Upright Keezer with rigid-mounted picnic taps
 

I though I would share some pics of my upright keezer with rigid mounted picnic taps. I had searched for others who had done something similar with the taps but I couldn't find any so I figured I should post mine in case anyone else is looking.

I started the project by removing all the wire mesh shelves and then adding my own top shelf which is much sturdier than original. For temp control I bought and installed the Love controller which is a great piece of equipment btw. Next I added a cable track thing just because I had one laying around and it also does a great job of keeping the wires from knocking over stuff on the shelf. I wanted the 10# CO2 tank outside so I opted to drilled a hole in the bottom of the freezer for 3/8 OD PE tubing (I really like push-to-connect fittings if you haven't noticed already). The 4-port CO2 manifold is one that I made from a block of aluminum (2 ports are plugged for now). My beer lines are 1/4 OD (.177 ID) PE tubing. I cut the barbs off two picnic taps and then drilled and tapped them for 1/8 NPT. The fittings hold the taps firmly in place on the mounting bracket which is a small aluminum channel. I also added a small ss screw to keep them from rotating. The finished (for now) product works really well - much better than when the taps were just hanging inside. I plan on adding 2 more soon since the keezer holds 4 cornies. Someday I will probably replace them all with faucets and shanks but for now this setup meets my needs. What do you think?

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...medium/KR1.JPG

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...medium/KR2.JPG

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...medium/KR3.JPG

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...medium/KR4.JPG

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That's a pretty decent build. Why didn't you go with traditional shanks and faucets?

I would think the continual opening and closing might play havoc with the temperature.

Or do your pour into pitchers so I don't "go to the trough" repeatedly? ;)

Very cool build!

That's a heck of an idea! My biggest pain with the picnic taps was that even when I had them coiled up nicely they would tend to fall down or flop all over the place so I quickly upgraded to a couple of faucets through the door. This would be a lot nicer than free taps, and for just the cost of metal tap holder. Puts off having to buy the faucets and shanks for a little while, at least until you get tired of opening the door :).

only the last picture is showing for me...

I was looking for something like this! This is pretty close to what I have in mind for my future build, but my stand-up will be built into a small bar, lines coming out the side into a double tap tower a foot or two away. Great job!

So, is the motivation for the rigid picnic taps specifically to save money to be able to buy stainless taps, etc? I thought of starting with picnic taps to make sure I want to keg before I drill any holes...

you are going to save yourself about 50 per (depending on where you shop) if you use the picnic tap over a faucet. Let me tell you though, after you keg just once you will never want to bottle again.

Bingo!

I would love to have faucets but yeah I need to save a little money first. This set up works great for the time being however.

BUt if you have the money and are only hesitant because you think you won't like kegging, well, I haven't seen anyone here regret the move yet.

First: NICE effing build.

and... if you store your keezer in the garage, and you live in Florida, there are bugs that crawl around in the night. Sorry, I can't deal with the thought of that, so, all my taps are inside - and it's going to stay that way. :)