My 6 Tap Keezer

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Newbeerguy

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Location
Massillon, Ohio
Ok guys/gals. Getting my 6 tap keezer build underway. Started off last night by getting a nice 13cf Kenmore chest freezer. Have some stuff, going to order the rest soon. Just wanted some tips and advice from others who have built one.

Here is what I already have:

Dual S/S Tower with Perlick 575SS
Dual Taprite Regulators with 5lb tank

Here is what I am thinking about getting:

2 more Dual S/S Towers with Perlicks
4-way air manifold (Off one of the regs for serving)
2-way air manifold (Off the other reg for force carbing or serving)
Johnson Temp. controller

Obviously I'll need gas hose and clamps, but how much hose per keg is usually enough? I was thinking 6 feet but wasn't too sure.

I looked at building a collar out of wood instead of the towers but cost/time wise it seems more of a hassle. Just wondering what you guys suggest.

Thanks and pics will follow!
 
Well after a few hours of reading and weighing pro's/con's I think I've decided to try building a collar for my keezer. My freezer is already tall enough to store the kegs without needing any additional height the collar adds so I think I am going to go with 2x4 inner collar and a 1x6 face board. I was planning on letting the 1x6 extend 2" below the inner collar to allow a friction fit on the body of the freezer. Would you still recommend sealing with silicone or weather stripping?

Also how far apart do you typically mount your taps? I am going to have 6 taps and I was thinking around 4 inches apart...does that sound ok?
 
i dont know how deep your freezer is or if it has a bump for the compressor and internals but i used a 2x8 and a 1x8 face board and when i have a keg on the bump it barely fits. i have a 7 cuft freezer and it will fit 5 kegs in it with the collar.
 
Newbeerguy said:
Well after a few hours of reading and weighing pro's/con's I think I've decided to try building a collar for my keezer. My freezer is already tall enough to store the kegs without needing any additional height the collar adds so I think I am going to go with 2x4 inner collar and a 1x6 face board. I was planning on letting the 1x6 extend 2" below the inner collar to allow a friction fit on the body of the freezer. Would you still recommend sealing with silicone or weather stripping?

Also how far apart do you typically mount your taps? I am going to have 6 taps and I was thinking around 4 inches apart...does that sound ok?

Definitely silicone. Weatherstripping could work as well, but some moisture can get through into the kegorator. I recently had to caulk the inside of my keezer because the stripping wasn't doing its job - its way better now.
 
Oh - and building a collar can help you avoid voiding the warranty.

Also, measure the screw spacing for YE hinges on the back before you decide on 2x4 or 2x6 for the collar. Ideally you'd be able to screw the bottom two hinge holes into the freezer, the top two into the collar, and have the lid fit right. It helps keep the collar tight to the fridge.
 
Oh - and building a collar can help you avoid voiding the warranty.

Also, measure the screw spacing for YE hinges on the back before you decide on 2x4 or 2x6 for the collar. Ideally you'd be able to screw the bottom two hinge holes into the freezer, the top two into the collar, and have the lid fit right. It helps keep the collar tight to the fridge.

Good point.

As for the hinges, if I was to screw them into the collar and freezer body, what is securing the collar to the lid? Just silicone? I anticipated on just having the lid lift up, not the collar as well. I wouldn't imagine that the hinges would be able to hold up the weight of the collar.
 
Almost got to work on it today.....got it out of the box though :D

IMG_1385.jpg


Plenty of room for 6 kegs and my Co2
IMG_1387.jpg


Can't wait to get started. Tomorrow after work going to Home Depot to get the wood for the collar.
 
Newbeerguy said:
Good point.

As for the hinges, if I was to screw them into the collar and freezer body, what is securing the collar to the lid? Just silicone? I anticipated on just having the lid lift up, not the collar as well. I wouldn't imagine that the hinges would be able to hold up the weight of the collar.

In my experience, the silicon is enough to hold the collar to the fridge, especially with a trim piece tight to the lip of the kegorator on three sides.

Here's a picture of the hinge setup.



image-108966994.jpg



image-3311553921.jpg
 
In my experience, the silicon is enough to hold the collar to the fridge, especially with a trim piece tight to the lip of the kegorator on three sides.

Thanks for the pic, that clears things up for me. Makes perfect sense now that I see it. I will make sure to measure and see what works best. My hinges look identical to the ones in your pics. Did you go with 2x6?
 
I went with 2x6 collar and 1x8 red oak trim. That gave me more room to run lines and taps through.

If you want to go 2x4 and have the tools, you could rip cut 2x6 down so they're straight.

Also, build your collar on top of your keezer. I did mine on my workbench with jigs, and ended up not having the corners level (I used the weather stripping to try and fix that).
 
Oh - you'll also note from the pictures that I should have used 2x4 with my keezer - I tried using the same plan as my old keezer without measuring the screw holes. I wasn't able to screw the hinges into freezer.
 
I went with 2x6 collar and 1x8 red oak trim. That gave me more room to run lines and taps through.

If you want to go 2x4 and have the tools, you could rip cut 2x6 down so they're straight.

Also, build your collar on top of your keezer. I did mine on my workbench with jigs, and ended up not having the corners level (I used the weather stripping to try and fix that).

