Jester Keezer Build, with a twist

Props to Jester for inspiration. Had some fun making it unique. 100% red oak and frosted glass sides!

very nice. Total cost and time to build (approx?)

Thanks! $400 for the freezer from lowes, about $400 for the other materials not including the draft beer parts as I already had those. Two months to build mainly because I had to build it in my 1200 sq ft apartment which meant cutting the wood in the parking garage and assembling upstairs. This was the only way the wife would allow a keezer in the living room

That's really slick. Bravo!

Really diggin' the frosted glass illumination! Goes great with the backsplash lighting!

That frosted glass lit up is awesome. Nice build.

jetlink1983 said:

Thanks! $400 for the freezer from lowes, about $400 for the other materials not including the draft beer parts as I already had those. Two months to build mainly because I had to build it in my 1200 sq ft apartment which meant cutting the wood in the parking garage and assembling upstairs. This was the only way the wife would allow a keezer in the living room

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Nice job. The bottom part (support with wheels) - is that also red oak? What dimensions on that wood?

chrislehr said:

Nice job. The bottom part (support with wheels) - is that also red oak? What dimensions on that wood?

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Ok I lied about the 100% red oak, thats only the exterior to keep costs down. I did use 5/8 plywood as a top base, tap wall, and the bottom on wheels is just 1X10 pine.

Cut the last two tiles today. Finally done.

Any pictures on how you ran your lines?

Augie said:

Any pictures on how you ran your lines?

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Kind of a crappy pic but you get the idea. All the lines go straight into the insulation through the lid so theres no way for air to leak out or in. I was going to insulate the box etc but when I pulled a pint I got no foaming so screw it I'm gonna leave it. You can see the temp controller and the light switch as well as my dual gauge regulator. This makes it really easy to mess with pressures.

Thanks, these threads inspired me to do something like this instead of freezer with collar.

Siiiiiiiick

I'm in the design stage of a jester style build too. The frosted glass is another thing to consider. I know you said you had the serving equipment already but where did you get it? I've been trying to find some decent prices for faucets, shanks etc.

specialized said:

I'm in the design stage of a jester style build too. The frosted glass is another thing to consider. I know you said you had the serving equipment already but where did you get it? I've been trying to find some decent prices for faucets, shanks etc.

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Got them from keg cowboy. I live in Houston so I was able to just swing by and get them. Good guys and got them for a discount with their coupon code 3TAK I think it is. One thing to consider in your design, the top is heavy. I can lift it no problem but have to use a 1x2 to prop it open. I thought about trying to install a hydraulic arm for car hatchbacks to assist but never got around to it.

nice build

How do you open it to refill your kegs?

HexKrak said:

How do you open it to refill your kegs?

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Roll it a few feet from the wall and the top opens just like a regular chest freezer. Prop it open and swap kegs.

Props! Great job, and cool idea on the frosted glass. I guess you have to be pretty careful with the glass when changing kegs, dropping free weights, etc? Or is it pretty tough stuff?

You should do a "morimoto" theme, and have colored LEDs slowly change different colors, so every time you get a beer it's glowing a different color.

http://www.morimotorestaurant.com/

Yeah I'm definitely careful with the glass, normally picking up the keg on each end and putting it in sideways. The morimoto lights would be sweet!

looks awesome. Congrats!

This keezer is my muse... I hope you don't mind me stealing the idea! A few questions first: what size drip tray is that? Do I see it correctly that you pulled out the lid insulation and installed wooden supports that interface with your t-nuts? Where did you get the frosted glass? How are the glass panels held up (routed grooves, hardware, etc)?

Thanks in advance! Killer build!

Nope anything I can do to help let me know! I actually just disassembled it, moved to Chicago, and reassembled it! The drip tray is 36 inches, so it fits against the 3 back tiles perfectly. Came from beveragefactory.com and was kind of pricey but is amazing quality. I did in fact pull out the insulation in the lid to attach the top piece. Essentially if you think of it in layers from top down....

