Keezer: I guess it's my turn

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CGVT

Senior Member
Joined
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Location
Spanish Fort
I finally started to get serious on my build.

A couple of months ago, I found this for $60 this at a garage sale.

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It's a 5 cu ft Magic Chef. It has a nice small footprint and with a collar still easily holds 4 ball locks and my 5lb CO2.

I built a collar out of some old oak table leaves, insulated it with styrofoam and covered that with some cheap plywood. You can see my high tech clamping system in the picture and in the background you can see the Haier freezer I bought on CL that died before I started to build it
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I put that on top of the freezer and was using it with a picnic tap for quite a while until I decided to get moving on it last weekend

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I couldn't decide what I was going to use to cover the freezer but finally decided that I would cover it in 1/4 oak plywood and then trim it out around the collar and lid. I also decided to use the plywood to cover the collar so everything matched and lined up better. This is what I have done so far...

Collar
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Compressor vent
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Front
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I replaced the cheesy worn out wheels that were on it with two inch casters. I'm not sure but I think I am going to keep the CO2 outside so that I can swap it out with my 20lb tank if I run out

I'm doing everything with hand tools-circular saw, skill saw and drill so things are a bit sloppy, but I borrowed a miter saw to do the miter cuts on the trim pieces and I am going to cover the edges with corner molding.

So far so good
 
Looking good! I'm checking craigslist daily for chest freezer deals, but everyone around here seems to be incredibly greedy. Haven't found a decent sized one for less than about $150, and right now my budget is about a third that.

Keep us updated!
 
It looks good so far. I may be talking out my arse, but I thought if you cover the sides with material there had to be some sort of a gap for cooling and air flow. Am I wrong?
 
It looks good so far. I may be talking out my arse, but I thought if you cover the sides with material there had to be some sort of a gap for cooling and air flow. Am I wrong?

That is true since the coils are inside the chest walls. However that looks like 1/4" plywood which won't impede heat transfer too bad.
 
The cooling coils on this freezer are on the back, but even if they weren't I wouldn't worry about covering the sides with 1/4" plywood. There are a couple of threads on here where people have done the same and their keezers are still working after 4 or 5 years. I have a friend that is an AC+R guy. He laughs and says that the compressor life that you might lose is not worth the hassle of over engineering. The R value of 1/4" plywood is <.31.
 
Just curious, how are you attaching the plywood to the fridge? Are you using construction adhesive and just gluing it to the skin, or are you nailing/screwing it? Thanks,
 
I'm using Liquid Nails construction adhesive on the skin of the freezer. I don't have any clamps so I laid it down on the plywood... I am going to try taping the side panels to hold them in place so I don't have to turn the freezer on its side again. I glued and tacked the plywood to the wood on the collar.
 
Made a little progress on the keezer this weekend.

I broke down and bought a couple of bar clamps at Home Depot for $14 each. In hind sight I should have gotten two more. Only having two makes for some long delays while I let the Liquid Nails dry.

I got the plywood skin done. I could only clamp one side at a time...

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I decided to go with 2" oak for the trim on the bottom of the collar and around the bottom of the keezer. I am going with 4" around the lid so I can overhang the collar to cover where lid and collar come together and I can leave enough of a lip on top so that it covers the edge of the tile that I will put on the it.

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I attached the bottom piece of trim to the compressor cover and drilled it out from the back so that I can use the old mounting screw holes to keep it in place (hard to see in this picture) the compressor cover and bottom trim piece will come out in one piece.

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Now that I'm kinda rolling on it, I hope to trim out the lid tomorrow after work.
 
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I got all of the woodwork done. I decided to go old school on the finish and use shellac and paste wax. This is with two coats of shellac. I plan on hitting it with some fine steel wool before I put another coat and then again before I wax it
 
Thats looking very nice man! Hope my build turns out half as nice once I receive the freezer and parts/pieces.
 
Looking good! I'm checking craigslist daily for chest freezer deals, but everyone around here seems to be incredibly greedy. Haven't found a decent sized one for less than about $150, and right now my budget is about a third that.

Keep us updated!


