A "Pleaser" Keezer

Well, I tried to coin the term "kidgerator" by dividing my main fridge with a vertical wall with custom shelves on one side and a keg/tank on the other. The fridge is on-loan, so I couldn't start drilling holes through the door. I planned to put a hinged panel in front, to make it look sexy ("hide" the keg/co2) and mainly to give me something to which I could mount the faucets, all inside our normal fridge....but managed to talk the wife into giving-up our little deep-freeze instead. Let us begin....

It's a bit small for my needs (probably only 2 kegs, with the vague possibility of 3, but I'm going to make it work, anyway. When I get back to the States in a year or two, I'll build my "dream keezer" The reason this is called the "pleaser keezer" is because even though I only consider it a temporary stop-gap for my beer-serving needs, my Chief of Staff (the wife) gave authorization "only if it doesn't look like a freezer in my living room." The COS also gave me a limited budget ($100-200) so we'll see what we can do...

I started out by removing all of the food and cramming it by force into the top of the fridge (You'll notice it has not yet defrosted, but it IS unplugged! I didn't want to waste any time once I had authorization from the COS.


Then, I stripped down the lid and removed the lock/handle, so it will be MUCH easier to build overtop. The rubber seal had 4 screws, but they also used those annoying plastic "thumb tacks" that press in and get stuck... had to cut around them a bit with a razorblade and some luck. You'll notice the big piece of insulation leaning against the left side.

So, it's really a "Pleez-her Keez-er"

Go with the keezer. Your probabaly not going to bring it home with you, but you'll be able to ship the shanks/taps etc home no problem. Two taps in a dedicated keezer is better than one in 'half' the fridge. Make her happy, go for the keezer.

I forgot to post that I started on my tap handles. Using cocobolo, which is a pretty cool exotic wood (but can have carcinogenic effects so be careful if you usually have respiratory/allergic issues).

Just making 2 handles, though I'll probably kick myself the day I decide to "upgrade" to a 3-keg system.

Started with a block of wood.


Mounted it on the lathe and started cutting away.


For anyone that cares, I'm using a Delta "Midi" lathe. It's the heaviest "mid-sized" lathe I know of, and works really well. I've had this one since 2001 and moved it several times. All I had to do was change the belt once and I swapped out the plastic handles for some after-market metal ones from Woodcraft.

Ok, so made a bit more progress on my build.

I found some leftover casters from a project long-since forgotten and built a rolling base. That made it easier to move around for measuring, etc. The real challenge of my build is that I'm using my freezer for beer while I'm still building it. Because of this, I also had to make a temporary lid (just attached the original rubber seal to a piece of plywood.


As I mentioned before, the inside of my rather small deep-freeze is stepped, so I had to build a collar to fit another keg (or two, or possibly a keg and a carboy) on the shelf. Here is a picture of the collar.



My concept for the tower was to use an inverted cooler inside a wooden housing and cut a large hole in the metal freezer lid to accommodate. I fit the cooler to the plywood and cut the hole for my drip tray. If you're curious, I went with the Curtis DTP-20 Drip Tray. It's 20" x 4.25" -- probably big for the size of my keezer, but I wanted to avoid the "Buy Small-Buy Twice" theory. Since I plan on building a much larger keezer whenever I get back to the States, this seemed like a decent investment.



I received my faucets and shafts in the mail. Pretty psyched about them--nice shiny chrome and only $11 each on ebay.



I had hoped to post pictures of my turned tap handles, however, my lathe threw a bearing. I may just ask my dad to make a couple of handles and mail them to me--not sure.

Ok, I made some more progress but seem to be wasting some time with extra trips to the hardware store due to my lack of pre-planning. (I wish I had spent more time learning to use that Google Sketch program.)

As you can see, I mounted the collar. I put a thin layer of insulation/foam in-between the collar and the freezer, and then taped the outside/inside with moisture-barrier tape.



As you can see, the "keezer" is already in-use so I'm building around it.



