Drip trays on my new keezer

Greetin's!

I've recently mostly-completed a conversion of a chest freezer, following advice and steps and even videos posted here. I honestly can't find the thread in which the YouTube video was posted, but here's the video itself:

A huge thanks to the Bobby for that one.

The only trouble I'm having now is one of drip trays. I've got three 7" SS trays that fit very nicely under the taps, but I don't know how I'm going to mount them to the front of the chest freezer. I'm worried about drilling into the front wall of the thing. All other work I've done on the freezer *can* be reversed if I need, and was a huge selling point to SWMBO. Drilling holes in the steel and possibly puncturing something is not conducive to reversing the conversion.

So... does anyone have ideas? I've thought about running strapping around the chest and mounting the trays to that. Magnetic strips? I dunno. What has anyone else tried?

There are some pretty industrial strength double-sided tapes out there. If the drip trays have a backsplash, there should be plenty of surface to hold, and if non-backsplash, you could make a bracket/shelf (to go under the trays) that could be taped. Just a thought.

You could always go with BierMuncher's phallic drip tray, um, solution.

Magnet

dfkjdsjdsj

olllllo said:

Magnet

dfkjdsjdsj

Click to expand...

Ooohhh, that's some good thinking, olllllllllllo. (thought I'd widen your jeep a little. )

Since it's SS, you'll stil have to use adhesive on that side and the magnet will be for the fridge side.

IKEA had some cheap strong magnets for a knife rack.

Hmm. I like the extra-strong magnet thing. These trays are 7" wide, but only 4 deep. The magnets should hold. I really wanted to be able to take them off to clean 'em out, so that works well. There's an Ikea down the road.

I can't go with BierMuncher's solution, amazing though it is, as my taps are on the front, not on a tower. Almost made me wish I'd gone that route though...

Industrial Strength Velcro

It's been a while, but thought I'd update for anyone interested. I went with the Ikea knife magnet idea, and steel screws. It's not elegant, but it works. I'm now looking for some really strong sheet magnet (or similar) that I can epoxy to the trays.

I can't recall what catalog I saw it in now, but they had a very interesting solution I plan to use myself. Basically it was wire (copper it looked like) that was twisted in a cool fashion to hook over a tap and hang a shot glass below. Although this isn't a good solution for gushers, it looked like it would work great for after fill drips. Let me see if I can track down a pic.

Doc Thirst said:

I can't recall what catalog I saw it in now, but they had a very interesting solution I plan to use myself. Basically it was wire (copper it looked like) that was twisted in a cool fashion to hook over a tap and hang a shot glass below. Although this isn't a good solution for gushers, it looked like it would work great for after fill drips. Let me see if I can track down a pic.

Click to expand...

Northern Brewer

I use 3M double sided tape, i can rest a full imperial pint on it with no worries. I placed them close enough that you couldnt rest a pitcher on it tho b/c i wasnt sure if it would hold that weight. I imagine it would as this tape is used to hold body parts to cars (such as the trim the runs along the doors).

Dime-sized Rare Earth Magnets did the trick for me. I put them on the inside of an acrylic utensil holder where they catch a lip. If there is no lip, you could always jbweld/glue them into place. Makes cleaning them out a cinch. You just pull off, scrub and return.

findthefish said:

Northern Brewer

Click to expand...

Yup, I remember this one too, and thought they looked really cool. However, this wouldn't work on my keezer since those were hung from the taps; on my keezer the taps lift with the lid. I've had thoughts about rebuilding the lid mechanism, but I like the way the taps and hoses lift out of the way when I need to change kegs.

I have a handful of magnets from some old hard drives, but haven't successfully epoxied them to the trays. I might try to get a stronger epoxy.

Atl300zx said:

I use 3M double sided tape, i can rest a full imperial pint on it with no worries. I placed them close enough that you couldnt rest a pitcher on it tho b/c i wasnt sure if it would hold that weight. I imagine it would as this tape is used to hold body parts to cars (such as the trim the runs along the doors).

Click to expand...

Did you tape the trays directly to the keezer? Do you have a way of cleaning them without taking them off?

ohiobrewtus said:

You could always go with BierMuncher's phallic drip tray, um, solution.

Click to expand...

Hah...



You haven't seen my upgrade.

I used epoxy and some 4" L-brackets. Then some small pieces of Velcro to hold the tray in place on the L-brackets.

I recommend strongly against drilling the walls of your freezer.

hnefatafl said:

I have a handful of magnets from some old hard drives, but haven't successfully epoxied them to the trays. I might try to get a stronger epoxy.

Click to expand...

Give JBWeld a chance. I used it on the stirplates and it worked like a charm.

hnefatafl said:

Did you tape the trays directly to the keezer? Do you have a way of cleaning them without taking them off?

Click to expand...

I just pull the grate out, soak up the beer with a paper towel (usually there isnt much and i just need to clean up dried beer), then clean it with 409, rinse off the grate in the sink with hot water.

I havent found a need to remove it to give it a deep cleaning. In time i may have to do that, but with a little force the drip trays will come off.

BierMuncher said:

Hah...



You haven't seen my upgrade.

I used epoxy and some 4" L-brackets. Then some small pieces of Velcro to hold the tray in place on the L-brackets.

I recommend strongly against drilling the walls of your freezer.

Click to expand...

Okay, now THAT I like. I wish I'd moved my taps closer that I had (they're 5" apart), but I've got enough of the 7" trays to cover the 6 taps. I'm going to have to look at this method.

I guess I've been hesitant to glue something to the wall of the freezer, because so far everything can be reversed if I really really needed to. I can't foresee that every happening, but I'm not in 100% control of my domestic destiny.

BierMuncher said:

Hah...
You haven't seen my upgrade.

I used epoxy and some 4" L-brackets. Then some small pieces of Velcro to hold the tray in place on the L-brackets.

I recommend strongly against drilling the walls of your freezer.

Click to expand...

How long is your drip tray? I'm ordering parts for a 5-tap keezer but don't know how big the dip tray should be... Thanks!

Drip Trays:
http://www.chicompany.net/search/results.html?search_in_description=1&keyword=drip+tray

Extra wide drip trays/wall mount:
http://www.chicompany.net/drip-tray-six-faucet-261.html

Mine is exactly like Biermunchers and I'm not sure anymore who copied who..



I used 1-minute epoxy from lowes, the kind with the two parts and mixing tip, to fasten the 4" angle brackets to the front of the freezer. A couple tabs of velco hold the tray on top and makes it removable to throw in the sink for cleaning.

I tried using magnets, but could never find any strong enough to hold the tray, and the tray kept falling or tilting sideways. I didn't want to glue to the side of the freezer itself either. So, I drilled some eye hooks into the keezer wood collar--then I used some decorative brass chain to attach to the tray. Basically, my drip tray hangs from the collar down below the taps. It swings a little if you knock into it, but it basically rights itself to the corrct place. I can take the tray off to wash it, and can completely remove the chains too if I need to.