Jockey Box FAQ

It takes approximately 1 pound of CO2 to dispense a 1/2 barrel of beer. A 5 pound tank will dispense:

• (5-6) 1/2 barrels
• (10-14) 1/4 barrels, or
• (15-20) 5 gallon Homebrew kegs
  

It's all about temperature and pressure. Set your regulator between 25-30 PSI and fill your jockey box completely full of ice (FULL). Then let it acclimate for 10-15 minutes until you see condensation on your faucets (i.e. they are cold). Add ice as necessary to keep the coils and shanks covered with ice.

Depends. Are you starting with cold kegs? Did you let them warm up overnight?

It is not necessary to ice cold kegs, but do not let them get warm. The cooler you can keep the kegs, the slower the ice will melt inside the jockey box and the less CO2 issues (foam) you will have.

Keep kegs out of direct sunlight. They will warm up extremely fast and CO2 will not want to stay in suspension (foam).

Just remember that the coils inside the jockey box need to be completely covered in ice.

No! Jockey boxes are used for temporary pouring locations. If you leave the kegs at a high pressure (25-30 PSI) for more than 12 hours, the CO2 starts to dissolve into the beer, causing over carbonation.

If you have a 2-day festival, you need to shut off the CO2 and then purge the excess CO2 from the kegs by pulling on the coupler relief valve. You can then re-pressurize the kegs to 10-12 PSI for storage. 

Because your friend (the expert) is referring to kegerators and balanced draft systems. Jockey boxes are not kegerators and are unbalanced systems. You need extra pressure to overcome the resistance caused by the coils inside the jockey box.

You will get foam at 12-15 PSI and need to turn the pressure UP in order to stop the foaming.

You can, but be warned. We've tested all the faucets on the market with jockey boxes and the basic, standard beer faucet pours the best with portable draft systems. They pour at a slower rate and seem to be less temperamental than forward sealing or flow control faucets.

Note: If you start messing with our systems by adding flow control faucets, you'll more than likely get foam. Our 6' keg jumpers, 50' coils, and standard beer faucets, work perfectly at ~28 PSI.

Nope. Our 50' coils are perfect for 99% of our customers. When our systems are set up correctly, you'll get a perfect pint every time you pull the tap handle.

For the 1% that need longer coils, we do offer 100' versions. But keep in mind that the longer the coil, the higher the PSI needs to be to overcome the resistance. 100' versions are used when you need to pour pitchers of beer non stop. Meaning you'll go through the keg very quickly.

We don't. It can help with ice melting away from the coils, but ice directly on the coils works great. Just open the jockey box every once in a while and move the ice around.

If you do add water, keep the water below the shanks. Beer shank threads are not NPT and water can push through the threads.

Foam is temperature or pressure issues. Check:

1. Regulator: make sure you are still at a good operating PSI.
2. Temperature: Check ice. Move it around the coils and make sure your ice is still above the coils. You may need to add ice or drain water.
3. Kegs: Are your kegs sill cool? Look at your beer lines, if it looks like bubbles are moving around even when the faucet isn't open, your beer may be warming up and CO2 is wanting to break out of suspension. Get your kegs on more ice.

Our 2 & 4 tap jockey boxes are our most popular.

Yes, we can put up to 10 taps in a jockey box. BUT keep in mind that anything over 4 taps gets extremely heavy. If you want more than 4 taps, we recommend buying 2-3 jockey boxes instead of one large one. Our worlds largest jockey box (10-taps) weighs over 300 pounds.