I did go with 2x4. I wish I would of seen your post earlier, I too built my collar on a workbench and am having the same corner issues as you. I did buy some nice adhesive caulk so I think I'll be able to hold it down ok.
 
Here is some more progress:

Dry Fitting the collar inner frame
IMG_1389.jpg


Checking my miter cuts
IMG_1391.jpg


Wohoo they fit!
IMG_1390.jpg


Collar all built. Need to cut in the holes for the shanks tomorrow.
IMG_1393.jpg
 
Ok today was pretty productive. Got the holes drilled for the shanks and got the collar primed for painting tomorrow.

Does anyone know the diameter of the plastic flange on the shank? I drilled the holes for the shanks 1.5" down from the top of the collar. I really hope that the flange is less than 3" in diameter or I got some rebuilding to do. Kegconnection didn't have any specs on their site, but all the ones I did find online were 2.25".

Now for some more pics :rockin:

Drilling the holes
IMG_1394.jpg


All primed
IMG_1395.jpg


Close-up of holes (Hopefully they will work!)
IMG_1396.jpg
 
Got to work a little bit more tonight on the keezer.

I am going to be putting this keezer in my garage but the floor in there isn't level at all.....instead of shimming the keezer I decided to build a little platform for it to sit on.

Here is the 4x4 platform - Going to stain it tomorrow
IMG_1401.jpg



Got to give the collar a first coat of paint as well
IMG_1399.jpg
 
Looking good so far. I have the same freezer and built a collar out of 3/4" by 8" pine and those hinges hold it up like a champ, they are quite strong. Mine is still a work in progress but since my collar is so big I wanted it to open, and have the lid be able to open for ease of access. With the taller collar it puts my capacity at ten kegs. I also did my taps at 4" spacing and I think it looks good and functions well.

What will you be doing for fans, if any?

Are you going to insulate your collar? I did because I used the 3/4" pine, you might not need to with your setup.

Good work, and keep the pics coming.
 
Looking good so far. I have the same freezer and built a collar out of 3/4" by 8" pine and those hinges hold it up like a champ, they are quite strong. Mine is still a work in progress but since my collar is so big I wanted it to open, and have the lid be able to open for ease of access. With the taller collar it puts my capacity at ten kegs. I also did my taps at 4" spacing and I think it looks good and functions well.

What will you be doing for fans, if any?

Are you going to insulate your collar? I did because I used the 3/4" pine, you might not need to with your setup.

Good work, and keep the pics coming.

Thanks RTL. I'll make sure to keep posting up some pics!

As for the fan, I haven't given that too much thought. Did you end up putting a fan in yours?

I think I am going to put a 1" piece of rigid foam insulattion around the edges. It really depends on where/how I mount my air distribution blocks. I planned on mounting them on the back wall of the collar.

How many kegs can you fit below the compressor hump, 8?
 
Really didn't do a whole lot tonight. I did get a coat of stain on the platform. The pic doesn't do it justice, it looks really good in person. I will be putting a coat of Urethane on it tomorrow.

IMG_1403.jpg



Put a second coat of paint on the collar as well, but no pic of that.

Tomorrow the rest of my parts come in. Shanks, Perlicks, hoses and disconnects. Can't wait!
 
Newbeerguy said:
Thanks RTL. I'll make sure to keep posting up some pics!

As for the fan, I haven't given that too much thought. Did you end up putting a fan in yours?

I think I am going to put a 1" piece of rigid foam insulattion around the edges. It really depends on where/how I mount my air distribution blocks. I planned on mounting them on the back wall of the collar.

How many kegs can you fit below the compressor hump, 8?

I'm just getting to the fan Parton the build, I have a hinge switch with an NO and an NC leg on it that will be wired to a DC power supply. The fans will be on the NO, and I'm going to try to find some LEDS to put on the NC, so when the lid is opened the fans turn off and the light comes on and when's it's closed vice versa. I have two 12 volt fans that came out of a server rack and really move a lot of air.

In my current keezer I noticed the air circulation from the fan helps with smooth pours that don't foam excessively. I serve at 10psi so my low gravity beers sometimes foam up. The cold air in the keezer settles to the bottom and you get temperature stratification that leaves your serving lines warm for the first pour.

So I was basing 8 off of cardboard cut outs, but with a test fitting its really tight, so it will fit seven comfortably below the hump and another two on top of the hump with the deep collar. Edit: The test fitting was with ball locks by the way.
 
Had a very productive weekend. Got this thing almost done!

Here I am fitting the beer lines:
IMG_1432.jpg


Mounting the gas manifolds:
IMG_1434.jpg


Mounting the temp controller:
IMG_1438.jpg


Lines all ran:
IMG_1441.jpg




Only thing that stopped me from finishing today was once I attached the lid to the collar/freezer, one of my hinges made a "clicking" noise. I took the hinge off and checked it out, seems to me that the little platic piece holding the spring tension actually slips out of place and causes a popping noise. Everything still works, just annoying. Going to see what I can do to fix it tomorrow.

Anyone else have that issue?
 
Alright! Got this baby done tonight. Here are some final pics of the build...

Hooking the Co2 tank up
IMG_1442.jpg


Putting the kegs in place
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The finishing touches
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All completed!!
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This was really a fun project to do. I was surprised on really how easy it was as well. Glad I got this one done before the brewery upgrade, that is next. Can't wait!
 
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