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I built this kreezer from carsiding, and oak faced plywood for the top. Scraps of 2x6 pine "mop boards", sanded, stained and epoxy'd. Just two taps, room for a third down the line. Has a 2x4 collar like many others underneath the carsiding, and also on the bottom with wheels. I opted for no fan into the coffin, have not had any issues with warm beer from that. Works great! If you want to see my all electric setup, i posted a picture of that in another forum or pm me.

kreezer.jpg
 
I asked this in another thread but it hit the bottom quickly and didn't get answered....

For the guys with keezer builds: I want to build one soon, but I am torn between having a tower or just a collar. Does the extra weight on top make it a pain to get in and out of? It seems like all of the extra weight, especially those with tile or a lot of extras, would really weigh it down and be awkward to manipulate when needed.
 
My lid (with tower) is very heavy. I could see where anyone with any sort of physical set backs might have trouble lifting it. I'm a big guy, so it's no problem for me. The only real benefit with it being so heavy is it actually makes it top heavy when I open it. This causes the lid to stay open very well. I don't need a stick to prop mine open either...
 
Physical set backs aren't an issue for me. I like the idea of a tower, but was just wondering about the convenience of getting in and out of it and I also did not really want to have to cut a big hole in the lid of my freezer if I didn't have to.

It got me thinking... why couldn't I have the best of both worlds? I haven't seen one like this so I borrowed a couple of pics from this thread (thanks to biermuncher & trent) and tried to piece my idea together. Sorry for the bad photoshop...



A nice box could still be built around it to dress it up a bit. What do you guys think?
 
Oddball said:
Physical set backs aren't an issue for me. I like the idea of a tower, but was just wondering about the convenience of getting in and out of it and I also did not really want to have to cut a big hole in the lid of my freezer if I didn't have to.

It got me thinking... why couldn't I have the best of both worlds? I haven't seen one like this so I borrowed a couple of pics from this thread (thanks to biermuncher & trent) and tried to piece my idea together. Sorry for the bad photoshop...

A nice box could still be built around it to dress it up a bit. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
The only thing about the tower on mine is the fact that it has to be moved away from the wall to lift the lid, but that might have even been an issue on a collar build. I built my unit on a homemade dolly with 6 nice soft poly wheels, so it's no problem to roll it away from the wall when opening.

I'd say don't bother with a collar unless you need it for height. My kegs have plenty of room above them without the collar. With the collar you're just creating the need for more circulation of cool air. You'll have that problem with a tower too, but with both you might have trouble keeping the inside of the tower cool without strong or multiple fans inside the unit.
 
Stauffbier said:
The only thing about the tower on mine is the fact that it has to be moved away from the wall to lift the lid, but that might have even been an issue on a collar build. I built my unit on a homemade dolly with 6 nice soft poly wheels, so it's no problem to roll it away from the wall when opening.

I'd say don't bother with a collar unless you need it for height. My kegs have plenty of room above them without the collar. With the collar you're just creating the need for more circulation of cool air. You'll have that problem with a tower too, but with both you might have trouble keeping the inside of the tower cool without strong or multiple fans inside the unit.
Click to expand...

The only reason for the collar in combination with the tower would be to have a tower without cutting holes in the actual freezer itself. I figured I might need fan for this type of tower, but do you really think the extra six inches or so of the collar would affect the circulation that much?
 
Oddball said:
The only reason for the collar in combination with the tower would be to have a tower without cutting holes in the actual freezer itself. I figured I might need fan for this type of tower, but do you really think the extra six inches or so of the collar would affect the circulation that much?
Click to expand...

You still have to make holes in the lid for the type of tower you pictured. If you plan to blow air through it with a fan, the holes will have to be big enough to allow the airflow.

I have a fermentation chamber with a collar that looks just like the photo you posted of the freezer. Even with a fan the temp in the collar area is warmer than the temp just slightly below the collar.

So to answer your question, yes I think you'll have circulation problems with a collar and tower. You'll definitely need at least one (maybe 2) fan for the collar area and another to blow through the tower. I would also think you would need to keep the unit running very cool (low 30's) to maintain decent temps all the way up in to the tower.
 
Stauffbier said:
You still have to make holes in the lid for the type of tower you pictured. If you plan to blow air through it with a fan, the holes will have to be big enough to allow the airflow.
Click to expand...

