Outdoorsy keezer build

Ok so I just recently received a 15 cu ft freezer that I am going to convert to a keezer. I am going to do a coffin keezer and looking at about enough holes for 6 taps. I would like to future proof it as much as possible, and thee is enough room to fit 8 kegs and my 20lb c02 tank or 9 cornies. I don't think i will ever have that much at once but advice there can't hurt. I would like to stick to an outdoor/mountain theme as I am based in WV and have grew up playing outside. A little google search has brought to me an intriguing idea.


http://3dservices.com/portfolio/various-bars

Now if you look at the sides of the bars, it looks like a pile of rocks behind a rebar mesh. After a few more looks I was wondering if it is real rock or just an image. Any thoughts?

But as of now I am looking at a coffin keezer with this style, rock sides with a nice wood top with a small overhang and lighting. I like the sides like that as it adds depth. I am working on a sketchup model, but would like to get thoughts of others of how this would possibly turn out.

Thanks

It looks pretty bad ass; to me it looks like it is piled rock, more then likely only a few inches wide. There are tile that give you the look you’re going for, either way it looks great.

Ok so here is one initial plan. A towel rack/hold (if need to be moved), and two recessed cabinets. One under the towel rack for glasses and the other to store liqour.

Just a quick sketch of the plan. I am not sure if the reach to the taps would be too far. It is about 27". I put 8 taps up as that is probably the limit that I would ever see on it.

Looks like a good plan. You will want to consider how you are going to handle the heat escaping from the skin of the freezer though. Goes back to the debate of if putting wood right against it is ok or if you should leave a gap. And since you would be using rock instead of wood that might play another consideration. Also.. its going to be HEAVY.. of course I cant say much.. I think the lid to mine weights about 100lbs by itself.. lol. Good luck with the build.. if I could offer one piece of advice.. plan, plan and plan some more!!

The pics of that bar are indeed a heavy mesh wire with loose fill rocks added. I have seen that done before for an outside table. They made a mesh square then put cinder blocks in an inner square. A gap is left for the loose fill rocks and a granite top was put on it. Reminds me of some of the erosion techniques you see along side the highway in hilly terrain where rocks are wire netted down.

brewingmeister said:

The pics of that bar are indeed a heavy mesh wire with loose fill rocks added. I have seen that done before for an outside table. They made a mesh square then put cinder blocks in an inner square. A gap is left for the loose fill rocks and a granite top was put on it. Reminds me of some of the erosion techniques you see along side the highway in hilly terrain where rocks are wire netted down.

Click to expand...

Was it considered appealing? Having onky those pictures, its kind of hard to make a good judgement call on the rebar. My next sketchup, i am going to work on getting the side to be rebar mesh with rocks.

bbentley40 said:

Looks like a good plan. You will want to consider how you are going to handle the heat escaping from the skin of the freezer though. Goes back to the debate of if putting wood right against it is ok or if you should leave a gap. And since you would be using rock instead of wood that might play another consideration. Also.. its going to be HEAVY.. of course I cant say much.. I think the lid to mine weights about 100lbs by itself.. lol. Good luck with the build.. if I could offer one piece of advice.. plan, plan and plan some more!!

Click to expand...

I have planned about a 4" gap between the freezer and walls to allow for this, with the non rebar design. Now with the rock pile design with rebar, there may be enough airflow, but my worry would be seeing the freezer between the rocks. So i could still make a gap and then do the rock pile. Yea i figured this thing will be heavy. I am looking at weight ratings of wheels to determibe the best option.

killjoy08 said:

Was it considered appealing? Having onky those pictures, its kind of hard to make a good judgement call on the rebar. My next sketchup, i am going to work on getting the side to be rebar mesh with rocks.

Click to expand...

Yeah it looked pretty nice. It was made with river rocks and some pretty dark granite. Although I couldn't help but thinking how it was going to age being out in the weather.

