How to Make a Top Mount Jockey Box

Jockey boxes cool and dispense draft beer from a pressurized keg. The box consists of a picnic cooler with a tap and a coil of steel tubing immersed in ice inside the box. An inlet line from the keg connects at the back of the box. A top-mount jockey box on a dolly is ideal for outings. Simply load the keg on the dolly, fill the box with ice and you’ll have cold beer in minutes. Making a top-mount jockey box isn't difficult. Jockey box kits are available through brewery accessory outlets. The cooler and dolly are available at home centers.

Things You'll Need

  • Jockey box kit
  • 48-gallon picnic cooler
  • Felt-tip marker
  • Power or cordless drill
  • 3/4-inch drill bits
  • Adjustable wrench
  • Garden dolly
  • Measuring tape
  • 3-by-3-by-1/8-inch-thick aluminum angle
  • Hacksaw
  • Measuring tape
  • 3/16-inch drill bit
  • 3/16-inch machine bolts with lock nuts
  • Nylon strap tie-down
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Instructions

  1. Making the Box

    • 1

      Stand the coil of steel tubing from the kit inside a 48-gallon picnic cooler. Slide the tubing nuts at each end of the coil back from the flared ends of the coil.

    • 2

      Position the lower flared end of the coil at the back wall of the cooler. Mark its location on the back wall with a felt-tip marker. Mark the location of the upper end of the coil at the front wall of the cooler. Remove the coil from the cooler.

    • 3

      Transfer each mark to the outside walls of the cooler. A precise location isn't critical because the tubing is flexible.

    • 4

      Set up a power or cordless drill with a 3/4-inch drill bit. Drill holes through the walls of the cooler at each of your marks. Turn over the cooler and tap the bottom to remove any drilling debris from inside.

    • 5

      Insert the threaded brass fitting on the tap and handle assembly from the kit into the hole at the front wall of the cooler. Hold the assembly in place against the face of the cooler with the handle pointing up and tap pointing down.

    • 6

      Slide one of the provided seal-washers onto the inner end of the fitting. Thread one of the brass nuts from the kit onto the end of the fitting. Hold the tap-handle assembly in place as you tighten the nut with an adjustable wrench.

    • 7

      Insert the threaded fitting on the draft-hose coupler into the hole at the back wall of the cooler. Use the remaining seal-washer, brass nut and the wrench to secure the coupler to the cooler.

    • 8

      Stand the coil in the cooler. Insert the lower and upper flared ends into the respective draft-hose and tap-handle fittings. Thread the tubing nuts at each end onto the respective fittings. Tighten each nut with the adjustable wrench.

    Mount

    • 9

      Lay a garden dolly on a flat surface with the carting plate pointing up. Measure the width between the outer edges of the side rails. Cut a piece of 3-by-3-by-1/8-inch-thick aluminum angle to this length with a hacksaw.

    • 10

      Measure 25 inches from the face of the carting plate and mark each side tube of the dolly. Position the aluminum angle at the marks with the lower edge against the rails and the upper edge facing out as a ledge for the box. Mark the face of the lower edge at the center of each side rail.

    • 11

      Set up the drill with a 3/16-inch drill bit. Drill a hole in the aluminum angle at each mark. Position the drilled face of the angle on the side rails at the 25-inch marks. Use the drilled holes in the angle as guides as you drill 3/16-inch holes through the center of each side rail.

    • 12

      Attach the aluminum angle to the dolly rails with 3/16-inch machine bolts and lock nuts. Tighten the nuts with the wrench.

    • 13

      Stand the dolly upright. Place the jockey box on the aluminum ledge with the tap and handle facing out. Secure the box to the dolly with a nylon strap tie-down. Attach the provided inlet line to the coupler at the back of the box. The other end of the line connects to the tap on the pressurized keg.