New Keezer Build.

I've decided to start kegging. A keezer and tap setup has become a bit mandatory, so I started the build.

First up, I adjusted the built in thermostat on my GE 5.0CF freezer. A 24 hour test showed that a 5 gallon bucket of water was hovering at 32 degrees, so it's a bit too cold. I'm trying another adjustment. If that doesn't work I'm going to try a refrigerator thermostat that should fit in exactly where the factory one is.

Second, I started the lid. I'm not doing a collar, I'm using a three tap tower. I can get two ball lock 5 gallon kegs in the well, and a three gallon pin lock and a 5 pound CO2 on the hump. This thing is going into my kitchen, so it needs to look presentable, and I don't like the idea of having taps in a collar at a great height to bump into them or for young hands to tamper with.

The stock lid is underneath the wooden countertop. I still need to rout the edges, sand it, and hit it with a few coats of polyurethane.

Also need to mount some casters on the bottom, so it'll be easy to roll away from the wall a bit to open the lid.

My ball lock kegs should be here tomorrow, so some interior pics will be forthcoming.

good start mate. do you have anything planned for the body?

Looks like a good start! May consider the STC-1000 approach for temp control, too. No tampering with the thermostat, and you can dial in the temp to the degree, digitally. If you feel confident to replace a thermostat, you can wire an STC.

nice start

Not worried about the STC wiring, built two of those already; I converted an upright freezer into a fermentation chamber with another. If I can swap in a 9$ thermostat in a few minutes instead of re-wiring the freezer I'll be pretty happy.

Ball lock kegs just showed up, now now to shoot a pic or two...

Some more followup pics.

wow.. that came out really nice..

Yes'm that looks great!!




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Nice job!!

Thanks. Hope to have more progress today.

Looks great. What are the plans for the tower?

The tower is a three tap setup. Standard faucets for now, will look into perlick's later once my wallet has recovered.

Discovered that 3/8" pex crimp rings work perfectly on the 3/16" beverage lines. It's nice having a 360 degree squeeze on the hose.

Swapped in the refrigerator thermostat. Got it sitting plugged in with a 5 gallon bucket in it, will see what the temp ends up being once it has a day or two to equalize.

Now to build the gas system, also need to brew a stout/robust porter to fill the second 5 gallon keg, and probably Biermunchers Octoberfast for two of the three gallon kegs. Already have a pale ale for the first. I'm also going to need more kegs.

Also: The drip tray is on the way, as are faucet covers.

Some more added info: The refrigerator thermostat was $9, and almost a drop-in replacement. Only had to crimp bigger spade terminal connectors onto the factory wires. The knob works, but is 180 degrees out, which is easily remedied with a black dot on the correct side of the knob.

Also added casters, which will help when opening it up to swap kegs, as I'll need to roll it away from the wall so the tower clears.

nice!

An update on the refrigerator thermostat swap: It worked beautifully. After some tinkering with the coarse adjustment screw, the 5 gallon pail of water was sitting right on 38* with the temperature knob right in the middle of it's adjustment after a 12 hour stabilization period.

Now to finish the gas system, get the first beer to finish fermenting, brew the second and third batches, and I'll have 3 beers on tap. Oh, also need to put together a fan system to stir the air in the keezer and cool the tower.

Drip tray showed up:

The_Bishop said:

Drip tray showed up:

Click to expand...

This is looking great! Did you bolt that countertop to the lid so it just all swings up together? I'm thinking of going the keezer route and also would prefer a tower for my situation. Looking forward to seeing your tower cooling setup.

Yes, the countertop and lid are attached.

Have to make a tower cooler still, my budget says "next paycheck."

That's just looking awesome! Nice work!

So, plumbing is all done. All that's left is waiting for the beer to be ready (Two going now, a nice hoppy pale ale and a chocolate milk stout, haven't decided on the third, maybe a blonde ale) and making a tower cooler.

Had to re-arrange the regulator a little to get it to fit easily.

Pressure testing at 30 psi. Charged everything up to 30, let it stabilize, shut the tank off. Working a 24 hour shift tomorrow, will see what the pressure is when I get home.

30 PSI pressure test passed with flying colors! Going to put the tower cooler together today if all goes right, time to cold-crash the pale ale. Should have my first beer on draft in a few days, can't wait!

Tower cooler is built with some stuff I had around. Will get some pics up tomorrow. Basically, a project box, 80mm PC fan, spare 12v power supply, and some 1" diameter washing machine drain hose. It moves some air. Ordered a squirrel cage blower type fan that should work out a lot better, just waiting for it to show up.

Pale ale is crash cooling as I type. Gelatin fining tomorrow, another day or two to drop clear, then into the keg it goes. It will be a real landmark when I can pull a pint of my own beer on draft!

Here's the tower cooler. Well, this one anyway. I have a blower type fan on the way, so I'll change this up when it gets here. In the mean time, my pale ale is getting kegged tomorrow, so this'll do for now.

Still need to decide on a third brew; it's a toss up between Graff or a blonde ale.

The_Bishop said:

Here's the tower cooler. Well, this one anyway. I have a blower type fan on the way, so I'll change this up when it gets here.[...]

Click to expand...

Got a link to the blower you're looking at?

Cheers!

This one:

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11270

The circular outlet will make it easy to connect to a hose, it's a centrifugal fan that is made to generate pressure. I plan to modulate the speed and airflow with a variable power supply I have.

The first beer is kegged and carbing up!

