Chest cooler for an outside bbq island

I know nothing about the kegging brewing etc.

I do like beer though and would like to arrange a kegerator in my outside island rite next (almost) to my grill. Found a guy that is selling hit 3 keg set up, but...
it is 47" tall, and 42" deep, I think I can deal with deep, but not with the height. It also top loading because it was converted from an icecream cooler.
Any ideas for me how to deal with this issues?
I could remove the hinges for the top cover and slide it over the top but will not be able to get my kegs in been covered with the countertop.
Can I lay it down on the side? Will compressor clunk if I do that?
Thanks for all of your help!

No, you can't lay these down on their side. I've heard you shouldn't even transport them on their side, but I've gotten away with that in the past with seemingly no ill effects.
You could cut the countertop at the spot where you put the keezer and attach the counter to the keezer. Then, when loading kegs you'd lift the lid+countertop...

Yea, I was considering that but then I thought it would cause it's own problems i.e. - water getting in that countertop cut and getting behind the keezer, plus the height is just too tall. Just had another idea.... How far can I run the lines from my chest to the tower(s) ? I could keep that thing completely outside the island someplace around the corner of my house (covering with custom made vinyl cover when not in use) about 12-14 ft away from the island. Run the copper or I belive they call them PEX lines in the conduit in the ground ( i am redoing my lot anyway) and dispense it on the counter with drip tray.
What say you?

Plenty of people are running lines from their keezer to the tower (most bars do something similar also), the considerations are these:

1. You need to pay attention to the balancing of keg pressure to line length. If you run the line on the long side, you'll probably need to use 1/4" lines in order to make the balancing work. Plenty of threads on how to balance lines, so that's all I'll say on that one.
2. Now here's the trickier bit, you need to find a way to keep the lines cool. If you don't, the beer coming out of these lines will be foamy until the lines are cooled down. So generally, when I had a tower on my kegerator (I use a collar now) - the first beer was a little foamy because the lines in the tower were at ambient temp. If With 15' of exposed lines, I'm not sure how much beer you'd have to pull through the lines before they cool down. Plenty of threads on this too, with some possible solutions - just have to look around.

Thanks a lot BruinAle,

So if it's doable, that's I'll do have my kegzis on the side of the house run lines across my 12-14 feet and put them in the insulating sleeves. So they keep the temperature better. Now, - still brainstorming from whatevers' left
What if I have a small wine cooler under my island's countertop and run the beer lines through that somehow to cool them off before they hit the tower(s).
Please let em know what you suggest for the lines itself, PEX, copper ????
Thanks again!

What to use for lines is up to you.. I'd use normal vinyl beer line and run them through PVC.. easy, cheap, and available at the local Home Depot (well, the PVC anyways).

Not sure if a wine chiller would be cold enough to chill things back down.. you'd probably need to use stainless coil as a heat exchanger to get enough surface area.. and that would be done for each line. Too expensive..

You might be able to rig a fan to pull cold air out of the freezer and down the PVC to prechill the lines before you serve.. That'd be cheaper and easier to implement

Thank you so much man!

I am forced to buy a "new" freezer, cause the guy sold it under me, oh well I did not give him deposit so.... Started looking for another freezer. Some are very low like 29" & I doubt they will work for me. Any suggestions on what kind of dimensions I should look for?

I can fit 4 kegs in my 7 cu foot. Height shouldn't be a big consideration, you can always build a collar to raise the lid up a little higher if you're concerned about it being too low.

Thanks again BruinAle,
that's what the guy was trying to sell me a 7ft'er with wood collar around it. But if I can buy a right height rite away, why not...

So again b4 i buy it, the 29" tall chest freezer should hold a 1/4 keg standing. & how do you control the temperature so it does not actually friezes? I am also not quite clear on the fan how would I install one to pull the cold air through my conduit/PVC to chill the lines?
Thanks!

I'll try to answer my own question regarding the fan cooling the lines. If I make a large enough - let's say 4"-5" hole (for the PVC) on the side of the freezer where I'll run my lines trough and make a transition to a smaller size PVC without sharp bends. I should be able to install a small fan inside the freezer (caged or not) to be facing that hole, maybe add a little cone on the choppers to narrow the air flow so it goes under some velocity into my rigged pipe. Should this do it?
And one more? How do I make sure I don't hit any vital internals when I drill through the freezer's side?
Thanks as always!

A collar makes it easy to assure you won't hit any lines. Otherwise you can try the corn starch trick, but I've never tried that so don't know how well it really works.

