Keezer Build. Another one on the way…

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JakeTheHopDog

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2010
Messages
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Location
Spring Hill, FL
Finally getting around to posting pictures of my keezer build. First, I want to thank those who posted their builds for all the great ideas. Makes planning one out a lot easier when you can see how others have done it.

First, since it will be in the living room, the wife insisted it look like furniture. I’ve got a 1930something ice box converted to a liquor cabinet, so I’m going for that look. It's acually made of ash, but that's kind of hard to find, so I'm using oak.

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I bought a GE 7.0 CF freezer from Home Depot. I wanted three taps, 2 homebrew and 1 sixth barrel for commercial brews, with no collar. This one fits the bill.

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Picked up my keg parts from KegConnections and the gages from BeverageFactory. Tap Handles from eBay.

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Picked up the oak lumber at Home Depot.

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Now it’s time to get to work. But first...

"Before we use any power tools, let's take a moment to talk about shop safety. Be sure to read, understand, and follow all the safety rules that come with your power tools. Knowing how to use your power tools properly will greatly reduce the risk of personal injury. And remember this: there is no more important safety rule than to wear these — safety glasses." Norm Abram

And no drinking! It's hard to hold a beer glass without a thumb...

First the base and wheels. 2x4's on the flat and 2 inch wheels.

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Here’s the front panel styles and rails pegged, glued and clamped.

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Here’s the side and front panels together. Wanted to go with raised panels on the front, like the ice box, but with the price of oak, I decided to just use this.

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That’s it for now. More to come as I continue the build.
 
Great looking start. I just picked up the same freezer from HD. You're waaaay ahead of me, I've got analysis-paralysis. I've changed my mind dozens of times on this build.

subscribed!
 
I too bought the same freezer from HD....I just jammed 3 cornies, CO2 and picnic taps inside. Beer tastes great.....that and the fact that I do not have anywheres near those woodworking skills.

Eventually I'll do a collar and slap 3 Perlicks on there. That's about the limit on my skills. Maybe I'll even paint the wood!
 
When I get started on mine, I'd absolutely love to do the same thing (don't have the woodworking skills!), but I keep hearing that skinning the freezer causes it to overheat?

Is that just going to be something that slides on/off the front of the freezer, or is it going to be physically attached?
 
Thank you all for the kind words. My dad was a carpenter for 40+ years, so I learned everything from him. He puts me to shame to this day, and he's 77 now. Incredible attention to detail. I'm Sooo looking forward to his critique. :eek:

Yes, it slides on and is blocked in the front inside corners to sit on the base at the right height. Then, in the back, I’ve got blocks glued & screwed to the base with L Brackets. If I need to take it off, unscrew two ½” screws from each side and slide it off the front.

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As for skinning, some have glued ¼” oak plywood veneer right to the outside of the freezer. The R value of that thin plywood is .09, or nothing, so no problem there, the heat passes right through. I decided to build my sides “Free standing” so if something happens to the freezer, I just take off the surround, unbolt the top, and put a new freezer on the base.

If heat is an issue, I’ll build a small fan box with a couple of small computer fans and duck it into the gap from the back and blow air around it. But that’s only if I need it.
 
I keep hearing that skinning the freezer causes it to overheat?

I've read this a lot on here too. Currently, I have my freezer in my garage, running as-is out of the box, just to make sure there's no problems with it before I start hacking it up. When I first plugged it in, the outside got surprisingly warm to the touch. That's when it was first getting down to temp. Now when the compressor kicks on, it gets only slightly warm.

I think there is something to the fact that there needs to be air flow around the outside, but we're also only keeping the temps at 30-40% of what the freezer was designed to do.

I would think if you allow air in from the bottom, as well as an escape at the top, it would begin to act like a chimney, since hot air rises. Fans have also been implemented in these builds to help that along.

The other implementation is to glue 1/8" wood laminate, thereby eliminating the air gap completely. Since that wood is so thin, the R value can't be more than 1, I'm guessing. I don't think that would be a problem, either.

