Beer Forum

I need to make a jockey box for an upcoming party, but I do not have the finances to purchase cooper coil. Will plastic tubing work just as well?

Not really. Copper is normally used since it transmits heat so efficiently. Sometimes stainless steel is used, but it is not quite so efficient. Plastic, on the other hand, is an insulator and will help keep the beer from getting cold.

If you have an immersion chiller, you already have a copper coil that can be used. Just make sure you clean it out good before and after temporary use in a jockey box.

Another alternative is simply stick the keg in a tub of ice. A 5 gallon corny keg fits nicely into a 10 gallon round cooler with a couple inches of ice all around. A 1.5-3 gallon corny will fit completely inside with the lid in place.

These alternatives should do it for you until you can locate some copper tubing cheaply. Check out eBay for deals. I picked up a 25' roll there for about half of what I would have had to pay locally even when figuring in the shipping.

Wayne

Bugeater wrote:...Another alternative is simply stick the keg in a tub of ice. A 5 gallon corny keg fits nicely into a 10 gallon round cooler with a couple inches of ice all around. A 1.5-3 gallon corny will fit completely inside with the lid in place...

Scottie in a 10 gallon igloo...

I'll often just use a 5 or 7 gallon bucket with ice in the bottom. Its not nearly as good as a cooler in terms of efficiency, but it is cheap and will keep a keg cool for a few hours at least, probably more. As the beer draws from the bottom of the keg it should stay coolest where it gets dispensed. Not to mention there is a pretty high level of thermal retention in a keg.