It’s almost summer so time to gear up for outdoor drinking. If you keg your beer, a jockey box is an excellent piece of equipment for the outdoors and in.

First let’s start off with “what is a jocky box” and why do I need to build one? Well, glad you asked. Jocky boxes are kind of the poor man’s portable kegerator.

In essence you can let your kegs stay warm and outside the box. You fill the cooler with ice and the beer is “flash cooled” as it runs through the coils. This gives you a little more flexibility where you set up this system, plus you don’t need the cold storage space to keep your kegs cool. So without further ado, here we go.

This was borrowed heavily from this thread at The Brewing Network and I want to give credit where credit is due. Plus they have lots of nice pictures there as well.

Equipment
1 Large Ice chest
2 Quick Disconnect Gas-in ball locks
2 Quick Disconnect Beverage out ball locks
2 50′ stainless steel (or copper) coils
2 Faucets
2 Handles
2 Shanks with nipple
6″ of 1″ schedule 120 PVC (sleeves)
Silicone sealant
Hose clamps
Food grade tubing

Tools
Drill and 1″ hole saw blade
1/2″ Forstner bit

Process

1. First measure the room in the cooler and see how tight the coils have to be to fit two abreast. If you don’t want to buy coils, you can make them. Here’s how to make an immersion chiller. Just modify to fit your interior cooler dimensions – especially making sure you can close the lid.
2. Once you have those constructed or bought, put them in the cooler and mark where you need to drill your tap ports.
3. Next, put the pipe in the hole (insert dirty joke here), note the length and cut it to fit. Make sure the sleeve can handle the weight of the shank assembly. Secure the sleeve to the cooler with a silicone seal
4. Now, drill the bev-in line holes with a ½” bit. Inside walls can be a little thin in some cooler, so don’t use too much pressure off the bat. Things might crack.
5. Attach the tubing to the end of your coil. Run it under some hot water first so it’s more pliable. Give yourself a few inches of overlap for the clamps
6. Put the coils in the cooler and feed the tubing through the holes. Make sure it’s a tight fit – no joke
7. Tighten up the clamps and attach the taps. All that’s left now if to determine your inaugural brew.