TheYoshi
Well-Known Member
Like I suspect a lot of us have done, I first started with a temp converted chest freezer using simple party taps to serve from. My ultimate plan is to have 3-4 taps running full time on an Irish coffin with a hinged lid.
That said, I have limited time to work on this so I'll be evolving things over time. I'm not going to bother posting pictures of things with the party taps as I think we all know what kegs in a chest with party taps sitting on top looks like.
Generation 1 - Simple collar with front mounted taps
I built a box quickly using some quite inexpensive wood from Home Depot. I went to Home Depot with measurements in hand and they happily cut 2 pieces of wood into the dimensions I needed. Basically this is a 1X8 with a top that started life as a 1X24X48 or something to that effect. Home depot is great for this as they will cut it down to the dimensions you need free of charge and you basically just have assembly to worry about... later I won't trust them for the cuts but for rough cuts they are fine. I also bought some simple 3/4" foam weatherstripping tape to use as a new seal for the collar to freezer connection.
Short deck screws are holding it together (I had these on hand) be sure you pre-drill or you will split the wood.
Results (all pics are clickable for larger versions):
1. From the front:
2. Open lid:
3. Open lid 2:
4. Open lid 3:
Also as a little extra here I have had a couple homebrewing friends that are new to kegging ask me about faucet assemblies, I figured I might as well post here what I sent to them to explain it:
1. Exploded faucet assembly (MFL based tailpiece):
2. The same thing but assembled:
To Do Next:
Insulation: As I'm sure you noticed there is no insulation on this thing... not a huge deal right now since I'm in PA and my garage is pretty much constantly 45-50 right now, never much more than 10 degrees above the temp I want the thing at anyway. I *may* insulate this iteration if I don't get to the next iteration before it starts to warm up. Right now it's not an issue at all, I have a small fan running in there from an old computer and the compressor very rarely comes on, when it does it's only for a few minutes.
Switch to Irish Coffin: Part of the reason I went with the design of using no parts from the lid (other than obviously the hinges) is because I wanted to make this thing somewhat modular, when I want to upgrade to the Irish coffin I just unscrew the front panel, replace with a new board that doesn't have holes (insulating as needed) and cut a hole in the existing top once I'm ready to put the coffin on.... simple and allows me to "reduce, reuse and recycle" (just typing that made me throw up in my mouth a little, bite me Al Gore).
Add more faucets: Duh, more beer is better... I should be able to fit 3-4 kegs in here, I'm in an internal debate right now over using cornies or sankes for my homebrew. if I go sanke I may only be able to fit 3 in here but with cornies, definitely 4.... sankes seem simpler to deal with to me though... decisions decisions.
Unsolicited Advice: For those of you who are planning to do a full keezer build but have limited time, I highly recommend something like this if you are using party taps. for me to have my homebrew carbed the way I want it, a lot of the time party taps = foam city when pouring. They always seem to come on 5' lines... I'm running 10' lines (3/16") now with the faucets and everything pours great across the range of pressures I tend to want to use. Some of the lighter carb'd beers pour a little on the slow side but who cares. This probably took me about 3-4 hours tops to put together once I had all the materials (remember my lumber was pre-cut at home depot). Also get the Perlick faucets, fantastic... I'm using all 575SS but the 525SS would be just as well.
Enjoy!
That said, I have limited time to work on this so I'll be evolving things over time. I'm not going to bother posting pictures of things with the party taps as I think we all know what kegs in a chest with party taps sitting on top looks like.
Generation 1 - Simple collar with front mounted taps
I built a box quickly using some quite inexpensive wood from Home Depot. I went to Home Depot with measurements in hand and they happily cut 2 pieces of wood into the dimensions I needed. Basically this is a 1X8 with a top that started life as a 1X24X48 or something to that effect. Home depot is great for this as they will cut it down to the dimensions you need free of charge and you basically just have assembly to worry about... later I won't trust them for the cuts but for rough cuts they are fine. I also bought some simple 3/4" foam weatherstripping tape to use as a new seal for the collar to freezer connection.
Short deck screws are holding it together (I had these on hand) be sure you pre-drill or you will split the wood.
Results (all pics are clickable for larger versions):
1. From the front:
2. Open lid:
3. Open lid 2:
4. Open lid 3:
Also as a little extra here I have had a couple homebrewing friends that are new to kegging ask me about faucet assemblies, I figured I might as well post here what I sent to them to explain it:
1. Exploded faucet assembly (MFL based tailpiece):
2. The same thing but assembled:
To Do Next:
Insulation: As I'm sure you noticed there is no insulation on this thing... not a huge deal right now since I'm in PA and my garage is pretty much constantly 45-50 right now, never much more than 10 degrees above the temp I want the thing at anyway. I *may* insulate this iteration if I don't get to the next iteration before it starts to warm up. Right now it's not an issue at all, I have a small fan running in there from an old computer and the compressor very rarely comes on, when it does it's only for a few minutes.
Switch to Irish Coffin: Part of the reason I went with the design of using no parts from the lid (other than obviously the hinges) is because I wanted to make this thing somewhat modular, when I want to upgrade to the Irish coffin I just unscrew the front panel, replace with a new board that doesn't have holes (insulating as needed) and cut a hole in the existing top once I'm ready to put the coffin on.... simple and allows me to "reduce, reuse and recycle" (just typing that made me throw up in my mouth a little, bite me Al Gore).
Add more faucets: Duh, more beer is better... I should be able to fit 3-4 kegs in here, I'm in an internal debate right now over using cornies or sankes for my homebrew. if I go sanke I may only be able to fit 3 in here but with cornies, definitely 4.... sankes seem simpler to deal with to me though... decisions decisions.
Unsolicited Advice: For those of you who are planning to do a full keezer build but have limited time, I highly recommend something like this if you are using party taps. for me to have my homebrew carbed the way I want it, a lot of the time party taps = foam city when pouring. They always seem to come on 5' lines... I'm running 10' lines (3/16") now with the faucets and everything pours great across the range of pressures I tend to want to use. Some of the lighter carb'd beers pour a little on the slow side but who cares. This probably took me about 3-4 hours tops to put together once I had all the materials (remember my lumber was pre-cut at home depot). Also get the Perlick faucets, fantastic... I'm using all 575SS but the 525SS would be just as well.
Enjoy!
