rustic coffin keezer build

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hunter_le five

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For my coffin Keezer I pretty much just borrowed from other people's designs, though I was most heavily inspired by Kingmatt's build. Fully realizing that my woodworking skills are $#!t, I went for a more "rustic" look. The result is not as pretty as some of the others I've seen, but it suits me just fine. Here are some pics:



Framing the chest freezer
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Trimming the frame
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Staining the frame
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Panelling the frame
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Gluing down the bar top
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Installing freezer internals: temp probe, CO2, gas line, kegs, and beer line.
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Build frame for coffin box
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Attach panels and taps
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Bolt bar top to lid, drill air flow channels and hole for beer lines.
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Install computer fans for air inflow/outflow.
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Insulate coffin box.

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Fit upper/lower bar assemblies together.
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Test beer line/tap flow (by drinking many beers).
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Install tap handles.
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Stain and lacquer bar top. Drink beer!
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Thanks to everyone here for the wealth of information. I've learned so much from your collective knowledge in my short time here.

One bit of advice I might add regarding the bar top: be careful when opening the Keezer lid if the chest freezer is empty! My bar top is relatively light compared to others I've seen (no tile, used as little wood as possible), but it is still very heavy, I got used to opening my lid to a full 90 degrees and leaving the hinges to bear the weight while I changed kegs or worked on the gas lines. Normally this is fine, but once I was an idiot and took all the kegs and CO2 out at once with the lid open, and predictably the whole chest freezer assembly toppled over from the weight of the open lid, nearly destroying my hard work. Needless to say, my next addition will be done kind of hinge support to hold the lid open at a little less than 90 degrees when I'm working with the kegs.
 
Nice Man....but keep an Eye on that cat! He/she eyeing your beer:drunk:

Haha thanks man. The cat loves sleeping on top of the coffin box, and unfortunately has a tendency to try to play with the tap handles. I'm going to have to find a way to lock down the taps when I'm not around, or just start removing the handles when I leave the house.
 
Haha thanks man. The cat loves sleeping on top of the coffin box, and unfortunately has a tendency to try to play with the tap handles. I'm going to have to find a way to lock down the taps when I'm not around, or just start removing the handles when I leave the house.

try one of these i hear they work very well. This is just th efirst place I found with a quick gogle but i believe amazon and some other sites have them as well.
http://search.store.yahoo.net/barco...ontrols.com/&gclid=CKGuz_WyxLcCFaN7Qgodaz8APg
 
What sort of gyrations do you have to do to get inside to change kegs, etc.?

Todd

It's a not THAT tricky, but it is a little bit of a pain, and if I could do it all over again, I'd tweak the design a bit to make it easier.

Essentially, I just have to slide whole unit out away from the wall, and then lift the top-half up on the hinges.

Unfortunately, the top half is quite heavy from all the wood (I used fairly thick wood to make it sturdy), and with the lid/bar top/coffin box lifted on the hinges at a near-90-degree angle, the whole thing becomes very top-heavy. This is fine if have three full kegs in it, but if the kegerator is empty, then it will want to topple over. So I end up resting the back-top edge of the coffin box on the wall for support whilst changing out kegs. Otherwise, that can be a lot of weight resting on the hinges.

I've been toying around with the idea of anchoring the chest-freezer body to the lower frame, and adding some straps or pneumatic cabinet hinges to connect the lid to the lower frame for some added support while open. Haven't gotten around to it yet.
 
Awesome DIY! I was planning to buy a chest freezer and just use that as a kegerator, but I never thought about building a decorative/functional frame around it to turn it into a bar. I might use your idea in my build. Thanks!
 
Sounds like you have it choreographed. I've read about folks orienting their non-collared keezer with tower so that the lid lifts to the left or right. I guess the idea is that most of these rigs will be along a wall and have more space on the sides so the tower doesn't hit. Might look odd with a big freezer but OK with something like a 5 cu ft model.

Todd
 
Nice build and great that you took a lot of pics a long the way to help out people in their future builds!
 
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