Again - These are just my speculations, YMMV. Personally, I am leaning toward the thinner wood, glued to the sides.
 
Thanks for the input, lads.

The wife has given approval for the conversion of the downstairs room into the man cave, with the caveat that it has to be a little more of a gender neutral cave. 99 times out of 100, she won't be down there but she wants it to be "presentable for company." So the kegerator needs to look good, as well as provide me with the golden throat charmer.

Anyways, don't want to hijack Jake's good lookin' build thread, so...

Taking notes now as to how you handle the lid! I noticed that you already had shanks and faucets. I'm assuming you're going with an Irish coffin?
 
Ubermick, that is correct. Drawing it up now, as I write this. Still working out the dimensions to make it fit the scale of the Keezer. Give me about half an hour and I’ll edit this post with a "preliminary" side shot drawing. Guess it’s time for another beer…

I’d also be willing to share my drawing with you when I get done, if that would help with yours.
 
Jake, I was actually thinking more along the lines of you flying it out and building it for me, while I "supervise" with a beverage!

(Cheers, the drawings would be a fantastic help to me, and I'm sure everyone else looking to build one of these. I was originally going to go with a four-tap tower, but now I'm thinking that if I'm going to be skinning it with wood, a coffin wouldn't be a bad idea.)
 
Here's the prelim drawing of the side. Basically, a scaled down version of the keezers side. Lid will open to the front for access to shanks and hoses.

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And while I'm at it, here's how I plan it to look from the front.

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Great stuff, Jake! Good info there.

How did you attach the side panels to the front panel? Did you miter the corners?
 
No miters on the corners. Trying to copy the Ice Box, I used the same butt joints as on it. The styles are 1 X 3 (3/4” x 2 ½” actually), so I cut ¾” off the side style so that when they are joined together, each one is 2 ½” wide. The red line in the below picture is the joint. Put everything together with dowels and glue.

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Making a little progress. Sides of coffen are cut and one is glued and clamped together. Sure wish I had more clamps...

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Waiting for clamps, I finished up the gauge & CO2 bottle rack. There's a board running down the back of the bottle, attached to the gauge rack, that I will put a strap on to hold it in place. The top of the rack is velcro'd to the walls of the frezzer and the bottle board to the hump.

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That's looking great. I might have to UN-subscribe to this thread, it's making my build look ghetto :D

So what kind of liner did you cut for the bottom of the freezer? I need to get something like that and am having a hard time finding something.
 
Bru,
Here's a drawing of how the top is attached to the freezers lid. I've got it attached, but I have not done any finish work on it as I'm using it as a work surface.

 
The liner is from Home Depot. $2 a foot and it works great. I found it by the rolls of outdoor carpet.

Thanks for the link! Of course the first HD I went to didn't have any, so I'll be visiting another one today.

What is that program you're using to draw up all these great plans?
 
Thanks. Will you be re-enforcing the hinges or do you think they'll be strong enough?
I know the lid will be heavy, but I don’t think I’ll need anything for the hinges. Like Erik (Jester369) says, his weights a ton and he didn’t do anything. Maybe a small chain to take some of the stress when open, but I'll see how it goes first.

Thanks for the link! Of course the first HD I went to didn't have any, so I'll be visiting another one today.

What is that program you're using to draw up all these great plans?
I think they have it at Lowes, too. Believe it or not, I’m using Paint Shop Pro 5.0. I’ve had this program forever, and I just find it so easy to do stuff like this. I tried using Microsoft Visio first, but I didn’t feel like learning all the in and outs of that monster, so back to a known.

Looks great, BTW :mug:
Thanks, Erik. I have to tell you, I took a ton of your ideas and put them in my build. Yours is absolutely great looking! Thanks for the inspiration, and yours is what convinced the wife that it will look good in the living room. I’m even doing the lights under the faucets because she likes yours so much.
 
