freefallnick
Active Member
Thanks to all the information on this forum and Catt22 my dad and I were able to convert a chest freezer to a kegerator/keezer.
I got the chest freezer on craigslist for 60$ and then purchased a 20# c02 tank (the guy at the store told me it costs exactly the same to fill up a 5# tank, they aren't open that late and I live a bit far from them so this did seem like a good idea), regulator, shank, faucet and lines for a simple 1 tap system to start with.
Following the advice of Cat22 we used 2x6 lumber pine and then my dad used a miter saw to cut the edges at 45 degrees and then we glued and connected the wood together, and painted it with a few coats of white paint.
We removed the top and the hinges for the top and then ran rope caulking from home depot all the way around edge of the top of the freezer opening and then set the collar on top of that and put the lid on and then both of us climbed on top of the lid to smash it down on the rope caulking.
We then took the lid back off, flipped it over and drilled 4 holes to mount a 4" AC fan from radioshack. We used toggle and spacers to hold it in place with the advice from Catt22 and then wired it up to a computer power cable. blows air all around inside and keeps things cold.
We then drilled 3 holes in the collar, one in the front for the shank, one in side for the c02 line and then one in the back for the fan power cable.
Then we placed the lid back on the collar to see where new holes would need to be drilled for the screws to hold top hinges and got those carefully drilled and then got all the screws back in place.
I used more rope caulk around the c02 and fan power cable and then ran a double line bead of rope caulk around the bottom of the collar just for safety to make sure it was good and sealed.
Brought the keg home from the brewery and twisted on the sankey tap and tapped the keg and that was it, surprised how easy it was.
The only thing I couldnt buy locally was a good temperature controller so I will have to get one of those ordered real soon, I can sort of keep an eye on the temperature by dangling a wired thermometer in there and just use a timer from home depot, 30 on and 1 hour off, it holds the temp nicely though while running the fan.
The tap handle is an old miller lite handle, thought it looked cool. I also have an old coors lite handle for the 2nd tap, we had a whole bunch of tap handles on the mantle of our old apartment and I guess we decided to keep a couple when we threw away in one of our many moves, looks like it was a smart move!
The only down side is that most of hte people that showed up for our house warming/come see where we live party had to drive somewhere so we probably served 15 beers, maybe less..
Here are some pics:
my best passenger :rockin:
I got the chest freezer on craigslist for 60$ and then purchased a 20# c02 tank (the guy at the store told me it costs exactly the same to fill up a 5# tank, they aren't open that late and I live a bit far from them so this did seem like a good idea), regulator, shank, faucet and lines for a simple 1 tap system to start with.
Following the advice of Cat22 we used 2x6 lumber pine and then my dad used a miter saw to cut the edges at 45 degrees and then we glued and connected the wood together, and painted it with a few coats of white paint.
We removed the top and the hinges for the top and then ran rope caulking from home depot all the way around edge of the top of the freezer opening and then set the collar on top of that and put the lid on and then both of us climbed on top of the lid to smash it down on the rope caulking.
We then took the lid back off, flipped it over and drilled 4 holes to mount a 4" AC fan from radioshack. We used toggle and spacers to hold it in place with the advice from Catt22 and then wired it up to a computer power cable. blows air all around inside and keeps things cold.
We then drilled 3 holes in the collar, one in the front for the shank, one in side for the c02 line and then one in the back for the fan power cable.
Then we placed the lid back on the collar to see where new holes would need to be drilled for the screws to hold top hinges and got those carefully drilled and then got all the screws back in place.
I used more rope caulk around the c02 and fan power cable and then ran a double line bead of rope caulk around the bottom of the collar just for safety to make sure it was good and sealed.
Brought the keg home from the brewery and twisted on the sankey tap and tapped the keg and that was it, surprised how easy it was.
The only thing I couldnt buy locally was a good temperature controller so I will have to get one of those ordered real soon, I can sort of keep an eye on the temperature by dangling a wired thermometer in there and just use a timer from home depot, 30 on and 1 hour off, it holds the temp nicely though while running the fan.
The tap handle is an old miller lite handle, thought it looked cool. I also have an old coors lite handle for the 2nd tap, we had a whole bunch of tap handles on the mantle of our old apartment and I guess we decided to keep a couple when we threw away in one of our many moves, looks like it was a smart move!
The only down side is that most of hte people that showed up for our house warming/come see where we live party had to drive somewhere so we probably served 15 beers, maybe less..
Here are some pics:
my best passenger :rockin:
