My Keezer Build Begins.........

purchased the 4 way keg system so now need temp controller so still open to suggestions.

I'm using a Johnson A419. Set it to 48° and forget it. Great piece of gear, even on my little 5.0 keezer.

Digital or Manual? Where did you get it and for approx cost?

How do you guys handle force carbing co2 levels? I mean if I got three kegs in and need to force carb another can I just cut off co2 level to the good 3 then force carb 24 hours then put all three on serving co2 level or?

Bump

brewagentjay - when I bought my keg setup this past february I was debating between two setups (http://www.midwestsupplies.com/dual-double-cornelius-keg-system.html and http://www.midwestsupplies.com/brew-logic-quadruple-tap-draft-system-with-4-way-gas-manifold.html) and what finally tipped me to the first option was the ability to have two separate pressures out of one tank so I could force carb one beer while having another on tap, under the assumption that it would be easy to split either or both gas lines at a later date.

With what you have I think you will have to disconnect the 3 kegs that are at serving pressure, connect the keg to force-carbonate and increase your gas pressure.

brewagentjay said:

How do you guys handle force carbing co2 levels? I mean if I got three kegs in and need to force carb another can I just cut off co2 level to the good 3 then force carb 24 hours then put all three on serving co2 level or?

Click to expand...

That's what I do. Seems to work fine.

brewagentjay said:

Digital or Manual? Where did you get it and for approx cost?

Click to expand...

Google is your friend, but Northern Brewer has the digital and manual on sale...your choice...

whatever you get just put a thermometer inside the keezer and glance at it every once in a while to make sure your freezer is what you think it is at. Remember that if your temp probe is near the side walls it will register a colder temp (due to the chill coils) and the middle of the fridge wont be as chilly, so put the thermometer that you look at in the middle or wherever your kegs are and adjust your controller based off that.

the Johnson a419 is one of the easiest to use and wire.
I went with the Love Ts2 which I flush mounted in the collar of my keezer.

Temp Controller flush mounted


Temp Controller flush mounted


Inside of the keezer and back of the temp controllers

mvdilts said:

brewagentjay - when I bought my keg setup this past february I was debating between two setups (http://www.midwestsupplies.com/dual-double-cornelius-keg-system.html and http://www.midwestsupplies.com/brew-logic-quadruple-tap-draft-system-with-4-way-gas-manifold.html) and what finally tipped me to the first option was the ability to have two separate pressures out of one tank so I could force carb one beer while having another on tap, under the assumption that it would be easy to split either or both gas lines at a later date.

With what you have I think you will have to disconnect the 3 kegs that are at serving pressure, connect the keg to force-carbonate and increase your gas pressure.

Click to expand...

I am in the process of building my keezer and I went through the same thought process. Being able to force carb without taking you beer offline seemed more beneficial to my setup as well.
I was able to find an awesome deal at keg connection:
http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=324
Seemed to be the same setup as Midwest Supplies... but $50+ cheaper. I already had my CO2 tank when I ordered and they took $60.00 off the kit price and threw in 2 sets of replacement o-rings!

I got the Brew Logic Quad deal. I working getting my Co2 tank and temp controller. Thanks for all the advice............

brewagentjay said:

I got the Brew Logic Quad deal. I working getting my Co2 tank and temp controller. Thanks for all the advice............

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Didn't your Brew Logic Quad Deal come with a CO2 tank? I picked mine up at compactappliance.com on 4th of July sale... $53 shipped.

As far as the controller goes a lot of people (including myslef) installed one of these:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/

Aside from the temps being displayed in centigrade, it's amazing and cheap. I put mine in a romex box form Lowes and it works great. It can only handle up to 10A though, so make sure you check your keezers amperage needs.

I'm about a week away from completion of my keezer and then i'll be posting pics of the whole project.



Best of luck!

I ordered it with out the co2 tank cause I only had a 5lb option with midwest. I want a 10 lb tank. Thanks for the info can't wait to see your finish keezer.

Anyone with cleaning freezer advice....I need to clean and kill a fishy smell from my freezer.....Thanks. I have only tried a cold soak in oxiclean.

brewagentjay said:

Anyone with cleaning freezer advice....I need to clean and kill a fishy smell from my freezer.....Thanks. I have only tried a cold soak in oxiclean.

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activated charcoal and after a few days a nice coating in bleach

I bought some bleack for it yesterday.

Temp controller is in route. Ordered last week. I'm one 10lb co2 tank away from keezer.

My plan is to start off with no modification and use pic nic taps for now. Save my cash and get rest of my equipment needed.

The question still have on my mind is to collar or to tower?

I'm leaning toward collar for current space. However a tower would keep taps out of reach of small ones passing by. Either way I think adding wood counter to top.

Any pluses for each I need to take in consideration?

Thanks.

Alright so trying to nail down price on a 10lb co2 tank. Anyone got any suggestions on who to get it from?

Also any folks in bham area know good place for co2 refills?

so far 65 is as cheap as I have been able to nail down the cost on a new tank.

consider Industrial Gasses in the yellow pages; you can probably get away cheaper putting a deposit on a used 10lb tank, and refills/swaps there will probably run you $12

Interesting. Thanks.

I've got a nice piece of oak on top of mine, plus a tower, plus I just made a collar for it. I definitely am tired of always having to roll the keezer away from the wall to open the lid because of the tower. Plus I can get 8-9 cornies in there, and I don't want to tie up so much cash in tower taps to serve that many.

Check craigslist for CO2 tanks. A while back, I found a guy in Nashville who had like 15 20# tanks, selling them for $5 each. I got two for me and about six for a local brewery to use.

Oh, also meant to mention that when I built the collar I just got regular hinges instead of spring-loaded. Obviously it depends on what sort of wood you put on top, but my lid is SUPER heavy and I didn't know how much difference the spring-loaded hinges made until I got rid of them.

awesome great info....I check that out. right now I found a company where I can get a 5, 10 , or 20 lb for 59 filled I think.