Converting the Frigidaire 7.2 cu ft Chest Freezer

"I'm running into a problem however now... Seems the hinges after everything is added arn't supporting the weight of the lid."

Another reason to mount the lid to the freezer. I would avoid drilling into the side of the keezer to avoid puncturing the lines. What if you constructed a prop to hold up the lid when you lift it, like the hood of your automobile. Is it possible to remove the collar to the keezer and mount the lid to the collar. Good luck with it.

EasyE said:

"I'm running into a problem however now... Seems the hinges after everything is added arn't supporting the weight of the lid."

Another reason to mount the lid to the freezer. I would avoid drilling into the side of the keezer to avoid puncturing the lines. What if you constructed a prop to hold up the lid when you lift it, like the hood of your automobile. Is it possible to remove the collar to the keezer and mount the lid to the collar. Good luck with it.

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Yea, I thought of that but, it's not the best looking solution and so far, it looks great. I'm wondering if I could somehow create a good shim to attach to both the lid and the back of the freezer with glue, JB weld, or likewise that I could screw a hinge into... This morning it was staying up without assistance so as the breeze blows I guess...

FWIW, I'm planning to use a prop if I have that problem with mine because I am also building one with a collar that lifts.

2puttbird said:

FWIW, I'm planning to use a prop if I have that problem with mine because I am also building one with a collar that lifts.

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Good to know. I ordered another hinge. I think I'm going to try and gorilla glue a 1" strip to the freezer with gorilla glue and then try to attach the hinge that way so I'm not screwing into the freezer. I'm hoping the gorilla glue is strong enough to support the piece of wood and the weight... I think 3 hinges should do it...

My failure was getting the mountable high pressure guages rather than just leaving the guages on the CO2 bottle... Those guages weight too much. If I glued the collar to the frame, there would be no problems... Oh well, hopefully in the future someone pulls up this thread and sees what I did! LOL

horric29 said:

It really keeps things clean but, I'm wondering if I can just add another pair of hinges for some added strength... Does anyone know if it's possible to add more hinges without drilling through coolent coils on this one? I was thinking of adding another pair, just using self tapping metal screws and then of course attaching to the lid... Any thoughts? I've come too far to blow this thing up! I guess the easy thing would be to just make a wood bar to prop the lid up...

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Please do not drill through the freezer wall. If you drill into a line the freezer is toast.
Gluing should be safe, but is it strong enough? You may have to sand off the paint to make a clean metal surface, I'm not sure.

I read that BYO build article for weeks, and after much deliberation, finally pulled the trigger, assembled everything today and all was going well until I realized that apparently staining pine (Lowe's top choice 2x8) doesn't seem to be working that well. I tried 1/2 pint of the Minwax Cherry and it just looked like I was brushing dirty water onto the wood and NOTHING even close to cherry. The BYO build article didn't mention the use of hemlock (which I now bet stains much better) so I ASSUMED (which usually doesn't work out) that it was a 2x8 from any home improvement store.....

so, any people with wood/stain knowledge have any ideas on what stain color/brand, prep work/chemicals/treatments or techniques to use on my pine collar? I'd like something with a redish tint to it, as my hardwood floors are cherry-ish. Great design BTW.

they make something called a 'wood conditioner' which supposedly lets the stain absorb evenly into the wood. I've never tried it, so do some research, but it sounds like that might help.

Also, was the stain stirred (not shaken) enough? Sounds like the sediment might still be all at the bottom...

Jota21 said:

they make something called a 'wood conditioner' which supposedly lets the stain absorb evenly into the wood. I've never tried it, so do some research, but it sounds like that might help.

Also, was the stain stirred (not shaken) enough? Sounds like the sediment might still be all at the bottom...

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Jota21 beat me to it, but as a woodworker, I know there are certain species that stain horribly. Such as pine (or spruce/hemlock), maple, cherry, poplar, and several others. You need to block the pores somewhat on these types of woods. You can use conditioner as mentioned or a thin wash coat of shellac. Also, using a gel stain works better than an oil stain. If it were me, I would sand it and start over. If it's too much of a pain, then I wouldn't worry about it.

duckmanco said:

I read that BYO build article for weeks, and after much deliberation, finally pulled the trigger, assembled everything today and all was going well until I realized that apparently staining pine (Lowe's top choice 2x8) doesn't seem to be working that well. I tried 1/2 pint of the Minwax Cherry and it just looked like I was brushing dirty water onto the wood and NOTHING even close to cherry. The BYO build article didn't mention the use of hemlock (which I now bet stains much better) so I ASSUMED (which usually doesn't work out) that it was a 2x8 from any home improvement store.....

so, any people with wood/stain knowledge have any ideas on what stain color/brand, prep work/chemicals/treatments or techniques to use on my pine collar? I'd like something with a redish tint to it, as my hardwood floors are cherry-ish. Great design BTW.

