New Keezer Project

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chipsah

chipsah

Off the Wagon Brewing
HBT Supporter
Joined
Sep 4, 2009
Messages
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Location
Baltimore
First, thanks to Jester et al for the inspiration, motivation, and design.

I thought keezer v1.0 (soon to be keezer jr.) was dying. Apparently sticking 4 cornies full of 70F beer will wreck havoc on a 15 year old freezer... Long story short, he's still alive and his big brother is in surgery. I picked up a 14.8 cu ft chest freezer from Lowe's because of the seeming impending demise of Jr. I'll be doing a coffin on this one, shooting for 5 Perlicks and 1 stout tap. That should allow me room to condition 2 more for a total of 8 kegs at a time.

Like said, thanks to everyone for the great design tips, I will be stealing them. Here are a few pictures of the first day of progress.

Side view with framing and fan:
keezer1.jpg


Full frontal:
keezer2.jpg


Not sure what I am going to skin it with yet. SWMBO says it has to be dark wood to match the rest of the house. I also need to think of something for the bar top, so if anyone has ideas, shoot.
 
Subscribed as well! I'm not sure what wood I'd go with. just pay particular attention to the trim work. It seems to make or break all carpentry. Do you know what you're going to top it with yet?:mug:
 
ImperialLover said:
Subscribed as well! I'm not sure what wood I'd go with. just pay particular attention to the trim work. It seems to make or break all carpentry.
Click to expand...
He's right. It's why most of my projects look like amateur work. :( Trimwork is what sets it apart.
 
Got the paneling nailed/glued up and the top on. Outline for the coffin box is in place. Coffin cooling fan is mounted and the hole for running beer lines is drilled. Next I'll be sanding, sanding, and sanding. Oh yeah, and getting it trimmed and stained. I'm working on the coffin now too so hopefully it should be all together by the end of next week.

Paneling and side fan.
keezer3.JPG


Top
keezer5.JPG


Side shot of paneling. The top is not level because the freezer seal is not in place.
keezer6.JPG


Close up of fan.
keezer7.JPG


Fan installed.
keezer8.JPG
 
Stain turned out better than I expected. Here it is with one coat of polyurethane on it. Only a few more coats to go then the hardware goes in...
keezer13.jpg
 
Finished it all up today.

Mounted the Ranco ETC
keezer14.jpg


Installed the Perlick 425s
keezer15.jpg


And a final shot, just across the room from his little brother.
keezer16.jpg


And a moment of respect for my first draft system. It served me very well, and will move on to its next life as a fermentation chamber.
oldkeezer.jpg


If anyone has any questions or would like details photos of any part just let me know.

BTW, Tx if you read this, I need a fancy way to advertise HBT on this keezer...
 
What do you mean....you wish you had my woodworking skills? :confused: You did a kick a$$ job on this thing. I love the "all wood" look and was strongly considering it for mine as well.....and 6 taps, wow! My wife talked me into using the travetine stone on the top and for the face of the coffin to match the backsplash in our bar area where it will be sitting. I love the way mine turned out, but it would have been much lighter if it were all wood. My top must weigh 100 lbs. with the logs, shelves, tile, etc.

I should have went with my gut instincts and made it a 4 tap system, because I have my 4th keg of amarillo wheat sitting in the keezer carbing away. I think that I am going to knife another log trim and drill for 4 taps to expand it. I thought I would be happy with 3 taps, but now that I have a 4th keg of one of my all time favorite beers ready to go, I really wish I didn't have to move beer lines around to accomodate it. I will most likely expand for a 4th tap very soon.
 
Hoppopotomus said:
What do you mean....you wish you had my woodworking skills? :confused: You did a kick a$$ job on this thing. I love the "all wood" look and was strongly considering it for mine as well.....and 6 taps, wow! My wife talked me into using the travetine stone on the top and for the face of the coffin to match the backsplash in our bar area where it will be sitting. I love the way mine turned out, but it would have been much lighter if it were all wood. My top must weigh 100 lbs. with the logs, shelves, tile, etc.

I should have went with my gut instincts and made it a 4 tap system, because I have my 4th keg of amarillo wheat sitting in the keezer carbing away. I think that I am going to knife another log trim and drill for 4 taps to expand it. I thought I would be happy with 3 taps, but now that I have a 4th keg of one of my all time favorite beers ready to go, I really wish I didn't have to move beer lines around to accomodate it. I will most likely expand for a 4th tap very soon.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words. A 100 lb lid would be tough to handle. Maybe you should try to motorize it like Jester was going to. I thought of using some gas shocks to help hold my lid up, but Ye Olde Prop Stick works good for now.

I went with 6 because it will fit 8. That will allow me to have 2 in waiting (if I can get that much brewed haha). I also have a weird "phobia" of odd numbers...
 
I may look into motorizing the lid at some point, but in the meantime, I just plan on adding the 4th tap and calling it good for a while. My wife has become annoyed with my keezer obsession, so if I start another project associated with the keezer, it's not gonna go over too well. :D I used a 7 cu.ft. GE chest freezer, so my limit is 4 kegs without a collar unless I decide to use a 3.5 gallon keg on the hump to make it 5. I might just as well add the 4th tap and buy another couple of kegs, so I can have "on deck" kegs in waiting. I have a cold storage wine/beer cellar, so the kegs can be purged of O2, pressurized to seal the lids and then just condition in there until a spot opens up in the keezer.

Do you have any pics of the inside of the coffin. Just wondering if you used Inductor fans like mine or if you went with something else for ciruclation. I also am curious about your insulation. I'm always looking for ways to improve the efficiency of mine. :mug:

chipsah said:
Thanks for the kind words. A 100 lb lid would be tough to handle. Maybe you should try to motorize it like Jester was going to. I thought of using some gas shocks to help hold my lid up, but Ye Olde Prop Stick works good for now.

I went with 6 because it will fit 8. That will allow me to have 2 in waiting (if I can get that much brewed haha). I also have a weird "phobia" of odd numbers...
Click to expand...
 
Hoppopotomus said:
Do you have any pics of the inside of the coffin. Just wondering if you used Inductor fans like mine or if you went with something else for ciruclation. I also am curious about your insulation. I'm always looking for ways to improve the efficiency of mine. :mug:
Click to expand...

Hoppo,

Yes, I use fans. I think they are exhaust fans for something, not really sure because I just found them laying around in my garage. They are 110VAC, not sure what the CFM is on them but they seem to work pretty well. One is mounted in the coffin and one is a side exhaust vent above the compressor. The insulation I used is 1" blue foam from Lowe's. I think the R value is 5 for the 1". I also used spray foam to fill in the cracks around the edges. I have some extra blue foam so I will probably double/triple up in some places just to cut down on the volume that needs to be cooled. Finally, I used standard weather stripping around the door of the coffin. Anyway, here are a few pictures, if you want to see anything else in more detail, just let me know.

keezer17.jpg


keezer18.jpg


keezer19.jpg


keezer20.jpg


keezer21.jpg
 
Nice build!!! Have you ever tried filling your kegs with the fantastic brews made there in Alaska? I would love to have a keg filled with some Alaskan Oatmeal Stout or even some from midnight sun brewery, or have some Pizza sent to me from Moose's Tooth. I swear I could eat there in that place. Sooo Good.
 
Just a quick question... the initial framing you did (which was later paneled over), is it adhered to the freezer in any way (semi-permanently, permanently, etc)? If so, is it just glued on, or does it use something else (and would you be able to take it all off the freezer without damaging it, or no)?
 

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