What is a jockey box?
So, what is a jockey box anyway?
In its simplest terms, a jockey box is a portable draft system used to pour beer.
(or cider, cocktails, wine, basically any kegged beverage)
Most people are familiar with renting a cheap hand pump from the same place they bought their beer. These are not those things you used for keg parties in college. Keg stand anyone?
The problem? For one, they use oxygen to pressurize the keg, and if you didn’t already know: BEER HATES OXYGEN.
Number one, it’ll make your beer taste stale—like drinking warm cardboard. Yuck. And two, we've been subconsciously taught to pump the heck out of it, but there’s no way to measure how much pressure we’re forcing inside the keg and into the beer. This results in lots of foam and wasted beer. A sad time all around.
Also, let’s be honest, they’ll always be associated with sloppy college house parties. We’re adults now, and ready to pour draft beer properly. The solution? A jockey box!
Now lets get technical,
A jockey box system can sometimes be called a coil box or cold plate box. The name "jockey" stems from the portability of the unit as it is easy to move from one location to another (jockey around).
A jockey box system contains all the equipment necessary to dispense beer; cooler box, beer line – stainless steel coils or cold plates, shank, faucet, CO2 regulator, CO2 tank and beer line connectors, and some come equipped with a drain tray and cup holder. CO2 gas is used to pressurized the keg for dispensing.
The key to the jockey box dispensing cold beer is the coil or cold plate unit that acts like a flash chiller meaning that the stainless steel beer line coil or aluminum cold plate (stainless steel line is encapsulated) is refrigerated using an ice water bath in the case of the coil system or ice only with the cold plate.
The jockey box system works on the principles that the keg is sitting at room temperature, 70° F and when the beer passes through the coil or cold plate located in the cooler box the beer temperature will drop to the ideal dispensing
temperature of 38° F. It is the perfect system for large parties or special events such as a family reunion or company picnic. As it does not require electric it can be set up anywhere. CO2 gas is used to pressurized the keg for dispensing.
