My Keezer build and expense report (yikes)

First of all I'd like to thank the members of this forum, as without the information I gathered here, there is zero chance I could have completed this. So, thank you.

I finished the keezer up last night (it took me about 3 weekends working a few hours here and there). And the best part is I have an IPA that I made about 6 weeks ago ready for the drinking. It is in the keezer "burst carbing" now. I could barely sleep last night i'm so excited (pathetic i know). I've attached a few pictures of the final product. I took a lot of pictures along the way and I plan to post an album of the build soon.

Also, I added up all my receipts just to see how much this thing really costs. Remember I have little to no wood working skills, meaning I own little to no wood working tools. I did have a drill a few wrenches and screw drivers but that's about it. I say this because purchasing tools substantially added to the cost. The grand total... just over $1,450! It definitely cost more than I was planning, but I had a great time with the project and am very happy the end result.

Corey

My projects always seem to blow the budget too. Very nice keezer, looks very professional. Was that hammer shown used to make it all fit together...

Enjoy.

That looks real solid! I'm hoping to start mine today, but hoping it doesnt cost as much

Here is an item list/expense report.

tryn2brew said:

My projects always seem to blow the budget too. Very nice keezer, looks very professional. Was that hammer shown used to make it all fit together...

Enjoy.

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Haha, using that hammer was contemplated several times throughout the process, sometimes directly to the keezer sometimes turned to myself...

Thanks for the comments.

For someone who says they have little to no woodworking skills, I'd say you did a excellent job! Congrats.

Yeah, I try not to think about mine. I've got a running tally on my 8-tap coffin keezer and with hardware, granite bar top, woodworking, and freezer I'm going to end up around 2500!

Looks fantastic, great job. One question for you. I noticed you have a dual pressure regulator and a 3-valve manifold. It appears one line from the regulator is going to the manifold. How are you using the other lines?

my keezer wasn't expensive... but i already had the kegging equipment lol, if i totaled everything, i'd prolly cry, and i still need another tap.

First rule of DIY, don't keep tract of costs. Lol.

partspimp said:

Looks fantastic, great job. One question for you. I noticed you have a dual pressure regulator and a 3-valve manifold. It appears one line from the regulator is going to the manifold. How are you using the other lines?

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Well let me start by saying I have zero experience with kegging. My thought process for selecting the dual was that I wanted at least one line off the regulator that i could vary the pressure from the other 3 without having to shutoff/disconnect all the kegs. I plan to have most taps filled with ales probably 2 IPAs and 1 seasonal and they can all be hooked to the 3 way manifold and share the same amount of pressure. Having the other single line from the 2nd regulator gives me the freedom to serve a different style of beer/cider at a different pressure, but mostly it'll be used for the initial carbing process when you crank the psi up without tinkering with the other lines.

Sweet rig! Congrats on the build.

Hi

Nice job, but *never* add up the numbers afterwords ....

Bob

Nice work. Hopefully my lack of skills will have a similar outcome

Looks good I want something similar

jaytizzle said:

Yeah, I try not to think about mine. I've got a running tally on my 8-tap coffin keezer and with hardware, granite bar top, woodworking, and freezer I'm going to end up around 2500!

Click to expand...

Yikes! I'm hoping you at least had the tools and some of the kegging equipment to start with. And 8 taps eh? Who's planning on drinking all that beer? It's going to be a fulltime job just to keep them all full (given you are filling them with home brew).

smittygouv30 said:

Yikes! I'm hoping you at least had the tools and some of the kegging equipment to start with. And 8 taps eh? Who's planning on drinking all that beer? It's going to be a fulltime job just to keep them all full (given you are filling them with home brew).

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Hi

If you have 8 taps set up with beer, finding enough friends to drink it all will *not* be a problem. Finding enough chips and dip to suplement the beer might be an issue...

Bob

I put together an album of pictures from the build. Not quite a step by step for someone trying to build one but it might give people some ideas of what to or what not to do. Take a peak if you're interested!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80546110@N07/sets/72157630158495118/

carlisle_bob said:

Hi

If you have 8 taps set up with beer, finding enough friends to drink it all will *not* be a problem. Finding enough chips and dip to suplement the beer might be an issue...

Bob

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Nah. We supply the beer, they bring the chips and dip, pretzels, etc.

I just got a little Galaxy 5 foot freezer of CL yesterday. I built the collar, and thought what a deal. Then I priced out all the gear four taps. Wow. On the bright side once you make the investment you can get years of use from the gear. Luckily I stocked up on Corny kegs a few years ago, all those empty kegs is sort of what pushed me to consider building the keezer.

