Keezer project tips

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mkorpal

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So, i'm going to take the plunge and go for kegging. I think the keezer is what I want to make. But I do have a few questions for those with experience.

1. Which would you suggest, attaching a collar to the body of the freezer, and have the lid open. Or attach the lid to the collar, and have the lid/collar open. One one hand, it would be a lot easier to attach the collar to the body, and would be easier to take apart if needed, and would put less pressure on the hinges. On the other hand, I would have hoses in the way, and it is more for me to lift kegs over.

2. What is the best way to attach a collar and not destroy the freezer. I would prefer not to be drilling holes into the darn thing. If I attach the collar to the main body, can I just use silicone and maybe some good tape?

Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to this.
 
Congrats on the leap of faith. I just finished my keezer last month. Still have the conduit clips to put on for the gas/beer lines, but hey I got cold beer. And no more bottling!!!

On to the kitty:
1. definitely attache the collar to the lid. for 2 reasons(1. You leave the hinges in the body and just rescrew into the collar. If the hinges are spring loaded it will more than take on the added weight of a 4-6" collar. 2. the lines can be attached to the lid so as to lift them out of the way when trading in kegs. 3. You will not have to lift over the collar!!)

2. Liquid nails and wait. If you put the collar on the lid, you will not have any weight pulling the lid away from the collar. Should hold...indefinitely.

If you have not already bought a freezer, go large!!! I figured getting (~7 cu')4 kegs in would be enough, but now I see I need more.

Good Luck.
 
Congrats on the leap of faith. I just finished my keezer last month. Still have the conduit clips to put on for the gas/beer lines, but hey I got cold beer. And no more bottling!!!

On to the kitty:
1. definitely attache the collar to the lid. for 2 reasons(1. You leave the hinges in the body and just rescrew into the collar. If the hinges are spring loaded it will more than take on the added weight of a 4-6" collar. 2. the lines can be attached to the lid so as to lift them out of the way when trading in kegs. 3. You will not have to lift over the collar!!)

2. Liquid nails and wait. If you put the collar on the lid, you will not have any weight pulling the lid away from the collar. Should hold...indefinitely.

If you have not already bought a freezer, go large!!! I figured getting (~7 cu')4 kegs in would be enough, but now I see I need more.

Good Luck.

So, if I do use liquid nails, will it be permanent? I guess it shouldn't be too much of a problem, because if I do sell it eventually, I can get a lot more for a keezer than a really old freezer.
 
I built my keezer a couple months ago and chose to attach the collar to the body. I had originally wanted to have the collar on the lid but the top of the body had a much more level and wider surface to attach the collar than the bottom of the lid. I was able to leave the rubber seal where it was at and only had to drill two holes in the back of the collar to move the hinges up a few inches. I attached the collar using silicone caulk and caulked all edges inside and out. With the collar on the body gravity helps you keep things attached so the adhesive doesn't have to be permanent.
The only problem to this approach comes when you're changing kegs. As bnbspop said if you have the collar on the lid you can rig it so the lines get out of the way when you open the keezer. When I change a keg I have to disconnect some lines from kegs and move them out of the way. Depending on your setup the shanks could potentially get in the way too.
6 in one hand, half dozen in the other. I think most people on the forum are going to vouch for puttting it on the lid, I just wanted you to know it's not that big of a difference to put it on the body. In the end you are still pulling pints of quality brew in your own home:rockin: Good luck on the project.
 
So, i'm going to take the plunge and go for kegging. I think the keezer is what I want to make. But I do have a few questions for those with experience.

1. Which would you suggest, attaching a collar to the body of the freezer, and have the lid open. Or attach the lid to the collar, and have the lid/collar open. One one hand, it would be a lot easier to attach the collar to the body, and would be easier to take apart if needed, and would put less pressure on the hinges. On the other hand, I would have hoses in the way, and it is more for me to lift kegs over.

2. What is the best way to attach a collar and not destroy the freezer. I would prefer not to be drilling holes into the darn thing. If I attach the collar to the main body, can I just use silicone and maybe some good tape?

Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to this.

I attached my collar to the body of the freezer with rope caulk weatherstrip. The advantage is that it is not permanent unlike liquid nails and I can remove the collar and replace with another one when I want.

In order to prevent shanks from getting in the way, I placed all the taps at one end (above the freezer hump).
 
When I build mine in a couple weeks, I intend to hinge both. I've seen it done on here, before.

You have the hinges at the chest body so you can lift everything up and out of the way for loading kegs or carboys or whatever. You have the hinge at the lid for system maintenance (cleaning lines, tightening nuts, changing pressures, etc).

hat's my thinking, at least, and others have built it that way, too...just a suggestion...
 
I used liquid nails and attached the collar to the body of the freezer. Mine fits 4 kegs and I don't find it hard at all to deal with the hoses like others seem to be afraid of.

I was a little worried about the 'permanent' thing as well until I got it all together. Now if I want to revert to using it as a freezer, I have more cubic feet of freezer space with the collar on it.

I do have to lift my kegs another 6 inches higher when loading new kegs which isn't that big of a deal but I might attach a pulley system to the ceiling to make that job even easier.

I used 2x6 boards and some L brackets to build the collar. Painted in glossy white and it looks like original.

Don't go cheap on the taps.
 
I used liquid nails and attached the collar to the body of the freezer. Mine fits 4 kegs and I don't find it hard at all to deal with the hoses like others seem to be afraid of.

I was a little worried about the 'permanent' thing as well until I got it all together. Now if I want to revert to using it as a freezer, I have more cubic feet of freezer space with the collar on it.

I do have to lift my kegs another 6 inches higher when loading new kegs which isn't that big of a deal but I might attach a pulley system to the ceiling to make that job even easier.

I used 2x6 boards and some L brackets to build the collar. Painted in glossy white and it looks like original.

Don't go cheap on the taps.

don't worry, I'm getting Perlicks for my setup.
 
I was able to build a setup where there is no caulk or glue at all. The collar sits on top of some weatherstrip material and is held in place with some wood brackets that overhang the inner edge of the freezer on all four sides. The brackets are attached to the collar. I have some small felt pads between the brackets and the wall of the freezer. I can lift the collar off anytime.

I haven't seen anyone else use this method when I was researching my build, but it worked out well.
 
Thanks for all your replies. I got my equipment today, so now all I need to do is hunt down a freezer, get a temp controller, and build her. I decided that I will attach the collar to the lid. I figure, when I do this, it isn't going to go back to being just a freezer. So, that is my plan for now.
 
I was able to build a setup where there is no caulk or glue at all. The collar sits on top of some weatherstrip material and is held in place with some wood brackets that overhang the inner edge of the freezer on all four sides. The brackets are attached to the collar. I have some small felt pads between the brackets and the wall of the freezer. I can lift the collar off anytime.

I haven't seen anyone else use this method when I was researching my build, but it worked out well.

Do you have any pics of this? I'm curious to see it
 
I put the lid on the collar, but for the life of me can't remember if I attached the collar to the keezer. I know I bought liquid nails... iirc I just siliconed around the collar and the freezer. It did take some adjusting to the the lid to close properly.

I didn't want the added weight on the hinges or the hoses from the taps to raise with the lid.

Good luck, you'll enjoy!!
 
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