The top piece is 5/8 plywood. Before I put the tile down I put T nuts on the bottom of the plywood and screwed bolts in from the top and sunk them to make them flush. This left about 3 inches of bolt thread protruding through the plywood.

I then removed the cover and insulation to the freezer lid. Drilled 4 holes that lined up with the bolt threads and placed the plywood into position so that now the the plywood sits on the lid and the bolts stuck through the lid.

I then used 1x2 pine that extend the length of the lid from front to back, drilled two holes for the the bolts on one side, and secured the wood with washers and wingnuts. This one done on both the left and right. This added a tremendous amount of support and assistance in open the lid with the plywood on top. It also makes it easy to disassemble. I tucked the insulation back in and reinstalled the interior cover. Presto.

The frosted glass is actually tempered clear glass panels that I had cut at a local glass store to size. For some reason frosted stuff is really pricey, so I went to Lowes and got the frosted glass film they sell in rolls to make it "frosted". Took a try or two to get it right. If I had the extra cash I would have just sprung for the real deal, or maybe some lucite. The glass is really thin and light so I just used mirror mounting hardware again from Lowes, and they are installed from the back for a clean look. The LED strip lights came off ebay for super cheap.

Any other questions feel free to hit me up!

PS.. if you plan on going the real marble tile route, it is an awesome look but it makes the sucker pretty heavy, especially the lid. When I moved, I took off the small casters I had on there and put some heavy duty ones on. Made a huge difference to roll it around. The only thing I would have done differently is to figure out an easy way to maybe install some hydraulic lifts (maybe car hatchback type?) to help open/prop the lid up.

Wow, this is gorgeous..... Beautiful!

The wife should be damn proud to have that in the living room!

jetlink1983 said:

The drip tray is 36 inches, so it fits against the 3 back tiles perfectly. Came from beveragefactory.com and was kind of pricey but is amazing quality.

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Thanks for all the info! What is your center-center spacing for your taps? My version is only going to have 5 kegs (smaller freezer), so I'm trying to figure out if I can get away with the cheap 19" drip tray from barproducts.com. Those beveragefactory ones sure are pricey!

I'm thinking of doing acrylic or polycarb instead of glass, for the sake of durability. Do you think the frosted film would be easy/possible to install on plastic, or is the rigidity of glass a must?

How did you do your penetrations from the coffin through the freezer lid to run beer lines, etc?

Wow that is by far the best looking keezer I have ever saw!

The frosted film should work no problem for you. Im out of town so cant measure the spacing. I think I put the center tap in first, then measured outward to 2 inches from the side. In other words, from the center to the right was 18 inches. Subtract two inches from the side leaves 16 inches divided by 4 taps including the center equals 4 inches apart. Based on 5 taps and 19 inch drip tray that calculation would be about 2.5 inches apart which would probably be really tight but might still be doable.

As far as the lines, I just bought a 4 inch hole saw and drilled straight the plywood and lid/inner shell. I pushed the lines through the insulation so that the insulation fills in around the beer lines and doesn't let air in or out. Same with co2 lines. When I get back I'll try to get some better pics for ya.

Beautiful build....looks absolutely awesome! Can't wait to get the rest of mine done now. Great work!

You have just inspired my build, i wasthinking of doing something similar and now that ive seen it i am going for it.

Awesome! Any questions feel free to pm me.

definitely sub'd to this one....EPIC!!!

Hey Jetlink, I am looking to do a wheeled base on my already existing keezer and yours looks pretty simple based on the first 2 pics of this thread. I figure I can do what you did and put a border around the bottom attached to the base since I only really care about being able to wheel my keezer around. That way it will cover up the gaps and hold the keezer on the base in case it was knocked.

My question is, how is your base holding up? I just wanted to make sure having 5 full kegs in a 7cu ft keezer is not going to be too much for something like you have. It looks like you have a decent amount of weight on it but figured I would ask.

Thanks

Love it dude, but my issue with a build like this is always the same. How much of a pain is it to take out, and replace the kegs? I use both 50L kegs as well as corneys. And the big half barrels are not a joy to move alone at all!