Fallen Flag Brewery KEEZER build

I purchased a 14 cf commercial chest freezer back in October and have spent the better part of that time,designing/building, and subsequently redesigning/rebuilding the keezer.

As of today 12/31/09 it is 95% complete. I couldn't have gotten so much done without the help of my brewing partner and Brother, D. Carson.

We've been working on our brew rig, brewshop, and other projects all at the same time( as time/money allows)...The Fallen Flag Brewery has come a long way since its inception way back at the beginning of this year.

The freezer was used as a "bait" freezer before we got a hold of it. It came with LOTS of lobster/shark bait and I'm happy to say, that the mackerel smell is FINALLY gone(2 months later):rockin:

The freezer had a few rust spots from the finish/paint being chipped in a few areas. So we sanded all the white paint off and primered/painted it with rustoleum semi-gloss black. We also removed the crappy/craked plastic liner and wet fiberglass insulation(source of said fishy smell) and replaced it with 1 1/2" "Insulation foam" from R tech(available at HD) we then used 1/8" rivets to secure a 27.5"x48"x1/8" piece of sheetmetal(primer/painted) to the lid.

a 1" pine(cabernet stained) collar holds 8 taps(soon to be replaced by Perlicks 525ss) and is backed by the same 1.5" Insulfoam(wrapped in black duct tape) The big plus of using a commercial freezer is the dual fan assembly that recirculates cold air thoughout the keezer. This rules out any cornies being placed on the non-existent "hump" but we have utilized this space to hold our yeast bank/hop tray.


She holds 8 cornies/sankes and has been ALOT of fun to build. The finished keezer will have another 4 way co2 manifold added to the existing 4 way(on ordr) as well as a quick disconnect co2 line outside the keezer. The 20# aluminum co2 tank will also be outside the keezer. A Johnston analog temp controller keeps the keezer @ its current 39 degree setting.

Attached is our first brew, Purple Heart American Ale.

More pics to come!

More Pics>>>>>

Yet More Pics>>>>

And even more pics!

some pics of first pour

Very nice, I really like the idea of the temp probe in the bottle( That is what you have in the blue bottle, right?) You said you had lots of redesigning/rebuilding, it all paid off, thing looks awesome, for sure! Good work.

DevilDog,Thanks for the kind words.Yes, that's a stainless steel h20 bottle(ebay $6.86 FREE shipping!) I got the idea from someone on HBT. Its filled with a starsan/h20 solution.
Hopefully,I can work on her somemore this weekend.

More pics added!

That looks awesome! I would love to see how you hooked it up inside when you have some time.

Edit: Nevermind, just saw the ones on the inside. Great build!

Thanks for the Kudos! I can't wait to replace the faucets with Perlicks 525ss and add a stout tap.

Looks great! I am in the process of building my own Keezer though the SWMBO isn't exactly all that thrilled about the idea. However, I think she will breathe a little easier if I show her your example of how nicely it can turn out.

I do have one question: Did you choose to hide your temperature probe in the stainless steel H2O bottle filled with Starsan/Water in an effort to try and match the temperature of the beer in the cornies? I have been reading aout a lot of different options on here today about placement/fans/etc. and am trying to get a gameplan myself.

jmkratt said:

Looks great! I am in the process of building my own Keezer though the SWMBO isn't exactly all that thrilled about the idea. However, I think she will breathe a little easier if I show her your example of how nicely it can turn out.

I do have one question: Did you choose to hide your temperature probe in the stainless steel H2O bottle filled with Starsan/Water in an effort to try and match the temperature of the beer in the cornies? I have been reading aout a lot of different options on here today about placement/fans/etc. and am trying to get a gameplan myself.

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Thanks for the kudos! Yes, I chose to place the temp probe in the stainless steel h2o bottle so that I could get as an accurate temp reading of the beer inside the cornies.

I'm lucky that my freezer has a really neat fan setup-cold air gets sucked in at the bottom and pushed out the top via two large fans.

MMTG said:

Thanks for the kudos! Yes, I chose to place the temp probe in the stainless steel h2o bottle so that I could get as an accurate temp reading of the beer inside the cornies.

I'm lucky that my freezer has a really neat fan setup-cold air gets sucked in at the bottom and pushed out the top via two large fans.

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Right on, I will have to develop a system to circulate the air in that manner.

Thanks for your help!

I'm sure a couple of 80-110mm CPU fans wired with an old cell phone wall charger would do the trick

I wish I knew how to "Add" the pics directly to my post(these clickable thumbnails are a PITA) do I need to have the pics "hosted" to online photo album( a la photobucket) or what?

Thanks In advance!

Looks amazing!! Thanks for all the detailed pics. I need to build a collar for my fridge and this gives me some good ideas.

Brew3D said:

Looks amazing!! Thanks for all the detailed pics. I need to build a collar for my fridge and this gives me some good ideas.

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Thanks! feel free to PM/email me if you have any questions. I made plenty of mistakes and learned alot working on this project. HBT gave me so many great ideas and examples.

Salud!

You have one sweet Keezer!

cowgo said:

You have one sweet Keezer!

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Thank you! I just added the hinges to the lid/collar. It now has a "dual" lid! Almost done with her-just got to add side handles to the collar, gas struts, and additional 4 way co2 manifold...