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I used the Radiata Select... Only a 6" Collar though and it stained well, I just had to give it three coats of stain... I then gave it three coats of poly...

On another side note, the wood glued on with epoxy seems to be doing the trick for holding a third hinge... Just food for thought... We'll see in the long run. The epoxy is rated at 3200 PSI of holding force? Seems like the wood would give out before the epoxy but, I'm not really an expert or a pro at any of this...

I know on Maple they say to use Shellac. Perhaps pine is the same way.

thanks for all the tips everyone, looks like a pretreatment and a gel stain is the way to go, Minwax says the gel stain will stain metal and fiberglass, and if thats the case, it should be able to handle pine.

I'll post update pics as its done, which might not matter as we've seen tons of them done already, and all of them look amazing.

I used poplar and could not get a good stain using a brush. I had MUCH better results putting some on a rag, rubbing it in evenly, then wiping off. I tried conditioner and it didn't work for crap- made it worse actually. I'd try the rubbing method on a scrap piece before you spend $$ on conditioner.

Gritsak said:

I used poplar and could not get a good stain using a brush. I had MUCH better results putting some on a rag, rubbing it in evenly, then wiping off. I tried conditioner and it didn't work for crap- made it worse actually. I'd try the rubbing method on a scrap piece before you spend $$ on conditioner.

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Thanks for this post. I decided to go with poplar and was planning on just using a brush...

AZ_IPA said:

Thanks for this post. I decided to go with poplar and was planning on just using a brush...

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No problem. The poplar stained really nicely i think. I posted pictures on page 7 of this thread. It looks much better in person than the pics, though.

MW66 said:

Jota21 beat me to it, but as a woodworker, I know there are certain species that stain horribly. Such as pine (or spruce/hemlock), maple, cherry, poplar, and several others. You need to block the pores somewhat on these types of woods. You can use conditioner as mentioned or a thin wash coat of shellac. Also, using a gel stain works better than an oil stain. If it were me, I would sand it and start over. If it's too much of a pain, then I wouldn't worry about it.

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Minwax's Gel Stain saved this project, hands down without a doubt. This stuff goes on (and odly has the consistency of) barely melted chocolate and flat out covers and doesn't run. I went with "hickory" which wet looks like ebony, but either way, it covered really well and I'm happy with it.

So, anyone attempting to build this out of pine, as I did with a standard pine 2x8 or 2x10, skip the regular stain and go with the Gel Stain. Thanks MW66

Can anyone give me the exact measurements of the collar they built? Haven't been able to find the fridge locally but sears will ship it to their store here in about a month. Wanted to get started on the collar in the mean time.

Also what is the minimum collar height necessary for mounting the hinges? I plan on having the collar attached to the body, not the lid. I will not be stacking kegs on the hump so I really only need enough height to mount my taps and the hinges onto the collar.

Without modfication the freezer already has enough height to house 1/6 kegs w/ Sankey couplers, correct?

Thanks to everyone for contributing such awesome info

Mine is 35 1/8" wide x 21 5/8" deep and its 8 7/8" tall. Mine is tall because I box framed the top. You can see it in my project thread. I will be complete this weekend and be able to show all of the rest of my pictures. I have a small round over (1/8") on the edges. So account for that. That is, if you make it perfectly square on the edges, it will probably hang over a little.

I really want to dive into this project!!!

Not to beat a dead horse, but after much searching I'm getting mixed reviews that you can indeed fit 4 skinny ball-lock kegs on the floor. All of my kegs are the Pepsi style skinny ball-lock, and not the converted pin-lock. MW66 has the most recent build, can you confirm this?

