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**Peter_h** · 10-21-2011, 09:35 AM

I would like to preface my post by saying I could not have done this without those that went before me and shared their work. I pulled lots of inspiration from Jester, lilrascal, specialized and the many others that have built coffin keezers. I would also like to thank Jester for sharing his sketchup drawings w/ me. It made things go a lot easier. So with all that said, I felt I had to share my build in hopes that it will also inspire or help someone at a later date.

My build had couple of unique requirements so some of the processes and materials used were very different from others.

First, we simply do not have space in our house for a keezer inside. We also do not have a garage or basement. However, we have a huge covered deck where we host all our parties. There is also a dedicated beverage refrigerator outside so a keezer on the deck makes sense.

Secondly, termites are a HUGE problem in hawaii. At night, they actually fly around like flies or mosquitos. So, a nice wooden cabinet sitting outside on the deck has the potential to get destroyed rather quickly.

Third, I HATE staining wood. I've done it a few times and it never turns out the way i want it to. I wanted to try to avoid this as much as possible.

Because of these problems/requirements, the decision was made to frame the keezer out of treated lumber and plywood. From there, it would be vaneered and trimmed it out with hard wood flooring. The hard wood flooring chosen is a brazilian cherry that is so hard that the termites will not touch it. It was so hard in fact that while we were cutting it we had to go very slow or it would stall the table saw. The added benefit is that the hard wood flooring is already finished. The downside is that it came in 3 foot sections so there is a seam in a few places on the keezer but I can live with it.

Enough talk, on to the pics!

**Peter_h** · 10-21-2011, 09:46 AM

For the freezer, I purchased a Holiday 7.0cf freezer from Lowes. This freezer was chosen after reading specialized keezer build thread and reading in there somewhere about being able to fit 4 Corney's on the floor of the freezer and a half corney on the shelf. 5 taps in that foot print sounded great. I also had a $100 gift card for Lowes and the freezer was on sale for $189 so I scored the freezer for under $100 with tax.

Holiday Freezer:

First step was to build a base with wheels. The keezer would sit in a corner against a wall so i needed to be able to easily wheel it in and out. The base was built out of treated 2x4's.

Wheels:

Next, what I call the cabinet, was built out of 3/4" treated plywood.

Cabinet:

Followed by the top with coffin.

Top:

**Peter_h** · 10-21-2011, 10:10 AM

At this point it would have been ideal to apply vaneer to the cabinet and then trim it out to avoid edges or the need to make difficult cuts.However, the vaneer was donated to the project by my brother. Funds for the project were running out so we used what we had. We simply did not have enough on the roll to vaneer it first so, we trimmed it all out and he left the vaneer for me to figure out.

Cabinet w/ trim:

Top w/ trim:

At this point. I started to get tired. Up to this point, everything was done in about 1 1/2 day of work over the weekend w/ my brother really helping me out. Everything from this point on I had to do by myself after coming home from work, so I forgot to take a lot of in progress pictures.

The Keezer was then put into the cabinet and the top was attached and holes for the taps drilled and mounted.

This is the only picture i have during that process. Please disregard the chicken. That is Betty Clucker checking things out. You can also see the roll of vaneer to the left that will be used later. The edges of the trim also are raw at this point after ripping the tongue and grooves off of the flooring. You can also see the ugly electrical panel as well. That will get addressed later.

Keezer in and top attached:

I took a break for 2 days while i dreaded doing the vaneer. I sucked up and just did it and it actually turned out pretty good. For those that ask how I attached the top, you can see the huge lag bolts in the top. I countersunk 6 holes and inserted 6 stainless steel lag bolts through the top and lid and secured with washers and nuts on the bottom side of the lid.

Vaneer w/ trim touched up:

**Peter_h** · 10-21-2011, 10:25 AM

In the home stretch now!

There is a small kitchen cabinet to the right of the keezer that is used for prep, drinks, glasses etc. I used the bottom of the cabinet to mount the CO2 and beer gas tank and guages along with some brewing equipment.

CO2 and Beer Gas Setup:

The drip tray was then mounted and tile work done. I made the mistake of not planning out the drip tray and forgetting to countersink the drip tray until after I had already mounted the coffin. Needless to say it was "fun" chiseling out the area for it to sit flush with the tile.

Drip Tray and Tile work:

Lastly, the vaneer was stained to match the trim. I got lucky with the match but it wasn't a deal breaker if it was off since it would have been an interesting contrast.

Stained Vaneer:

Completed!

Lastly, there is an ugly electrical panel right next to the keezer. So I found a dry erase board and attached some magnets and put it up to cover the panel.
The sign in the pic was added for an Oktoberfest party we had.

Covering up electrical panel:

**runningweird** · 10-21-2011, 12:37 PM

chicken!

Sixpak · 10-21-2011, 12:53 PM

Wow! Awesome job showing us the build and it looks beautiful! Can I ask the make/model of the freezer you picked up? I didn't think 7 c.f. would manage to fit 4 cornies

**Hoppopotomus** · 10-21-2011, 02:27 PM

Nice work! I absolutely love the tile. Congrats on your new build, it looks fantastic!

kmat123 · 10-21-2011, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sixpak

Wow! Awesome job showing us the build and it looks beautiful! Can I ask the make/model of the freezer you picked up? I didn't think 7 c.f. would manage to fit 4 cornies

I can fit 5 ball locks in my 7.0 GE with a 2x10 collar. Awesome build BTW!

Lucky_Chicken · 10-21-2011, 02:32 PM

"Please disregard the chicken."

Why would we disregard it? thats what eats all my spent grains

nice build!!

JackSmith · 10-21-2011, 03:01 PM

Beautiful build. Inspiring.

PS> Chicken.