First thoughts: I should have done this a long time ago. While bottling doesn't bother me much, the time needed to do it does. Starting with a clean keg, disassembling for sanitation, re-assembly, filling and connecting took a half hour or so. The same operation with bottles is a couple of hours, easy. There's also much less equipment involved in the final packaging.

Second thoughts: I need a 1/2 auto siphon. The 3/8 one I have is a bit on the slow side.

The last pic is of the tower, and the condensation on it. The tower cooler works like a champ. With the keezer only plugged in for 15 minutes, the top of the tower and the taps are cold to the touch.

Got the keg at 30 psi for the day, I'll drop it down to 11 tomorrow morning and let it ride for the day while I'm at work. With the temp at 38* and that pressure I should be around 2.5 volumes of CO2.

Again, this looks awesome!! A couple of question, where do you draw the power for the fan from? Is it a seperate plug to the wall? Is there any concern with condensation causing problems with the fan? Also, when does the fan run? Is it only when the compressor is running or all the time?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm thinking of embarking on my own project and just want to gather some "best practices".

thanks!

The power for the fan comes from a spare 12v wall wart power supply. I ran the wire through the back of the lid, there was a plastic cap from when the foam insulation was injected. It was easy to bore a small hole, then fish a piece of stiff wire through into the opening for the tower.

I have one of the eva-dry moisture absorbing gizmos in the keezer to keep the condensation down. So far so good, it's dry in there. I also made it a point to keep the keezer as sealed up as possible to minimize the moisture content in the air inside the keezer. It's sealed up pretty tight.

The fan runs 100% of the time; keeps the air in the keezer moving around so the temps don't stratify.

No problem about the questions, feel free to ask!

The_Bishop said:

This one:

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11270

The circular outlet will make it easy to connect to a hose, it's a centrifugal fan that is made to generate pressure. I plan to modulate the speed and airflow with a variable power supply I have.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

I've been looking around for a blower style 12vdc air mover. My current tower cooler uses a 40mm 12vdc fan blowing through 1" ID tubing and does keep the tower air within 10°F of the keezer air, but I was thinking I might do even better using a blower.

But I don't think I want to have a 10-12 watt heater running 24/7 in my keezer. I'm not even sure I'd want a 5 watt heater in there to chill the tower a few degrees colder. The wee 40mm ball bearing fan I'm using draws 80 milliamps at 12V, so a solid 1 watt. I might just stick with it...

Cheers!

I was thinking the same thing, but I'm thinking if I run it at 6 volts it *should* reduce the thermal load. I'll know for sure once I get one in hand and can do some amp draw testing.

So far the 80mm fan in a box is keeping the tower chilled and the taps cold to the touch. Once the beer is carbed up I'll know for sure.

Keezer is keeping the beer at 36* so far, might adjust it up a bit.

This having draft beer within arm's reach is going to be dangerous.

Well that cracked me up! Fantastic job on the keezer!
Travis

Thanks! The hardest part is waiting on the beer to finish. Thinking about the third brew, definitely want a session beer. Either an ESB or a blonde ale. Haven't decided yet, need to make up my mind already.

After having a slight mishap with my gas system I'm changing up to a manifold with check valves in the shutoffs, as I managed to get beer into the lines while screwing around with one of the idle gas connectors requiring a tear-apart of the gas system and cleaning it out. Also, I can make it neater; the current setup is clunky and in the way.

So I made a change to my keezer once the blower fan came in.

Scrounged up a piece of 3/4" thin wall PVC. Used that inside the tower. Attached the flex hose to the bottom of that, and the fan to the bottom of the flex hose. The 3/4" PVC has a smaller footprint inside the tower, allowing for more airflow. I then took a spare plate of aluminum and made a diffuser plate that I put at the bottom of the tower, spaced away 1/2". This spreads the return air across the top of the kegs instead of dropping straight down. It seems to be keeping the whole keezer at a more even temperature.

The fan is powered by a 6 volt power supply, and runs constantly.

The tower is kept so cold that it sweats, and so do the taps. Don't see a foam problem either. I'm pretty happy about the new setup!

After having the keezer up and running for a while, I couldn't be more happy with it. Only change I want to make when I have the $$ is perlick faucets. The old style ones work, and I haven't had a problem with them sticking, but with the tap covers on them I get a drop or two of beer out of the front 'piston' valve.

So, one more change. Out with the old, in with the new...

Very nice setup!

Curious where you purchased the drip tray. I have a converted Sanyo mini fridge with a 2-tap tower, but like the look of your tray vs. the rectangular type that's more commonly used.

Thanks!

Ordered it from Adventures in Homebrewing. With the 3 tap tower, it works a lot better to catch drips from all the taps, as they're in a circle.

Today, my keezer got another changeout/upgrade. Went from Bev-Lex 200 to Bev-Seal Ultra.

It wasn't that bad getting the tubing on the tower shanks. Didn't even need a heat gun, honestly. I put the tower shanks in my vice (held in place with a set of polyurethane 'soft jaws'), gently opened up the very end of the tubing with a punch, and worked it onto the shanks in a circular motion. Holding the tower shanks in the vice let me push down pretty much as hard as I needed to. Finished up with an Oetiker 9.5 clamp. The keg side got the John Guest fittings.

I was a bit skeptical about how much of a difference I was going to see, but I'm very pleasantly surprised. It wasn't 'in your face' different but all three taps definitely taste cleaner, especially when the beer's been sitting in the lines for a while.

Can't say enough good things about birdman brewing!

The_Bishop said:

Can't say enough good things about birdman brewing!

Click to expand...

Thanks Bishop! We are thankful to have the opportunity to serve you.