A follow-up question is has anyone tried to dent in the compressor hump a tad to make 4 kegs fit instead of just trying to shove them in there? I would assume that the hump wouldn't have any refrigerant lines in it and would just be sheet metal plus insulation (could be wrong though). The only other thing I could think of is trying to make my round kegs square-ish.

Thanks for the feedback!

mtbiker278 said:

I really want to dive into this project!!!

Not to beat a dead horse, but after much searching I'm getting mixed reviews that you can indeed fit 4 skinny ball-lock kegs on the floor. All of my kegs are the Pepsi style skinny ball-lock, and not the converted pin-lock. MW66 has the most recent build, can you confirm this?

A follow-up question is has anyone tried to dent in the compressor hump a tad to make 4 kegs fit instead of just trying to shove them in there? I would assume that the hump wouldn't have any refrigerant lines in it and would just be sheet metal plus insulation (could be wrong though). The only other thing I could think of is trying to make my round kegs square-ish.

Thanks for the feedback!

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I cannot fit four (4) on the floor. However, I can fit three (3) and my 15 lb. CO2 tank on the floor. Another keg has to go on the hump. You would need to make your collar tall enough to provide clearance to put one on the hump. I would NOT try to dent in the hump as it's not necessary if you make the collar tall enough. There is no way that I would try to make a round keg square-ish, that's just asking for trouble with sealing. I too have the skinny style Pepsi ball lock kegs. I hope that helps.

subscribed for reference on my own project about to start

The square keg was more a sarcastic comment. I have no plans to beat on them as most of them already have enough dents. I think I might end up doing a similar build with the GE 7.0 freezer. I've seen a number of picutres where people got 4 kegs to fit, although it was tight. However, I think it would require a taller collar to fit kegs on the hump (10"). I'd like to have 4 on the floor for serving and one on the hump for carbing with some room for other stuff (bottles/hops/yeast).

There is a frigidaire 9.0ft freezer going for $267 at Lowes at the moment. The 7.2 is $249. Might be worth the extra money.

mtbiker278 said:

The square keg was more a sarcastic comment. I have no plans to beat on them as most of them already have enough dents. I think I might end up doing a similar build with the GE 7.0 freezer. I've seen a number of picutres where people got 4 kegs to fit, although it was tight. However, I think it would require a taller collar to fit kegs on the hump (10"). I'd like to have 4 on the floor for serving and one on the hump for carbing with some room for other stuff (bottles/hops/yeast).

There is a frigidaire 9.0ft freezer going for $267 at Lowes at the moment. The 7.2 is $249. Might be worth the extra money.

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For the Frigidaire, there is a (slim) possibility of having two kegs on the hump with three on the floor. So far I have not seen a picture of a Frigidaire 7.2 with four on the floor. I'd love to see it if anybody has a picture.

Well I'm probably going to do an upsized build then on the 9.0cuft frigidaire. Hopefully the wiring is similar between the two models.

mtbiker278 said:

Well I'm probably going to do an upsized build then on the 9.0cuft frigidaire. Hopefully the wiring is similar between the two models.

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If you need more than four taps, yes that's what I would suggest. In the time I have had this kegerator there has been only once that all taps were in use and another keg was waiting for its turn. I am not a very prolific brewer I suppose, or is it that I drink a lot?

Very nice.

Looks great!

Quaffer said:

If you need more than four taps, yes that's what I would suggest. In the time I have had this kegerator there has been only once that all taps were in use and another keg was waiting for its turn. I am not a very prolific brewer I suppose, or is it that I drink a lot?

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I'm not sure I see myself "Needing" more than four taps, but I would like the option to expand. I saw Jester's build of a 13 cuft freezer with 7 taps, and I was a little jealous. I usually brew on the weekends and typically have two on tap, but I would like to store more and have more variety. I also like the idea of rolling this thing out for parties instead of having the typical giant tub with ice for kegs. Too bad you can't really take it anywhere with you..... or can you? They have bar stool races, why not kegerator races!:rockin:

mtbiker278 said:

I'm not sure I see myself "Needing" more than four taps, but I would like the option to expand. I saw Jester's build of a 13 cuft freezer with 7 taps, and I was a little jealous. I usually brew on the weekends and typically have two on tap, but I would like to store more and have more variety. I also like the idea of rolling this thing out for parties instead of having the typical giant tub with ice for kegs. Too bad you can't really take it anywhere with you..... or can you? They have bar stool races, why not kegerator races!:rockin:

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You can move it, but stairs are not fun. Best to keep it at home I think.