If you put the fan inside the freezer, you'd be pushing air into the PVC.. that would probably work, but I find that pulling air is more efficient. I'd take the PVC and run it to where you want. At the end where the lines come out I'd put a 2 way splitter and run the lines through one side and make sure to seal that side of the splitter really well. The other side of the splitter would have a fan pulling air from the freezer.

On the question about how to keep the beer from freezing, use a ranco or johnson's control A419 temp controller to control the temperature of the freezer.

Hey thanks for the answers again!

I see what you mean about hitting the lines, althought there should be a diagram for each freezer somewhere...
Can you please elaborate on the corn starch trick?
It's funny I was just thinking about it today that pulling air in should be easier than pushing through. btw, it eliminates the issue with fan heating up the interior of the freezer. I found a 34" tall freezer at BestBuy - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Frigidaire+-+7.2+Cu.+Ft.+Chest+Freezer+-+White/9757311.p?id=1218202121298&skuId=9757311&st=freezer&cp=1&lp=2


Update- The freezer is 3 yrs old. 34" H 27" W and 22"D They want $100
Found this freezer & was wondering how many 1/4 kegs or how comfortably they'd fit with so2 tank.

As far as air fan I was going to use this one - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270705076915&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

Never mind about the corn starch thing, magic of the search button
I was actually going to use my laser thermometer, but this thing is way cooler!
Going to call Sears to see if they have any "scratch and dent" freezers.

One more possibility.

I could move my keezer rite into my bbq island, but it would have to be under the counter so I'd have to make it a "sliding out" on the bearings keezer. Since I am not that tall of a guy at all, I can probably go up to 42" on my countertop. That will require me to use either a 34" tall freezer (like a Frigidaire I was mentioning before) or a shorter freezer with a collar. I also must take into consideration the exposure to the elements outside. So not sure what location is better as far as longevity of the unit. IMO enclosed is sometimes worst because it tends to accumulate moisture longer hence damaging the unit or shortening it's lifespan. Granted there's not that many rains here in SoCal (could have fooled me rite now) but it is still a factor.
Any ideas which one the best choice for it? I also would like to have some extra room inside the keezer just in case.

Getting closer to my built, but still have not decided which way to go.
Please help decide and any design suggestions would be great.
I decided to buy that 7.2 freezer, add the collar and.....
Still don't know what is the best for the island installation. I could run the lines from the freezer to the island and deal with the line temperature control issues or....
I could install the keezer rite inside the island that would not require lengthy lines but,
I'd prefer to use wall mounted faucets and not the tower because I am planning on tailoring some kind of custom cover for the whole island when it's not in use and don't want the tower to stick out like a sore thumb
So if the wall is 6" and my frame to hold the keezer is at least 1.5" I need at least 7.5" "box" protruding from the keezer trough the outside wall. I am assuming this will cause the temperature issues as well. I guess some sort of a sketch would not hurt. Just don't know how.

I put a keezer under my bar, just put some wheels on it so I can slide it out to load it.

7.5" is a short enough run that you don't need to worry about keeping the lines cool. If you put some insulation around them you'll get a little foam on the first cup and the rest will be gravy as the cold beer going through the lines will cool them. I built a wooden tower on my first kegerator build and didn't insulate the lines at all - worked great.

Thanks guys,

rod - what kind of floor are you rolling your keezer on? I will have a somewhat rough paver cause the island is outside in my yard, so I am not sure how well will it be able to roll on them, especially loaded with kegs
Remote keezer should work too, I just don't want to install it, run all the lines etc. and not be satisfied with results with no way back. It gets pretty warm around here in the summer and I suspect that's when we are gona wantsit

nmikmik said:

Thanks guys,

rod - what kind of floor are you rolling your keezer on? I will have a somewhat rough paver cause the island is outside in my yard, so I am not sure how well will it be able to roll on them, especially loaded with kegs
Remote keezer should work too, I just don't want to install it, run all the lines etc. and not be satisfied with results with no way back. It gets pretty warm around here in the summer and I suspect that's when we are gona wantsit

Click to expand...

I was on concreat with carpet. I had trouble with my beer lines getting warm with only about 4 ft lines the what I done to minimize that was fix it so I could push th excess line back in the freezer after I rolled it back in. I was able to rais my lid a little when it was in place.

Yea, this probably will not work for me cause I'll be rolling on paver i.e. joint lines between pavers. I will not be able to push the lines inside the keezer after I'd roll it in cause mine would have to be rolled in forward in. Unless... if put my spouts on the back side of the keezer maybe I'd be able to do the same thing you did??? Anyway, I'll have to finalize my island location remeasure everything and judge from there where it's gona go.
Thanks!