Time to start staining the parts that will hard to get to later. Two things I hate to do, plumbing and anything that involves a paint brush. Lucky for me, the wife loves to paint, so she has taken over staining duty. Let’s see how she feels about it tomorrow when the big stuff is ready…



Jake The Hop Dog and Shrimpy getting some beer for not helping…

 
Wow, nice job! After checking your keezer out I am planning on adding some panels to mine as well! Good work :mug:
 
Thanks. Some more progress on the build. Faucet Coffen is coming together. Sill have to cut down the top to the correct fit, put the back on and finish staining, but it's getting there.

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I have question abt CO2 regulators...

What pressure is the feed set at to the 3 regulators ? Say u had 3 kegs each needing 12 PSI .. wld you set the "main " reg to 12 ?

Fabulous job on the kegerator
 
Thanks for the complement. I'm really enjoying the build. I just wish work would quit getting in the way!

I'm setting my Primary output to 20 PSI, and then my secondary’s to whatever is required by the beer in the keg. As long as the output of the primary is the same as the highest secondary, you'll be fine. I just picked 20 PSI...
 
Made a bit of progress today, in between watching The Masters. Got the surround stained, cut and stained the panels for the faucet coffin back, and tweaked the faucet coffin a bit. Time for a beer.

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Wow, Keith! This looks incredible. I have a Pottery Barn Lawyer's Bar n the basement and think I can convince SWMBO that we need a medium-sized keezer as long as we shroud it in a cabinetto match the style. I'll be stealing ideas from this build.

Can't wait to see this thing next to the icebox!
 
Wow, Keith! This looks incredible. I have a Pottery Barn Lawyer's Bar n the basement and think I can convince SWMBO that we need a medium-sized keezer as long as we shroud it in a cabinetto match the style. I'll be stealing ideas from this build.

Can't wait to see this thing next to the icebox!

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" Charles Caleb Colton

Thanks JetSmooth. I can't wait to see it next to the icebox either. I just wish I had more time to work on it so I could get it done!

Make sure you start a thread when you build yours.
 
HOP-HEAD,
Thanks for the compliment. I too, took some of your ideas and put them into mine. Asked you a couple of questions, if you recall. Yours and Jesters are the ones I took most of my inspirations from, and convinced the wife it would look good in the living room.

I was originally going to use the same freezer you have, but they changed it since you bought yours, so it wouldn’t fit the same amount of kegs. Wish they’d keep the same models around a bit longer.

Just started putting the polyurethane on it today. Should be up and running by the end of the week. :ban:
 
Thanks for the complement. I'm really enjoying the build. I just wish work would quit getting in the way!

I'm setting my Primary output to 20 PSI, and then my secondary’s to whatever is required by the beer in the keg. As long as the output of the primary is the same as the highest secondary, you'll be fine. I just picked 20 PSI...

Hi Keith,

It looks like you have an extra regulator (there's four total); do you really need the 'primary' regulator that is attached to your CO2 tank? Let's say you were supplying three kegs with different CO2 pressure values; wouldn't three regulators suffice? It looks as if you have four regulators in your picture (one on the CO2 tank and three in the manifold layout). I'm planning for a three keg scenario and was debating on one-regulator with manifold and check valves or three independent regulators.

I have one regulator that is twenty+ years old which has held up well, but I'm pondering the thought of getting two or three new Tapright regulators for the keezer build. Thanks for any input!

Jeff
 
Yes, 3 regulators would be fine to supply 3 different pressures, or you can use one regulator and a manifold, as long as all your pressures are the same to the kegs. I could have just gone with a 3 regulator setup and done the same thing, but my space is limited inside the freezer, and I just said the heck with it and got 4. Gives me a lot of options should I go bigger in the future, or decide to move the CO2 tank to the outside.

Also, I should have more updates soon. Been really busy lately and haven’t had too much time to work on it. I'm close to finishing it and hopefully, it will be done this weekend, because I've got beer to drink! :mug:
 
Got my Keezer up and running yesterday. Very happy with the way it turned out. Had some friends over last night to help break it in. Must say, everyone liked this much better than opening bottles all night. Going to be a great summer! :mug:


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First pour of my Oktoberfest. Very tasty!
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