The drip tray arrived so I built the frame/border for that. Things are starting to come together, though I didn't like the first set of bolts I bought--decided to go with smaller ones (they don't seem to have the flat/curved-headed bolts here so I'll have to counter-sink them. I'm stalling on attaching the hinges until I finish the top, but it's hard to manage the top before I can raise the lid, and I can't raise the lid until I hold it all together with bolts.... I need a beer.

build it, use it, outgrow it, sell it, buy bigger, repeat

Well, folks. I was able to make some progress and thought I'd post a couple more pictures. The main steps were framing the vertical edges, which I attached to the collar.



Then, I covered the exterior with the thinnest (cheapest) plywood I could find. I also found time (finally) to start building the backstop/cover for the cooler and drilled the tap holes. (If anyone actually uses this idea--the cooler thing--I recommend using a taller/larger cooler because this wasn't quite as tall as I needed but I'll make it work.)
I threw a quick coat of paint on it, but will be doing much more before I call the project "finished." (hint: bamboo) Anyway, it's starting to take form.

Looking good! Are you planning some kind of fan to circulate air up into your "Cooler Tower"?

If you can't find a buyer when you move or move up at least you can keep the tank/regulator/hoses/faucets/thermostat etc. putting faucets in the collar would have left you with a reusable freezer but your build is looking good.

With the cooler being the wrong size, is there a gap from keezer to cooler, or air space above the cooler in the wooden enclosure?

bendavanza said:

If you can't find a buyer when you move or move up at least you can keep the tank/regulator/hoses/faucets/thermostat etc. putting faucets in the collar would have left you with a reusable freezer but your build is looking good.

Click to expand...

Yeah...ummm... I begged the COS to let me put the faucets in the collar for that very reason, but she thinks "that looks FRAT-Party" so... no.

The good thing is your tax dollars will pay for my move, so it'll most likely be coming with me. In a few years (let's be real--2 years tops) I'll sell it to someone else and build a larger one. I had planned to re-use the hardware for my next build (thats why the drip tray is so big) but you're right about destroying a perfectly good freezer. Maybe I'll end up using moisture-barrier tape, foam, and more tape, to seal the gap in the freezer lid and use it for pizza--who knows.

Here is a picture of the keezer with the wooden hutch/tower part removed. It fits very tightly down on the cooler (what I wanted but it's luck that it actually worked. I'm more of an estimate-once, cut-2x, measure 3x, cut 2 more times guy.) Anyhoo, you were asking about whether the holes went into the top of the cooler or if they were above.... I tried to get them as high as possible but given my measuring technique, I drilled right into the top corner of the cooler. Oops? See for yourself.



I also took another picture of the raised lid. You can see that I received/mounted my gas line splitter with separate cutoffs.

Guntr said:

Looking good! Are you planning some kind of fan to circulate air up into your "Cooler Tower"?

Click to expand...

Not at this point. I will probably leave a gap a the top so it can vent as needed but I'm already very close to, if not over, my budget just on wood and hardware.

(You know it's a problem when you delay ordering more beer INGREDIENTS because you spent too much money on hardware for your keezer!)

look for a computer fan (cheap or free) and a phone charger (cheap or free) to run it

bendavanza said:

look for a computer fan (cheap or free) and a phone charger (cheap or free) to run it

Click to expand...

I've just acquired the final parts for mine and so far I'm in for a total of about $9

PC Fan: Free from a buddy (or $5 from Princess Auto)
12 VDC 500 mA Transformer, $1.99 at Value Village
10' 3/4" ID Flexible Conduit, $5.?? at Home Depot (Seriously I've been looking for something like this for weeks and finally found this ****. It's bending radius isn't as tight as I wanted, but for the price and kink resistance it's perfect and I only need 5')
"Box" (i.e. tupperware container), $1 at Dollar Store.
Fitting to connect Flexible Conduit to "Box", $1.?? at Home Depot

I'm probably going to also get some velco from the Dollar Store to hold the box in place.

I'll add pics to my Keezer build pics below once completed, probably tomorrow morning sometime.

I made a ton of progress today--finished framing the borders and hand-cut all of the bamboo to fit in the tracks. Once I knew how large the lid would be, I removed the lid and power-cut the top surface to line-up with the border. Putting it back on was a challenge, since the hinges are dangerously strong. (seriously--be careful) I hit a snag with the back and had to do some reconfiguring around the hinges but I think it came out alright.