MMTG said:

Thank you! I just added the hinges to the lid/collar. It now has a "dual" lid! Almost done with her-just got to add side handles to the collar, gas struts, and additional 4 way co2 manifold...

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I would be interested to see photos of the new dual lid.

Also, how were you running your gas before with just 1 manifold? Did you have a TEE off each guage to split 4 lines to 8? Does that make sense?

I like the idea of the mats on the bottom. I think I'm going to have to steal that idea! Looks good man.

Any benefit to keeping that temp probe in liquid? That's just so the temps don't fluctuate too much, correct? I have mine in the open w/o any issues. But maybe I'm missing something?

wizardofza said:

I like the idea of the mats on the bottom. I think I'm going to have to steal that idea! Looks good man.

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Agreed! Great idea.

jmkratt said:

I would be interested to see photos of the new dual lid.

Also, how were you running your gas before with just 1 manifold? Did you have a TEE off each guage to split 4 lines to 8? Does that make sense?

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Will put some pics up tomorrow. I only had a four way co2 manifold because i bought it before i planned on having a 8 tap keezer. My co2 regulator has a "V" split that has two ball valves. So I have the option of adding another 4 way co2 manifold or by buying the SAME type of log(brass) manifold and "linking" them.

wizardofza said:

I like the idea of the mats on the bottom. I think I'm going to have to steal that idea! Looks good man.

Any benefit to keeping that temp probe in liquid? That's just so the temps don't fluctuate too much, correct? I have mine in the open w/o any issues. But maybe I'm missing something?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the Kudos. The mat works great(but aint cheap at $25 from HD) I like the temp probe inside of the stainless steel h2o bottle as its now the same temp(or close to)as my beer.

I really wish I knew how to add pics to the posts so that I won't have these annoying "thumbnails" anymore.

I posted mine on photobucket. and then I used the "direct link" address and used the mountain button on this forum and pasted the Direct Link into that.

It worked for me.

Edit: Oh yeah, nice friggin job man! I just replaced one of my faucets with a perlick and it is so much sweeter. The flow rate increases tho, due to teh output being smaller. So you might have to add more line length like i did to avoid **** tons of foam!

cruelkix said:

I posted mine on photobucket. and then I used the "direct link" address and used the mountain button on this forum and pasted the Direct Link into that.

It worked for me.

Edit: Oh yeah, nice friggin job man! I just replaced one of my faucets with a perlick and it is so much sweeter. The flow rate increases tho, due to teh output being smaller. So you might have to add more line length like i did to avoid **** tons of foam!

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Thanks! I should have figured it'd be something THAT simple.

very nice build... mats are smart... I'll have to do that as well.
all those fancy handles and only 1 beer! You gotta get brewing!

CenCalWorthog said:

very nice build... mats are smart... I'll have to do that as well.
all those fancy handles and only 1 beer! You gotta get brewing!

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Thanks for the compliments-I hear ya on the brewing..We got some serious brewing to do. Had to fine tune our Brew rig before we brewed up 50 more gallons

MMTG said:

Will put some pics up tomorrow. I only had a four way co2 manifold because i bought it before i planned on having a 8 tap keezer. My co2 regulator has a "V" split that has two ball valves. So I have the option of adding another 4 way co2 manifold or by buying the SAME type of log(brass) manifold and "linking" them.

Click to expand...

That makes sense.

If you get a chance to take a picture I would be interested! Thanks

jmkratt said:

That makes sense.

If you get a chance to take a picture I would be interested! Thanks

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Will get a few more pics posted up tomorrow when I get off duty.

MMTG said:

Will get a few more pics posted up tomorrow when I get off duty.

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Right on, thanks man. :rockin:

Ok, So We hooked up the co2 manifold and ran the hose out the side of the keezer. I've atached a pic of my main tank a 20# aluminum with a "splitter" at the gauge. I'll be adding air hose with a quick disconnect as well as another line to fill "carbonator" caps down the road.

Had planned to install dual 90# Columbia struts, but my order was missing one bracket! Have to wait til the missing bracket arrives.

Here's a few pics.

MMTG said:

I wish I knew how to "Add" the pics directly to my post(these clickable thumbnails are a PITA) do I need to have the pics "hosted" to online photo album( a la photobucket) or what?

Thanks In advance!

Click to expand...

put em in your gallery and a link such as (no spaces on between []**[])

I forgot I had a photobucket account, so I just uploaded my pics to it. Thanks!

AHS shipment arrived, got 4 new 525SS Perlicks to swap out on the keezer!

MMTG said:

More pics added!

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VERY nice .. My freezer is the same size, but I have never had as many kegs in there !

Where can you get the rubber matts for the bottom ? Rifght now I am using pine boards, but they don't clean up so well..

kappclark said:

VERY nice .. My freezer is the same size, but I have never had as many kegs in there !

Where can you get the rubber matts for the bottom ? Rifght now I am using pine boards, but they don't clean up so well..

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The rubber mat is from Home Depot- $24.99 for a 3'x5' section. I had to cut the mat to fit it in the keezer. its really easy to clean. I pour hot water and spray simple green and let it soak for 15 mins and then use a shop vac to suck the soapy water out.

Thanks - now I need to start filling kegs !

Awesome build man! My swmbo has to let me try this now. I already purchased a floor freezer off of craigslist for 120 just to get it home and her go crazy it was sold the next day for 125 I think I found my project for when I get home from Afghanistan. Thanks for the re-inspiration :rockin: