Cunning Plan

Have you thought about adding a nostalgic 'pub' surround to the taps?

No.  I'm toying with the idea of adding small blackboards above each one so I can write what beers are on what tap . . . I'll give it a go but reckon it'll look too crowded . . .

Quoting: Cunning Plan

P.S. Can we see under the bench

That was another, past, project (garage extension, probably . . ).  

[art b]

at a quick glance i thought that it was in the lounge....

[Roadkill]

Quoting: art b

i thought that it was in the lounge....

Nah, It's my man-cave.  

. . . Still lacking a toilet . . . apart from that it's got everything !  

[ianjpage]

Quoting: Roadkill

Still lacking a toilet . .

Well the waste pipe is only just in the corner lol!!

[Titsy]

Quoting: Roadkill

. . . Still lacking a toilet . . . apart from that it's got everything !

I told you when you were first extending you should put a urinal in...

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: Titsy

I told you when you were first extending you should put a urinal in...

I just go in the garden

[Roadkill]

Unfortunately, with Wifey and Sprog, I rarely get more than an hour out there at a time and "holding it" for that long ain't a problem for me.

[Roadkill]

Bugger.

I went out there last night to start getting the fittings together to plumb the beer lines in and found that I haven't got any plumbers solder . . . I tried to use electrical solder but I wasn't happy with the results.



A reel of solder is mega-expensive, so I've just ordered a 1m length off eBay.



Should have it by Friday.

[Roadkill]

Soldered up the fittings . . . .

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Added the in-line valves and fitted them to the back of the tap-stubs.

Then ran the beer lines . . .

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Next step is to sterilise the lines before flowing the beer (and checking for leaks) . . .

Note - The muppet eBay seller sent me one of the wrong size clamp so I need to get a correct one before connecting the last line . . .

[Roadkill]

Sterilised the lines and got two beers "plumbed" . . . unfortunately one of the only fittings I didn't make (the tap back-plates) is seeping on one of the two.



I've drained that line and will have to take the whole plate off to re-solder the connection . . . lots of hassle !

On the plus side I get to see how the rig will work . . .

Here's the video of me pouring my IPA . . . if you look really close you'll see the pressure gauge flicker as it drops just a touch near the end.



1 out of 3

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[art b]

looks great

pity about the leak,
funny how things like that always happen in the worst place..

[Roadkill]

I'll be dusting this project off soon as all three barrels are nearly empty, meaning I can disconnect all the lines and sort the leak before the next three barrels are mature and ready to go.

Plus it's a free-fix (or should be)  . . . and I need some of those at the moment !