Rustic Keezer Build

OK, OK, OK.....At the request of several people, I am going to start this thread in the DIY section. I already have a thread in the kegging/bottling section, so if you want in depth "play by play" information, pics., and details, you will have to follow the thread in my signature line. I have been asked by several people via thread responses and PM's to "Introduce my project in this DIY section, so I am going to post 12 pics of my progress and then you will have to jump to the other thread to get the fine details and the completion of the project. Thanks to everyone so far that has been following my build in the kegging/bottling section. And...thanks to those of you who decide to follow the journey with my build.

Here come the pics. I have been building this thing for a few weeks now and have TONS of pics. on the other thread. Several people have mentioned to me that the "die hard DIY'ers" are missing my thread with it being in the kegging/bottling section. So here we go.

Edit....the first pic is a mistake! It's a shot of my wine cellar when I started building that. Oops....sorry.

Here are a few more pics. One is a shot of the keezer where it will sit in the bar of my basement. As you can see, I'm sticking with the rustic, log and panel theme. Here are 4 more pics. I'll try not to screw this up like the last set of pics.

Last set of 4 pics. This will bring the pics. up to date through today. As I said at the beginning of the thread, I have a sh*t load of pics. and all of the play by play commentary on the "Cedar Log and Knotty Pine" thread in my signature line. If you are interested or if you wish to offer advice or comments, jump onto that thread and fire away! Thanks for looking and I appreciate all comments and word of wisdom from those who have blazed the trails of keezer building long before myself. Cheers!

OK that's it. I'll be posting all future progress in my "Cedar Log and Knotty Pine Keezer Build" thread in my siganture line. Just a quick warning....there are a lot of pics on the other thread, so it may take you a while to make your way through it all. Thanks Everyone on HBT!

WOW! Can't wait to see the finished product!

Just a quick post on this thread to show my progress with the keezer project. I have tons of pictures on my other thread in the kegging/bottling section. The link to the other thread can be found in my signature line if you want a waaaaaay more in depth play-by-play of the build. It should be 100%complete this weekend and I'll install the kegging equipment early next week. I'll post some final pics on this thread once it's up and running, but progress of each of the final steps (cement board, tiling, installation of components) will be on the other thread.

A couple of updated pics...much more on my other thread in my signature line. I'm pretty proud of it.

Fantastic!:rockin:

damn, that thing fine!

Hey Guys....been gone for a while and forgot to post my final pics on this thread in the DIY section. I finished this thing about 3 weeks ago and posted my pics on my other thread in the kegging/bottling section. It has been functioning flawlessly. I'll post a bunch of pics, but the other thread is more extensive. Enjoy.

A few notes: The Perlick SS faucets were well worth the extra money. Absolutely no issues whatsoever with dripping and sticking. I was gone for 1 week and pulled a couple of pints off of it this week without problems. I have had absolutely no issues with overheating, so the extra breathing space between the outside of the freezer and the cabinet, along with the vents added on the front and sides have done their job. Many responders think that my vents were overkill, but the compressor on the freezer rarely runs now that it has 4 full kegs in it, so mission accomplished. One more set of pics on the way....along with a few more notes about the coffin cooling.

holy crap..beautiful

OK....last set of pics on this thread and a few more notes. I ran some tests on temperature differentials and temperature rise times in my coffin. I have a dual input, dual output Love controller, so the compressor is controlled independently from the fans in the coffin for cooling purposes. I added more insulation to the coffin and made the cold air circulation channel even smaller, because I felt like my temperature in the coffin was rising too quickly after the fans would kick off at the target temp of 43 degrees. It helped to slow down the cold air discipation. I was really trying to maintain a 5 degree differential between the freezer (38 degrees) and the coffin (43 degrees), but realized that with the two 4" holes for the fans, the cold air sinks back down into the freezer after about 10 minutes. I felt like the fans were running every 10 minutes to maintain the differential. I now have it set at a 10 degree differential and the fans kick on only a fraction of the time and there is absolutely no foaming issues. I was worried about foam or my first pint being warm, but it's not an issue with these settins.

Here are the final pics. My other thread (listed in my signature line) has the entire step by step process of building this thing. It has been fun, but all good things come to an end. Thanks to those that have been following my progress. The final resting place for this thing will be next to my bar in the recessed area to the left. The white vents on the sides will not be visible. My basement bar build can be found in my signature line as well. I'm trying to wrap that project up by summer, but having a hard time finding the extra time to get the drop ceiling in.

Wow...

Thanks guys....I appreciate it.

Hey GatorDad, do you mind sharing your Ruination Clone Recipe with me in a PM? I'm wanting to brew a real hop bomb and Stone is one of my favorites. It's either Stone Ruination or Bell's Hopslam for my next batch.

If anyone is interested, I am making some modifications to the keezer to accommodate a 4th tap and I also started the process of making homemade tap handles out of red cedar branches. Pics. are on my other thread in the Kegging/Bottling section, which can be found in the link of my signature line. I haven't updated this thread in the DIY section in ages, so I thought I would drop a line if anyone is interested in checking them out on the other thread.