Those rocks in the pics are pretty big. If you used smaller rocks with a smaller mesh you could probably get by with a thinner section of rocks and save some weight. I don't think the rock tiles with the mesh back would really save any weight. There's a bunch of weight to everything needed to put them up... rocks, cement, backer board and grout. If you had mesh on both sides air could go through the loose stacked rocks.

Ok so another idea came up, have acrylic on both sides of the rock wall and have a waterfall type setup in the wall. Any ideas or major concerns anybody can think of off of that? My better half was talking about incorporating some type of water feature and my interior design friend threw this idea out.

Mine is an outdoor themed coffin keezer using cedar logs, knotty pine, and tumbled travertine. I love the look of the stone you are proposing! There are tons of different thin stone veneers out there that are actual stone fronts that are machined off in 1 1/2" thicknesses and install like tile. Just build a cabinet, mortar and screw cement board to the front/sides, and install the stone like tile....pretty simple and would look great. You can also get matching stone corners, trim pieces, and ledges if needed. You could also incorporate some cedar log trims and cedar branch tap handles to bring an additional rustic element into the mix. Check out my keezer thread when you get a chance and maybe it could help you out with a few ideas. Keep the stone idea, it will look fantastic! Can't wait to see what you decide on.

Hoppopotomus said:

Mine is an outdoor themed coffin keezer using cedar logs, knotty pine, and tumbled travertine. I love the look of the stone you are proposing! There are tons of different thin stone veneers out there that are actual stone fronts that are machined off in 1 1/2" thicknesses and install like tile. Just build a cabinet, mortar and screw cement board to the front/sides, and install the stone like tile....pretty simple and would look great. You can also get matching stone corners, trim pieces, and ledges if needed. You could also incorporate some cedar log trims and cedar branch tap handles to bring an additional rustic element into the mix. Check out my keezer thread when you get a chance and maybe it could help you out with a few ideas. Keep the stone idea, it will look fantastic! Can't wait to see what you decide on.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. I saw yours and one of your clones and that gave me the inspiration. There are a few ideas thrown out as of now, but the stone finish like in the sketch is my favorite so far. I am going out of town for a few days but hoping to get some more designs drawn up while out. We had looked at cedar trim at first, but we thought the darker wood matched the stone better than the lighter wood. The other thing I have to check out is the price for the stone tile like that. Have to make sure it's not going to break my wallet too much.

Alright so after I finally got moved into my new place and the garage/workshop all cleaned up and somewhat organized, the keezer has begun. The base looks a little ghetto but we were using wood that I had laying around. It is very solid though.

Got as far as the general framing for the shell. There is a cabinet in the front that will be used for wine on the bottom rack and glasses/mugs on the upper shelf.

So far $55 into the project with the 4 5" casters costing $40.

The base:




Test fit of the base:
Back


Front


Side


Cabinet and corner units!

can't wait to see the finished product

Indeed™ me as well

Have you decided on how you're doing the stone?

brewingmeister said:

The pics of that bar are indeed a heavy mesh wire with loose fill rocks added. I have seen that done before for an outside table. They made a mesh square then put cinder blocks in an inner square. A gap is left for the loose fill rocks and a granite top was put on it. Reminds me of some of the erosion techniques you see along side the highway in hilly terrain where rocks are wire netted down.

Click to expand...

The rock filled nets are called gabbions

Ok so there may be a change in design, which I will explain later if its a better idea. We are currently working out moving/space issues so the design must adapt(but not too much), but I was wondering what the weight of everyone's top/lid is? I'm trying to figure out if I can drop caster size so the height isn't so crazy!

SharonaZamboni said:

Have you decided on how you're doing the stone?

Click to expand...

Still working on it! It may be the part that slightly changes.

william_shakes_beer said:

The rock filled nets are called gabbions

Click to expand...

Thanks for that! Nice to have a name to google search lol.

Am also following this--am fascinated with the gabion wall idea.

I'm looking to build an outdoor keezer. That rock wall idea looks badass in the bar photo. I wonder if I could have something like that be a weatherproof exterior for a keezer... :rockin:

Can't wait to see the finished...