Tap/Shank Spacing

some brewers like to make big/wide tap handles in order to stand out. something to keep in mind

 

Don't install the taps too close to a side wall or column. One 40-tap taproom in town has only 39 usable taps because the end tap is too close to the wall to actually pour beer.

 

The round trim piece behind the faucet that covers the hole in the backplate is 2½ inches in diameter (Perlick). To be eye-pleasing you wouldn't want adjacent faucet trim pieces to be touching. I have 4" centers and wouldn't consider anything any tighter. The locking nut behind the backplate has ~2½" of free space between my shanks. On the front side the spacing between the faucet locking ring is similar . . . enough room to insert a wrench, but not a lot extra . . . and that's with 4" centers.

The distance between the centers of a no-nic pint glass is also ~4". So you could line up a series of pint glasses (or tulips) on the drip tray underneath each faucet. This isn't a typical pouring example but aesthetically it looks nice.

Every 40+ faucet beer bar I've visited has resulted in some photos and usually drop a pin on Google maps. With that in mind, I suggest moving heaven and earth to make it good looking. To be sure, mount a couple of faucets to a scrap piece of 2x6 and you'll get a good feel for looks/practicality.

 

Standard spacing is 2 1/2" center hole to center hole. Anything other than 2 1/2" is a special order and will require plenty of time as well as a lot of dough. Many draft towers are manufactured by a third party, and special order is not even an option in those cases.

If your draft equipment fits within the space you have, then it is fine and if it does not then you have a problem. The problem is your space though.

You can pour from 2 adjacent faucets at he same time and it is not hard. But it is not typically something that happens all day at a 40 flavor venue.

Non standard spacing is often found with a direct draw system, and the installer had a sheet of s/s fabricated with holes to mount on the wall adjacent to the cooler. If the holes are too far apart it will look funny. The faucets are just sort of floating there on the wall hanging out in space, especially if they are at eye level. It sounds like a good idea, giving each brand plenty of real estate but in practice it can be odd.

If you find that one particular brand of faucet marker is too wide to accommodate its neighbors, you can twist it 180 degrees. If it is still a problem, tell your distributor that you do not buy beer you can not put up for sale. Trust me, you're not the only one the distro is hearing it from. Jack ass breweries do send out stupid handles from time to time, and those handles are not cheap either. Then they find no one is interested in their marketing games and maybe get some better handles. You can also demand a generic handle with a chalkboard to write the beer. Basically, it is really on the brewer/distro to get you equipment that works. Remember, you paid for it. They need you and not the other way around.

Two more questions.
1. What towers did you purchase? Please do not say Micromatic and paid retail.

2. Have you planned how to get the lines into the towers? Both glycol and forced air require much more space then most people realize, and if you have obstacles at this point you might find you need an engineer to get beer from the cold room to the faucet. It can be a real hassle.

Cheers.

 

Are you mounting a line of faucets above another line of faucets? How far do the shanks extend off the back wall?

Stacked faucets can work with planning. The upper faucet will pour right on top of the bottom faucet if it is not bumped forward a few inches. You also need to have enough space between the top and bottom faucet to get a glass in while also allowing for the tap marker height. The upper faucet shouldn't be too high or shorter servers are going to struggle. You'll also want a jumbo drip tray to catch any beer falling 4 feet.

Faucets placed directly against a wall or backsplash will not close all the way, especially if the marker is too tall. They angle back and hit the wall. There is an adapter to make the marker stand straight.

Cheers

 

Sometimes being a coward is a good thing. Still suggest you get a couple pieces of scrap 2x6s, drill a few holes and "test drive" your plan. No need to mount 20 faucets, maybe just two or three. If you stack 'em this will give you a good feel for how it all works, you could even hook up a keg of water to see how they pour. Experiment with a section of 2.5 centers versus 4. Nothing like seeing some results before you start cutting SS.

Your bar have a name?

 

Stacking draft equipment can be done. We did 24 for this client.
http://www.brooktonsmarket.com/
Their homepage displays the draft set up. This is a great little gem of a tavern and general store in the valley of Brooktondale, NY.

You might be able to get a credit for the draft equipment from MM. If it doesn't fit cut your losses now.


We used glycol Space Mizers with Perlick 650s, all s/s throughout. Just about every inch of horizontal space was used to get a full 24 into the available space, and it works.
Space Mizers are our most used tower, and we try to get the client to under bar mount if we can. If they have a bar that is, which this client did not. Space Mizers are 4,6,8 all the way to 12 faucet. That's 6 and 6 up top and 12 on the bottom to accommodate the trunk lines.

Better view of the set up. Not me.
Anyway, that is a solution for multiple draft lines in a small space.

And if you have not spaced out your cold room configuration, do it. You need a lot of space for all those kegs and you also need back ups. A LOT of space. It is probably the biggest goof made in planning stages. Next, you'll need what is technically known as a shit ton of cash for all those kegs, because the distros are not going to take credit unless you are already established.

Cheers.

 

It is no problem for a direct draw system to have many feet of line as long as all the line is within the cooler. The line in the cooler should be 1/4" ID Poly or 5/16" ID poly. Anything else will increase resistance too much. You should calculate the amount of choker for each line; if you have different line lengths you should not use the same amount of choker for each line.

I suggest you use extra long shanks to penetrate into the cold space. They will need to be close to 12" at least to pass through 8" of wall and still have enough length on both sides of the wall. And you will always have foam from the 8" of warm shank. Always.

Shelving for kegs is not a great solution but it is one solution. A full keg is over 160 pounds. You just do not sling those around without consideration. There are some in the business that have a manly bull shit attitude and like to point out that they can hoist kegs all day but that is a manly bull shit attitude. And it limits the amount of people who can do the job And it is a great way to bust a finger or injure a back. So racks are best for empties and sixtels. And full kegs if you must.

Have you measured the length of each panel? Each panel needs about 22" of space, so 40x22"=880" That is over 73 feet! Use both sides and you still need over 36 feet. And each coupler will be about 5' from the regulator. That is enough to go 2 deep. No matter how you stuff those in you probably need to re-think your cold room dimensions. If you plan to butt the panels up close be aware that it does not make a half barrel any narrower. That's my advice anyway.

Good luck.