This is the back so you can see how I worked around the hinges--not necessarily something I'd recommend to others--more an example of what NOT to do.


This is the top. I installed the drip-tray frame. Right now it contrasts but It'll be painted dark as well.


And what you really wanted to see....here it is from the front (so-far):


(I'm not a superfan of bamboo, but as I said when I started this project/thread, this is a "Pleaser Keezer" meaning I have to keep Momma happy by doing it the way she wants it.)

That is so AWESOME! When you upgrade (cause it sounded like you will) I want to be first on the list of possible recipients! That is just so cool looking, it would go perfect in my buddies bar (the tiki bar, our home away from home)!

Slight thread hijack...
I am in the process of building my own "pleaser keezer". I am stuck on how i am going to attach the collar to the freezer itself.I have some liquid nails that i was going to use, but i am looking for suggestions from others that have done it already. What has worked for you? Thanks!

NewBrewB said:

I made a ton of progress today--finished framing the borders and hand-cut all of the bamboo to fit in the tracks. Once I knew how large the lid would be, I removed the lid and power-cut the top surface to line-up with the border. Putting it back on was a challenge, since the hinges are dangerously strong. (seriously--be careful) I hit a snag with the back and had to do some reconfiguring around the hinges but I think it came out alright.

This is the back so you can see how I worked around the hinges--not necessarily something I'd recommend to others--more an example of what NOT to do.

This is the top. I installed the drip-tray frame. Right now it contrasts but It'll be painted dark as well.

And what you really wanted to see....here it is from the front (so-far):

(I'm not a superfan of bamboo, but as I said when I started this project/thread, this is a "Pleaser Keezer" meaning I have to keep Momma happy by doing it the way she wants it.)

Click to expand...

Hey my wife likes the tropical theme in the backyard and patio, hell I live on an island. I like it, maybe thinking a slightly darker bamboo color with some stain worth a try? Keeping the War department happy is a win win deal.

DRN said:

Slight thread hijack...
I am in the process of building my own "pleaser keezer". I am stuck on how i am going to attach the collar to the freezer itself.I have some liquid nails that i was going to use, but i am looking for suggestions from others that have done it already. What has worked for you? Thanks!

Click to expand...

Well, initially I was hoping to "save the freezer in case I decide to unmake the keezer" so I didn't want to attach anything directly to the freezer with screws/nuts/bolts/glue. I ended up attaching my collar with super-sticky aluminum moisture barrier tape, both inside and out. In-between the wood collar and the plastic top edge of the freezer (between the tape), I used thin foam peel-and-stick insulation, which I stuck to the wood. not sure if I remembered to take a picture of that----yep---here it is:

Nice work! I dig the bamboo. It looks like you've put a fair amount thought into this project. I like how it's coming together.

I took some time off to NOT have our dining room full of tools & sawdust. Even though the COS wants the project completed asap, she doesn't want the chaos of doing a big project in the dining room.

So let's see....

I ordered/received the tailpieces, not realizing that the hex nuts which hold them to the shafts are sold separately. A week later, I had received those as well and have now completed the assembly. This is how they look mounted in the front of the "hutch" which then drops down overtop of the cooler.



And this is how they look from the back of the hutch, before it is mounted (not all that exciting).



And this is what they look like from inside the keezer, looking up into the cooler. You can see I had to expand my "drilled" holes a bit because the tailpieces stuck-out longer than I expected. I'm VERY glad I went with the 90 degree tailpieces though. Sorry it's a bit blurry. Hard to focus inside a white cooler with limited lighting. Now that I have everything lined-up, I'll use more of that metallic moisture-barrier tape to cover up the main holes so that just the tailpieces poke-through but I wanted to show a picture of how everything lined-up.



I also made some progress on the outside but that's all the photographs for now.

Anyone else started on a keezer recently?

Ok so I got frustrated with some shortcomings of the design and decided to take it apart and rebuild it from almost-scratch. Anyway, the new thread will be here.