Split Door Tower Keezer.

I have a keezer and right now I am using cobra faucets. I want to put Perlicks on but I am really not a fan of having to stoop to pour from a tap. I also don't want to beat my faucets and tower, by mounting them to the top door.

Soooo.... I was wondering if anyone has built a keezer and cut the door so that 1/4th or 1/3rd stays closed when you open the top. The portion that stays closed would, of course have the tower mounted on it. I have a large-ish 15 cubic foot freezer so I could have 3 taps on the tower without it interfereing with the door opening. I could custom build a rotating tower if I need more room, just rotate the faucets out of the way when I want to open the top.

I'd put my less often changed kegs and my CO2 bottle under the portion of the door that stays and probably also build the portion that stays closed over the condenser hump to minimize lost space. Actually, if I build the fixed door over the hump I'd only have limited access to one keg and the CO2 or 2 kegs if I move the CO2 out of the keezer.

Has anyone done this I didn't see anything searching but I don't claim strong sauce in the search realm.

It would be possible, I have never done it or seen it done. They hard part would be making sure that you have a good seal, and cutting the door so that it is not damaged badly. I would have to recommend taking the door apart before you cut it. On the keezer that I am starting to build, as funds become available, I was like you I didn't want to have to bend over to get some beer, this could be dangerous after a few, but I couldn't do a tower. So what I did was build a dolly for it, I put wheels on it for ease of movement and at the same time raised it up to a nice height, will finish it of with some molding to make it look nice. Just something for you to think about.

Someone on here has done something like that, although IIRC they didn't use the original door/lid but replaced the whole thing. Let me look around a bit.

BrewinJay said:

So what I did was build a dolly for it, I put wheels on it for ease of movement and at the same time raised it up to a nice height, will finish it of with some molding to make it look nice. Just something for you to think about.

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Not a bad idea but would make loading a bit of a lift.

Thanks Chris. Sometimes there are better keywords one can use to search if they've seen the actual project before. I like the idea of a whole new top.

I also would like to have tower, but not need to lift the tower with the lid.

I was thinking of installing some sort of cosmeticfinished top that would cover the top surface of the freezer. At one of the ends of the freezer, a box would be mounted. On top of this box, the tower would be mounted. Beer lines would run through the box and up to the tower. The box and tower assembly would not be joined to the frezer lid, they'd be mounted to the collar, but would appear to be nicely joined when the lid is closed.

When lifting the lid, only the lid and the cosmetic surface would need to be raised. The tower would remain stationary. This would extend the usable area for a bar top. An attractive surround for the rest of the unit could also be installed.

Any thoughts?

That was my first idea too. I wouldn't want to have a collar though as that again raises the lift height for loading. For the tower to remain stationary you would either have to build an additional area for a tray etc. or make a rotating tower. I was thinking of building a tower out of PVC and leave the joint at the freezer level unglued so the tower could swing out of the way and still use the keezer top when filling my beers. I thought the split door would be simpler and would allow easier air movement to keep the tower cool. However, glycol lines are so cheap I'll probably end up installing them anyway.

I've seen a collar used that was wider than the lid, and the towers were mounted to that side space so the door could open free.

bdavanza said:

I've seen a collar used that was wider than the lid, and the towers were mounted to that side space so the door could open free.

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Show us your Kegerator post #872

I still cant find the split lid I was thinking I had seen here. But for another thought see post #1146 in the show us your kegerator thread.

I'll keep looking

BrewPastor's keezer has a split top like you are talking about. I'm not sure how he did it, but I'm sure he could give you some guidance.

While not on a keezer, here's what I did for my beer serving cart/fermentation chamber. This is an auxillary to my kegerator. This would require a longer cut in the lid, but gives better access to the insides.



I've since switched this from Ice powered to an actual refridgerator (cannabalized a mini-fridge and inserted the guts)

Jester369 said:

BrewPastor's keezer has a split top like you are talking about. I'm not sure how he did it, but I'm sure he could give you some guidance.

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YES!, that is the one I was thinking of, I just can't find a pic of it open from the front.

The one I saw , the collar extended to the left side.

bdavanza said:

The one I saw , the collar extended to the left side.

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Show us your Kegerator post #872 (page 22 if your set to 40 posts per page)

I'm in the middle of a build like the one you are thinking of.
I decided to replace the lid completely with 2 tops.
The smaller fixed top would would have a coffin box mounted with 6 taps on it, and the other side would be hinged for access.



The tops have been covered with plywood, I am going to insulate them with 1" hard foam insulation.
My coffin box was almost finished, but got damaged and needs to be rebuilt. The smaller side has 2 cutouts for custom driptrays built from heat register plates.
I need to get this project back on track, so I can move my keezer inside.

Jester369 said:

BrewPastor's keezer has a split top like you are talking about. I'm not sure how he did it, but I'm sure he could give you some guidance.

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Thanks Erik,

I've always liked BPs work and have the BYO somewhere that has his brewery in it. I'll dig it out and see if they talk about the keezer.

I don't see how the top is split by the photos posted in this thread. I guess that's what PM is for.

stoneman said:

The tops have been covered with plywood, I am going to insulate them with 1" hard foam insulation.
My coffin box was almost finished, but got damaged and needs to be rebuilt. The smaller side has 2 cutouts for custom driptrays built from heat register plates.
I need to get this project back on track, so I can move my keezer inside.

Click to expand...

very similar to what I had planned. I will probably make the split overlapping so I get a better seal but otherwise VERY SIMILAR to what I was thinking. I'll look forward to following your thread, it should help my eventual build go smoother.

This is what I saw before

The more I contemplate this I am thinking about building a coffin box in the side like that and just building a keezer-driven fermentation chamber under it.