For a first time DIY project that thing looks fantastic! Whenever I do a project I get a new tool or 2, it's whats expected. Whats the next project?

I did the same thing after my keezer build (although I didn't want to!) because my buddy is building his and wanted a list. I'd say everything minus kegs, was around $1100-1200.

About midway through the project I decided that I'd rather spend a couple hundred bucks extra now and do it right than to tear apart later and rebuild, so I bought some other stuff like the $184 secondary CO2 regulator so I can run different pressures (has helped a lot when serving an IPA and Stout). Later it'll definitely be helpful to let the 4th line force carb at ~30 psi

Google+ Album

smittygouv30 said:

Yikes! I'm hoping you at least had the tools and some of the kegging equipment to start with. And 8 taps eh? Who's planning on drinking all that beer? It's going to be a fulltime job just to keep them all full (given you are filling them with home brew).

Click to expand...

I have a 2-tap kegerator now that I'm selling to a buddy to get him into homebrewing. As a result, I'm basically building this 8-tap keezer completely from scratch. Just got my hardware in last week and I'm stoked to be one step closer to finishing. A bank of 8 secondary regulators is an amazing thing to behold!

The way I'm planning it now, 1 keg will be diet coke for the wife (going to use post mix syrup and keg my own), maybe 1 soda keg for myself too (or a jack and coke keg!), 1 keg will be something odd (probably apfelwein most of the time), and the other five or six kegs will be beer. I'm drinking about 1.5 kegs per month by myself so a full keezer is plenty of supply but it also makes having parties easier.

Part of those expenses are tools.
You'll have some of them for life! same for the kegging equipment.
So Yes the keezer was pricy, but your bottling day is now SUPER easy and you have a keezer!

jaytizzle said:

I have a 2-tap kegerator now that I'm selling to a buddy to get him into homebrewing. As a result, I'm basically building this 8-tap keezer completely from scratch. Just got my hardware in last week and I'm stoked to be one step closer to finishing. A bank of 8 secondary regulators is an amazing thing to behold!

The way I'm planning it now, 1 keg will be diet coke for the wife (going to use post mix syrup and keg my own), maybe 1 soda keg for myself too (or a jack and coke keg!), 1 keg will be something odd (probably apfelwein most of the time), and the other five or six kegs will be beer. I'm drinking about 1.5 kegs per month by myself so a full keezer is plenty of supply but it also makes having parties easier.

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Hi

Are you sure you will have eight seperate pressures on your kegs? Running nitrogen plus two or three CO2's seems like a lot to me. Manafolds are a lot less hassle than secondaries...

Bob

carlisle_bob said:

Hi

Are you sure you will have eight seperate pressures on your kegs? Running nitrogen plus two or three CO2's seems like a lot to me. Manafolds are a lot less hassle than secondaries...

Bob

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Not running any nitrogen. I'm not interested in that, at least not for now. That could change later but if I do it will be an easy add-on.

And yes, I'm sure I will have eight separate pressures. I priced a 4-regulator series with splitters and a 8-regulator series. The price difference was minimal so I went with the full setup.

nice build, i just finished mine and materials alone put me over the 2k mark...

dont you hate how you always start something with reasonable intentions and end up going above what you thought you would? happens to me all the time

i made a thread of it last night in the diy section, check it out if you get some time. it's not fully done yet but it is just about there

jaytizzle said:

Not running any nitrogen. I'm not interested in that, at least not for now. That could change later but if I do it will be an easy add-on.

And yes, I'm sure I will have eight separate pressures. I priced a 4-regulator series with splitters and a 8-regulator series. The price difference was minimal so I went with the full setup.

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That looks badass, even if you do end up having half of them set at the same pressure!

skibumdc said:

Part of those expenses are tools.
You'll have some of them for life! same for the kegging equipment.
So Yes the keezer was pricy, but your bottling day is now SUPER easy and you have a keezer!

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Yea I kept reminding myself that as I saw the CC bill continue to climb. I am very happy with it and can't wait to get the other 3 taps filled. I have the ingredients for an ESB and I just ordered the ingredients for a white IPA.

castermmt said:

For a first time DIY project that thing looks fantastic! Whenever I do a project I get a new tool or 2, it's whats expected. Whats the next project?

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Thanks! Next project is to get my grain mill motorized. I tried to use my drill last time and it was unsuccessful. Cranking that thing by hand is for the birds!