How much to build a keezer?

Well, me and the (someday future) missus are going to play grown up, pool our resources, and move out of our respective parent's houses and get a place of our own. This obviously presents the opportunity for a keezer! Which SWMBO is completely ok with, which means I need to start saving my pennies.... So, what should I expect to spend?

Also, I would like to have a couple taps set up for commercial brews. What kind of coupler do US craft beer kegs come with? (Dogfish, Lagunitas, etc?)

depends on if you buy new or get a good deal on used and how many taps/kegs you want. I built a 4 tap/keg keezer out of a 7 cu ft freezer and probably spent about $1k on everything. all new except the kegs.

What kind of a freezer did you get (brand) and how much room is in it after 4 kegs?

A standard Sankey D coupler will work for almost all domestic kegs. You can get MFL fittings on the system so you can easily swap between the commercial and corney kegs.

Check out this awesome thread for keezer dimensions:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/chest-freezer-specs-layouts-377518/

atom said:

depends on if you buy new or get a good deal on used and how many taps/kegs you want. I built a 4 tap/keg keezer out of a 7 cu ft freezer and probably spent about $1k on everything. all new except the kegs.

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+1

cost me about $1K-$1.2K with a new 8.8 cf black chest freezer. Used the Billy Brew version as a model. 4 taps, 545 flow control perlicks.

Is the thread on a sankey coupler 1/4 MFL?

I did mine for ~$800. I used a new 5 Cu ft freezer with 3 Perlick 525 taps, a 5lb CO2 tank, and a 3-way manifold. I have 2 Sankey taps for commercial beers and ball locks for homebrew and fillups at the local brewpubs.

jimmarshall said:

Is the thread on a sankey coupler 1/4 MFL?

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You can buy specific sankey couplers that have MFL fittings.

Example:
http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=64

I went with a kegerator instead. It holds 4 cornys Bought the taps used from here. They're not per licks but they work well. Fridge, kegs, taps, and all less than 250. I Havnt added tap handles yet.

About $500. The only items that weren't bought used from Craigslist were the regulator, temp control unit, and the gas and beer lines.

Is it possible to use a standard sankey coupler on a 1/6 bbl keg in one of these without a collar? Or will I need to either collar or buy low profile?

That depends which chest freezer you go with. A collar is ridiculously easy to build though, and it gives you a place to mount faucets, temp controllers, fans, etc. Your other option is a tower, which adds expense.

jimmarshall said:

What kind of a freezer did you get (brand) and how much room is in it after 4 kegs?

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It's a GE 7 cu ft. It's jam packed with 4 kegs, 10 lb Co2 tank, 20 cu ft beer gas tank + regulators, manifold and all beer and gas lines.

Looking to be able to do 4 kegs + CO2, and have room to stack a couple cases of bottles on the hump. would you recommend jumping to an 8.8 given your experiences?

jimmarshall said:

Looking to be able to do 4 kegs + CO2, and have room to stack a couple cases of bottles on the hump. would you recommend jumping to an 8.8 given your experiences?

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Trust me, whatever you buy will seem too small once you get it loaded up. I'd go with the biggest unit you have room for. The extra space you'll get is more than worth it. The cost difference is pretty marginal too. You can start with a few taps for now, but you can always add taps later.

jimmarshall said:

Looking to be able to do 4 kegs + CO2, and have room to stack a couple cases of bottles on the hump. would you recommend jumping to an 8.8 given your experiences?

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yeah, i probably would have bought an 8-10.

i fit 4 kegs and a 10 lbs CO2 tank on the bottom of an 8.8, and have room on the shelf for other bottled beers. I even have a basket left in for more beers and yeast.

If you take your time and watch for deals depending on size anything is possible







I did this for under a grand

thinking once we get settled in, I will figure out where I want to put it and see how big I can get to fit there.

Probably around a thousand

I have a 7.0 cubic foot, built with a new Haier freezer from Costco.

Freezer: $200
Wood for collar and miscellaneous bits: $100
2 new corny kegs: $200
CO2 tank, lines, regulator: $150
Sankey 'D' tap: $45
3 Perlick faucets: $120

Total price was about $815

I can run 3 kegs total, 2 homebrew and 1 commercial, and consider it money well spent. I could have gone cheaper by getting a used freezer or kegs but decided to go brand new.

If my wife only knew.