Without reading the whole thread, i have a question. Just starting to get into kegging myself and converting a used freezer, what is the point of having a seperate high pressure manifold? Then the next question is, what does a manifold really do and why would you want them? I know it distributes the co2 to different locations but I thought you want more secondary regulators so you can adjust the pressure to each keg?

You mentioned in the begining of this thread that you were "crash cooling" a car boy, I never heard that term before, what does that mean?

pola0502ds said:

Without reading the whole thread, i have a question. Just starting to get into kegging myself and converting a used freezer, what is the point of having a seperate high pressure manifold? Then the next question is, what does a manifold really do and why would you want them? I know it distributes the co2 to different locations but I thought you want more secondary regulators so you can adjust the pressure to each keg?

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The point of having manifolds is that you do not have to have a secondary regulator for every keg. I use the higher pressure regulator to speed up initial carbonation in a new keg, while I use the low pressure to maintain carbonation. This way I can have a mixture of new and old kegs at the same time.

pola0502ds said:

You mentioned in the begining of this thread that you were "crash cooling" a car boy, I never heard that term before, what does that mean?

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It helps the yeast to settle on the bottom if we cool the carboy at the end of fermentation. The point is to have less suspended yeast when transferring to a keg.

Now I find it to be more trouble than it is worth to lift a full carboy into the kegerator. Lifting out the carboy stirs up some yeast again. If I had a stand-up fridge I would use it.

Just trying to understand this because i think I know how your system works and I'm trying to do the same.

You have a Primary regulator that is attached to a high pressure regulator correct? It's not 2 primarys or a primary and a secondary?

The tubing going off your high pressure regulator, is it high pressure rated?

So since you used a manifold, you don't have the option to set your beers at different pressures, correct? Has this become a problem for you? I have wondered if it is really worth having a different regulator for each keg for this purpose.

pola0502ds said:

Just trying to understand this because i think I know how your system works and I'm trying to do the same.

You have a Primary regulator that is attached to a high pressure regulator correct? It's not 2 primarys or a primary and a secondary?

The tubing going off your high pressure regulator, is it high pressure rated?

So since you used a manifold, you don't have the option to set your beers at different pressures, correct? Has this become a problem for you? I have wondered if it is really worth having a different regulator for each keg for this purpose.

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I see what the confusion is. What I really have are two low pressure manifolds, where one is lower pressure than the other. The "not-so-low" pressure one I set to 35 or 40 PSI for initial carbonation. The "low" pressure one is set to 12 - 14 PSI. If I make pop for the kids I set the pressure to 25 PSI after initial carbonation.

This picture shows the real high pressure gauge on the left side. It has a pressure around 800 PSI and it is mostly determined by the bottle temperature. The other two gauges show the pressure in the two low pressure regulators. One is set to a little higher pressure than the other.


I have not found it to be a problem not being able to regulate each keg individually.A bigger problem is to know when to stop initial carbonation. To play it safe and slow I could set a new keg on 12 PSI and wait a week or more for it to carbonate, but I am usually a bit impatient and want it quicker than that.

Thanks for answering my questions. So, both of your regulators, are they both the same exact type but you just set them at different levels and call one high pressure and one low pressure?

What your also saying is, it's not a must have feature (this high and low regulator) to carbonate beer and for this keezer build?

pola0502ds said:

Thanks for answering my questions. So, both of your regulators, are they both the same exact type but you just set them at different levels and call one high pressure and one low pressure?

What your also saying is, it's not a must have feature (this high and low regulator) to carbonate beer and for this keezer build?

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Correct on both accounts.

I ordered that exact freezer, and am 110% sure that mine will not turn out that nice. Nice work! I'm totally jealous.

Is the red gas line hose the best? My local home brew shop sold me the clear..

In my experience, although I do use the red line from my cylinder to my secondary regulators (because it came with the regs), gas line brand is not critical for the relatively short runs that are typical for a home kegerator.

pola0502ds said:

Is the red gas line hose the best? My local home brew shop sold me the clear..

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Red helps me to not be confused about what hose I am holding. I doubt there is a performance difference. If it does not burst or slip off the barbs it should be OK, clear or red.