I guess the picture didn't translate very well. The idea was that the bases would come out and up from the collar at 90 degrees and then arching up and over in front of the keezer. The fan could also be located at the mouth of the base at the opening in the collar.

 
Oddball said:
I guess the picture didn't translate very well. The idea was that the bases would come out and up from the collar at 90 degrees and then arching up and over in front of the keezer. The fan could also be located at the mouth of the base at the opening in the collar.

Click to expand...

Ah! Gotcha!

You still have a similar airflow issue with that set-up too, but probably not as bad.
 
I got the six tap tower on ebay for a steal. Originally was going to build a collar, until I found it. Definitely easier and I think it's pretty cool too. The kegerator will hold 9 kegs and quite a few bottles. The taps were a stolen idea from a trip to the White Labs tasting room.

Kegerator.jpg
 
billkennedy5551 said:
Just put the finishing touches on the 4 tap fridge conversion. Looks good paired with the two tap kegerator.
Click to expand...

That lonely stout handle looks terrible in comparison to your custom handles you should fix that. Overall your setup looks amazing!
 
TIPA0303 said:
Can't really open your freezer door with those tall tap handles.
Click to expand...

I have a small L bracket mounted to the top of the opening edge of my fridge door, so when you open the freezer the fridge opens as well. This alleviates the worry of hitting my tap handles and spilling beer.
 
drewmcdowell said:
I got a lot of help and inspiration from this forum when I was building my kegerator so I wanted to share the final product: a concrete-top, industrial-style, three-tap kegerator.
kegerator-final.jpg

I wrote up a brief guide on the build process here:
http://drewmcdowell.com/kegerator
Thanks to everyone for their help!
Click to expand...

Probably my favorite keezer on this forum. Great style. If I didn't have an actual bar and needed to build a keezer I'd copy this in a heartbeat.
 
BeastMaster said:
I have a small L bracket mounted to the top of the opening edge of my fridge door, so when you open the freezer the fridge opens as well. This alleviates the worry of hitting my tap handles and spilling beer.
Click to expand...

Brilliant! My kegerator is of the same style upright fridge and I have always been stuck with the short black tap handles. I've always debated about just bolting both doors together with a bracket, but this is a much better idea. I will be copying this for sure.
 
After looking through every single page in this thread, I'm happy to finally show mine. She's not 100% complete, but not too far from the finish line. Only have 2 kegs for now, but planned it to hold 4 total. Also need to add some White Labs vial tap handles.

photo(6).jpg
 
This one holds two cornies. Size fits well in the house, but at times is difficult to get ahead and have another brew ready to tap.

Im thinking its time to get a second chest for temp control and lagering.

picture036.jpg


picture035 (2).jpg
 
drewmcdowell said:
I got a lot of help and inspiration from this forum when I was building my kegerator so I wanted to share the final product: a concrete-top, industrial-style, three-tap kegerator. I wrote up a brief guide on the build process here: http://drewmcdowell.com/kegerator Thanks to everyone for their help!
Click to expand...

Awesome, will that be kept outside and if so, what type of climate?
 
Rivenin said:
Before (in the old apartment) After (new house) Father in law got me a tower for my birthday.
Click to expand...

I really like the size of that kegerator. What did you use as the base freezer/fridge?
 
redd1982 said:
I really like the size of that kegerator. What did you use as the base freezer/fridge?
Click to expand...

was this guy, the haier 5cf chest freezer. (if you're in the PNW, it's the one they have on sale frequently at fred meyer)

http://www.meijer.com/s/haier-escm050ec-5-0-cu-ft-energy-star-chest-freezer-white/_/R-127602

fits 3 pin locks just barely, 2 have to squish on the bottom, one on the hump with the C02.

The front of it now has the 2 taps on the collar blocked off... i'll have to take another picture soon.
 
 
I've had the old haier for going on 9 years now. Bent the door hinge by accident, have it shimmed right now but intend to fix-reinforce.

Added 8ft beer line and tower cooler. Adjusted T-stat until beer temp is ~34*F
Had some good commercial kegs through it before homebrewing plus uncountable coors light kegs.

Plan on upgrading to a 2 tap tower, either 2-keg CO2 reg, or a 2 way manifold... and a second fridge for yeast cultures and cold crashing/other uses.

drftbrsys.jpg


kindbeer.jpg
 

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