I was having the same problem when i was looking for a chest freezer for my fermentation chamber and wasn't about to spend that much on a used freezer. it took a couple months but one popped up for 50 and i got it. just a touch larger then what i was looking for, my keezer is just like CGVT's a 5 CU FT one i guess and I ended up getting a 7 or 7.5. it's working great. just keep looking, something will come up that fits your need/price.
Good luck.
 
Thats looking very nice man! Hope my build turns out half as nice once I receive the freezer and parts/pieces.

looking good.

Thanks. I'm learing some stuff in the process. For instance if I had it to do over, I would make a miter cut on the back of the trim that goes around the freezer and put a small piece of trim on the back to make it look more finished. I probably would have built a top rather than use the existing lid. It would have taken a lot less time and would have been easier. I also would just go buy four bar-clamps before I got started, but for my first attempt and with my very limited woodworking skills and experience, I'm pretty happy with what I have so far.

BTW, I really like the shellac. It gives the wood much more depth (if that makes sense), and it looks much better in real life than it does in the pictures.

I was having the same problem when i was looking for a chest freezer for my fermentation chamber and wasn't about to spend that much on a used freezer. it took a couple months but one popped up for 50 and i got it. just a touch larger then what i was looking for, my keezer is just like CGVT's a 5 CU FT one i guess and I ended up getting a 7 or 7.5. it's working great. just keep looking, something will come up that fits your need/price.
Good luck.

Yeah, just keep looking. It seems to me that they show up in waves. Just make sure that you are ready to jump on one if it looks promising. The good deals go fast...
 
Three coats of shellac and one coat of wax
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I ordered my taps and shanks from ritebrew yesterday and according to UPS they should be here Friday! Idecided to go with the plated perlicks and shanks. I couldn't see the need to spend double money for solid SS. I don't forsee wearing these out.
 
I got my taps and shanks in last night and when I lined things up, I realized that I had the dreaded "My tap handles will hit on the trim of my collar" problem. I looked at buying the pieces that lean the handle forward but I wasn't sure that the angle would be great enough to clear the trim, I actually wanted that angle, or that I wanted to fork over more cash. I looked around on HBT and saw that some people had built spacers. It looked like a good idea so I thought I'd give that at shot.

I took some left over 1" oak and used my 1" hole saw to put a hole in. I then slipped the shank in the hole and traced the plastic outer washer that came with the shanks. I cut that out with my skill saw. I cleaned up my disks with my angle grinder with a sanding pad and then finished sanding with my hand held sander. Obviously this was not very precise, but using the 1" hole saw give me enough play to be able to make it work (I think). I may still have to get the angle bonnets, but if I do, I knw the angle will be great enough to make it work. I just got done staining them-now I have to wait for the stain to dry before I can finish coat and finish my build...

Cut and sanded

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Stained

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Installing the Taps and shanks with a Kolsch to keep me company...

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It only took me half a beer to get them done. Ha!

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Thanks, playa.

I got the tile down and the hinges set today. I can grout it tomorrow

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Awesome Job! I have the same problem with my tap handles. their about 1/4 inch max away from my trim. That was the exact idea i was going to do with mine but havent gotten around to doing it yet.
 
Thanks.

I used a 1" hole saw that allowed a little play for the shanks in the holes. It allowed me to get the spacers centered without having to be so precise that my holes had to be exactly in the middle. I'm sure there is a very simple way to find the center, but I don't know what it is, so I just eyeballed them. It looks as if I'm probably going to still have to get the angle bonnets if I want to use larger tap handles.

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I finished the grout today (I still need to clean it up)

I'm pretty much done now. If I had it to do over, I would not have used the old lid, I would have built one because the top is not level and there are some high and low spots in the tile. I was not sure that I had the skills to do that, but after building this, I'm pretty sure that I could handle it.

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I need to add a PSA to this thread...

If you buy a ready built manifold make sure that you retape all the fittings and tighten them all down before you install it.

I didn't think to check mine and lost about 10 lbs of CO2 the first night that I had it hooked up.

