install a coffin or tower without the drawbacks

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bowiefan

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it seems that every time someone asks about installing a coffin or tower on a keezer, someone else replies "it will cause problems with getting kegs in and out." Or "what about clearance between the tower andthe wall behind your keezer, you will have to move it every time"
Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures durring the build, but here is a tour of the completed project.
The freezer is a 15.5 cf whirlpool that was given to me by a neighbor. I started out by cutting the lid in half, widthwise, using a circular saw blade made for cutting metal studwork. The saw blade was about $30 at Home Despot. The coffin is a SS hoffman control cabinet with 3 layers of mylar/bubble wrap type insulation. Notice the piano hinge that runs the width of the lid. IMG_20110122_174635.jpg

This allows me to raise the front half of the lid for keg/tank maintenance without disturbing the coffin
IMG_20110122_174652.jpg
 
That control cabinet is not light. So, I did need to add some support to the inside on the rear half of the lid. In this pic, notice the white pole end, it is one of the screw type expanding closet poles. Also made a convenient place to mount the gas manifold.
IMG_20110122_174707-1.jpg

I sealed the raw cut edges of the lid with foil duct tape and then used neoprine foam weather strip to fill the gap and make the lid airtight.
IMG_20110122_174719-1.jpg

And here it is in all it's glory. The small tap tower on the left is hooked to a keg of seltzer water for the kids to mix their own sodas. The taps on the coffin with pucks are all beers with the upper taps being Perlick 575s and the lower ones being 525s. The coffin tap on the far right, with the plain handle belongs to SWMBO and dispenses pre mixed rum&coke. The coffin and keezer are both lockable and the coffin taps have shutoff valves inside to prevent babysitter tampering.
IMG_20110122_174614.jpg
 
Looks great... I had a similar idea, but never got around to implementing it.

One unrelated question-- did you make the hockey puck tap handles yourself? If so, how? I'm assuming you just drilled and used a screw-in insert?
 
Looks great... I had a similar idea, but never got around to implementing it.

One unrelated question-- did you make the hockey puck tap handles yourself? If so, how? I'm assuming you just drilled and used a screw-in insert?

Yep. Inserts from McMaster. Pucks are all game used.
 
Nice idea for the handles. Pucks.

I might just steal this idea, but you'll have to forgive me when I use Toronto and Montreal pucks instead. I'll put a small paper bag over the Toronto puck to similate a true toronto fan. :)
At this point shouldn't it be a bullet hole in the upper(head) area of each Toronto puck) ;)
 
Ok, wow, I am in the process of planning my next keezer. I build one a few a years ago. I just moved to my new house and i sold my keezer since i didn't have the perfect place for it, and i planned to use the money from the sale to build my new one. I was about to just go with the collar....and your awesome keezer surfaced. A can you take more pictures of it open? Maybe more of the seal?

Btw i might steal your puck idea. But i hate your caps pucks. I will be using my flyers pucks
 
Ok, wow, I am in the process of planning my next keezer. I build one a few a years ago. I just moved to my new house and i sold my keezer since i didn't have the perfect place for it, and i planned to use the money from the sale to build my new one. I was about to just go with the collar....and your awesome keezer surfaced. A can you take more pictures of it open? Maybe more of the seal?

Btw i might steal your puck idea. But i hate your caps pucks. I will be using my flyers pucks

I'll try to get a couple more pics tonight, as long a you agree not to "throat punch" me;) actually, I'm not too happy with these pucks at the moment either, the beer keeps shooting off the side of my glass, or gets overpasseddurring the power play to the point there is never a shot for me to drink. See what I did there, making a refference to my cruddy hockey team. I'm thinking of installing a little putting green on the front half of the lid, that will make it a real Caps keezer.
 
Looks awsome - except for all the Capitals stuff ;)!

Can you tell me more about the shutoff valves you used for the taps and where you got them? I am thinking about extending my existing keezer through a wall to a draft box on my bar, but need to come up with a way to child proof the taps. I was looking for some type of SS or food grade plastic in-line valves, but haven't found anything yet.
 
Looks awsome - except for all the Capitals stuff ;)!

Can you tell me more about the shutoff valves you used for the taps and where you got them? I am thinking about extending my existing keezer through a wall to a draft box on my bar, but need to come up with a way to child proof the taps. I was looking for some type of SS or food grade plastic in-line valves, but haven't found anything yet.

They are SS, full port ball valves with barbs both sides. Got them at Maryland Homebrew Warehouse.
 
Gaaahh! Another game another boring scorless loss. Is there a coach out there that knows how to BALANCE O and D? I'm from Milwaukee, maybe I will re-paint to Green Bay colors.
End rant!

Took a couple more pics, if anyone needs angles not posted, let me knot the particular thing you are looking for.

Here is the end of the joint with the lid closed.
IMG_20110126_175946.jpg
Same angle with the lid open.
IMG_20110126_180017.jpg
And here is the under side. The coffin is held on with 4 carrige bolts and 2" fender washers as well as a layer of RTV sealant between the coffin and lid. There are 2 2" holes going into the coffin, one for air to be pulled in by a pc fan, the other for air out and the line set. The seltzer tower has a piece of corrigated tubing that diverts air from a circulation fan into the top of the tower with the liquid line in the cooling tube for best efficiency.
IMG_20110126_180047.jpg
 
nice pictures. using the weather stripping you have. are there any problems with the seal? does it run very often?
 
nice pictures. using the weather stripping you have. are there any problems with the seal? does it run very often?
Runs less frequently than when it was a freezer. Comes on maybe 4 times a day. There is no thermal variation between the weather striped area and the main surface of the lid, in fact the coldest exterior spot is the factory lid gasket at the point that it crosses the seam covers on the lip of the freezer chest.
 
did you rivet the hinge? also, i notice the gap between the 2 pieces of the lid has about 1/8 inch of the weather stripping in there. does the front of the lid still line up in the correct spot, or did you have to cut off a tiny strip to make it all line up correctly.
 
did you rivet the hinge? also, i notice the gap between the 2 pieces of the lid has about 1/8 inch of the weather stripping in there. does the front of the lid still line up in the correct spot, or did you have to cut off a tiny strip to make it all line up correctly.
The saw blade kerf is 1/16". The weatherstriping is a very compressable closed cell nitrile foam. It compressed well in the gap. The weather strip caused too much tension at first, so I heated it lightly with a heat gun and then closed and locked the lid for 24 hours. This got me an almost hermetic seal. There really is no appreciable air incursion, or thermal exchange along the seam.
Edit to answer the first question: I had planned to rivit it, but the hinge came with the matchingg stainless screws and was already countersunk, so I got lazy and screwed it.
 
Also, Jonp, how did you add your brew history to your sig? I filled mine out, but it doesn't show. I keep wondering if someone is going to ask about the 16.5 ABV belgian I have conditioning.
 
Also, Jonp, how did you add your brew history to your sig? I filled mine out, but it doesn't show. I keep wondering if someone is going to ask about the 16.5 ABV belgian I have conditioning.

i jut clicked "user cp" then edit signature.
 
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