Took the plunge... My GE7.0 Keezer Build

After cruising HBT for some time and checking out the keezer "art" I finally decided to take the plunge and build one for myself. After scoring a brand new GE7.0 (for FREE!) it was game on! I started by spending an afternoon at my local watering hole with my laptop and banging out some sketchup drawings.

After finally deciding on a direction (sipping a few Jade IPAs) and a style that suited me I began gathering materials. I'm really pleased with the way things have turned out... considering the fact that 1. I'm no Bob Villa & 2. I only used a circular saw, a cordless drill, & a hammer.

I did have one condition when building this- I wanted to be able to return the freezer to its original condition if I ever needed to. (in hindsight ... what the hell was I thinking...anyway.)

Started by removing the lid & hinges to make sure all 5 ball locks I had just purchased would fit. Then built the collar (8") and reattached the hinges to the collar. The outside frame was next. Added my casters and started the outer skin. I decided on oak with aspen trim. After finishing the skin I made a cap for the top. Finally added the freezer and wired an STC1000 with a single outlet (for the freezer and an 80mm computer fan). Next came stain. That brings me to current status... waiting on a decision on tile. Tile will wrap around 3 sides. After the tile is complete I'll add the 4 faucets, hook up the gas, install the drip tray & drain (flush mounted of course), and finally... pour a freakin beer. I can NOT wait!

Quick shout out and Thank You to all you guys who posted your work here for my inspiration! :rockin: :rockin:

Gonna add some LEDs below the bar. And of course about a billion coats of poly... Hopefully I'll have a "completed" pic or two in the next week or so.

I'm guessing you'll be putting your taps through the upper portion of your collar right? Very interesting how your getting around doing a coffin design and just building a "bar" lip off of the top of your exterior box. Very nice!

Thanks man! Guess I should have clarified that... the 4 taps will be centered on the front and run through the collar and tile. Also need to decide what to do with the oak pieces on the bar top itself... might stain it a different color after cutting the hole for the drip tray. I guess it really depends on the tile thats chosen.

So your tiling to vertical part of the color? Might consider putting that same tile on the top of the bar top too? Would give it a little continuity while breaking up the colors.

The tile is going on the collar, on 3 sides, horizontally. the bar top, which is unstained & w/o the drain at the moment, is probably going to be stained a different shade, depending on the tile. Who knows really... "She" is deciding on the tile / colors. That was a compromise I was willing to make in order to have beer on tap in the living room.

Very cool and very original design. Nice work man. Look forward to seeing the final product.

Jade IPA eh? If you're referring to the Foothills Brewing Jade IPA I'll say nice work to that as well. I love that beer. I think I'll go get one this evening after I pick up the lady friend. What's the local watering hole you mentioned?

Enjoy the new keezer.

Thanks! I was referring to Foothills... beer & brewery. I love the Jade! (& the sexual chocolate.....) Going to look at tile again tonight so hopefully we can make some progress.

Looks great!

How heavy is the movable lid gonna' be with all that tile on it?

Here are a few pics with the "cap" off. The collar, made of pine, will be tiled. With the collar attached to the hinges, as is, it basically weighs nothing. These hinges are extremely stout. With the tile we're going to add some weight, but nothing I would worry too much about.

here ya go....

jcooke42678 said:

Thanks! I was referring to Foothills... beer & brewery. I love the Jade! (& the sexual chocolate.....) Going to look at tile again tonight so hopefully we can make some progress.

Click to expand...

Nice. I love that beer. The spot I usually get it at in Charlotte was out, but I did score some cans of the Hop Drop & Roll from NoDa Brewing. If you haven't had this one I'd check it out.

Keep us updated on the keezer.

NoDa is the bomb! Lucky man, we don't get that here yet. Glad to see they're canning too... They're blowing up

Wow. Very creative design. I actually just ordered the GE 7.0 from HomeDepot since it was on sale. I was also planning to put 4 taps like yourself. I had planned to do a coffin design but this has given me some thought and inspiration. My concern was that I wanted to add a collar to allow for another keg and possibly bigger CO2 tank but also wanted a coffin up top. This is a very smart design not having to drill through the top of the freezer.

I'm in NODA country and it is very good.

Good luck, look forward to seeing the finished design. Please post as many pics as you can.

**I meant to ask what is the height of the keezer?

Height - 44.5"
Width - 45.5"
Depth - 29.25"

Can anyone give me the equation to use for calculating line lengths for the beer lines?

I'd just go with 10-12 feet of 3/16 line to start. I have 10 footers and they give great pours at normal serving pressures (10-13ish psi). If for some reason you decide that they're too long, you can always just trim them a bit. Line calculators seem like more trouble than they're worth.

Just my two cents. Good luck.

Just a quick update.. This is the [almost] finished product. This pic was before grout and poly... Grout is complete and there are 2 coats of poly. Still need to install the drip tray, actually, still need to buy the drip tray. Anyway...

Looks great