Even though I did the soapy water test, it turns out that I had two problems. I had a bad pressure relief valve so I replaced that with a brass plug (I figure the worst that can happen is I have a gas line blow). Once I did that, I redid the soapy water test again and saw that I had leaks at almost all of the places where they connected the brass to brass. Apparently I was losing enough pressure through the valve that the connections weren't leaking until I replaced the valve. I took it all apart and replaced the teflon tape and tightened it all up. when I was done I tested with soapy water and had no leaks. I turned off the valve on the gas cylinder last night just to be safe and it held pressurr all night, so I think I got it fixed.

It was about a $20 lesson learned the hard way...
 
Beautiful job, I really like the tile you used! By the way, thanks for the info on the plywood to outer surfaces of the freezer. I haven't started to do the cabinetry part of my Keezer yet but knowing I can apply 1/4" plywood directly to the sides will save a lot of work - thanks!
 
Thanks. I still need to add a drip tray and I am in the process of making some tap handles, but even as is it's putting out beer!
 
Thought I'd update.

I've been using my Keezer for about eight months now and it has been fantastic. I did have a problem with my controller not working right and freezing a couple of kegs, but it seems to be ok now.

This is the finished product:
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and these are some of the tap handles that I have made. Nothing fancy, but they serve the purpose:D
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I have some other generic handles. Other than the Princess these are on a pretty regular rotation. I made the Princess for a Blonde that I made for my wife's Bunco group. I tend to make them as a novelty-it is pretty obvious that I don't put a lot of time into them:D. I make them out of scraps I have around and use a saber saw, a hand planer, angle grinder, sander and wood burner to make them. It only takes a couple of hours, so if I get some free time, I'm sure I'll make more.
 
Thought I'd update.

I've been using my Keezer for about eight months now and it has been fantastic. I did have a problem with my controller not working right and freezing a couple of kegs, but it seems to be ok now.

This is the finished product:
photo_zpsa826b2c9.jpg


and these are some of the tap handles that I have made. Nothing fancy, but they serve the purpose:D
photo_zps68e5a69d.jpg

Very nice.
 
Thought I'd update.

I've been using my Keezer for about eight months now and it has been fantastic. I did have a problem with my controller not working right and freezing a couple of kegs, but it seems to be ok now.

This is the finished product:
photo_zpsa826b2c9.jpg


and these are some of the tap handles that I have made. Nothing fancy, but they serve the purpose:D
photo_zps68e5a69d.jpg

Congrats on a beautiful keezer. Thoroughly enjoyed this thread and learned a few things along the way. Thank you. The tap handles are great; just one question though. How did you mount them to the faucet?

:mug: and happy brewing.
 
Thanks, Dan, I'm not sure where I bought them, but I bought ferrules and hanger bolts like these from MoreBeer http://morebeer.com/category/beer-tap-handles.html

I made the handles from scrap wood I had laying around that I cut with a jig saw and shaped with a sanding disc on my angle grinder. They are not precise by any means. The hardest part was drilling a reasonably straight hole to put the hanger bolts in. I am not an artist by any means, I just drew my designs, used a wood burner to burn them into the wood and then coated them with shellac that I had left over from the Keezer. They were a fun project that didn't take very long to do.

BTW you can get hanger bolts at Home Depot for less$$ but they are longer so you have to drill a deeper hole to mount them in the handle.

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Just curious... Where's your gas bottle & regulator?

I have mine inside the keezer. I thinking of adding Nitro and snaking the gas line up the condensate drain. I don't have room for another bottle in the keezer.

BTW - Very nice set-up!


EDIT: Actually did more than look at the photo's.... I see its inside. I didn't notice it the pictures until read your first post.
 
Thanks.

I ended up running a line and putting it behind or on the side. I have a 20lb tank and a 5lb tank. The twenty won't fit inside.

If I was building this again, I wouldn't have bothered hinging both the collar and the lid. I thought that I would open the collar to change kegs, but have found that I only open the top.
 
I ordered my beer gas on Monday. Also managed to push a 3/16 gas line through the condensate drain. No drilling holes in my keezer walls. Now I'll have one bottle outside the keezer.

Don't mean to spam your thread, but reading your thread convinced me to pull the nitro trigger.
 
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