B-Boy's 3-Tap Keezer

I added a picture of my Keezer to the 'Show us your Keezer' thread. I got a PM requesting some more pictures. I'm going to put them here.

This keezer was built about 1.5 years ago using a scratch-and-dent Lowe's Holiday 5 Cu Ft freezer. I got it really cheap because it has a dent in the lid. That's one of the reasons I added my own top to the build. Honestly, I'd probably spend a few more bucks for a better freezer next time. This is cheaply built. I picked up a Danby 3 Cu Ft freezer for my fermentation chamber and the quality difference is like night and day.

I don't have any build pictures. They were lost when my wife cleared off my camera card before we went on vacation, so I only have pictures of the final build.

It is a pretty standard build. I used a 2x10 collar and wrapped it in some additional red oak to give it a more finished look. The red oak is standard 1x12 from Lowes. The lid is made from 1x4 red oak and a scrap piece of oak plywood I had laying around. Everything was stained and poly'd.

I didn't want any exposed wiring, so I routed a channel in the 2x10 collar. All electrical runs through that channel behind the foam board insulation. The collar has an outlet controlled by the Love temp controller. It's on the back of the unit. One outlet is always on and powers the fan. The other controls power to the freezer.

I added 1 inch thick rigid foam board to the inside of the collar for insulation. I then wrapped the inside of the collar with 14 inch aluminum flashing to give it a more finished look. I used a metal break I got at Harbor Freight to bend the metal. It was a pain, since I'd never done it before. Next time I'll use thicker aluminum. The flashing is too easy to dent.

The temp controller is a Love single-stage controller. Very easy to install and setup. It can't heat though. Next time I'll use the STC1000 instead of the Love controller.

My original design plan was to buld a 'Steam-Punk' keezer. I had some good ideas, but when I priced out gears, black-iron pipes, and brass doo dads it started geting very expensive. Plus, the red oak on this collar is really heavy. The collar weight exceeds 100 lbs as is. Adding a bunch of iron, copper, and brass would have made it even heavier.

I also havea set of wheels for this beast, but I don't use them in the basement.

Here are a few shots of the keezer in it's natural habitat - my basement. I had it in my garage till a few weeks ago. I talked my wife into letting me move it inside till Spring because the beer would freeze. It's not going anywhere now.

I like the lid. It holds about 20-30 glasses. I had a piece of glass cut to fit the top. The wooden lid sits on the freezer lid and does a good job of sealing it as well. Here are pictures of the wooden lid and the unit without the wooden lid.

Don't really care for the rail, but it was all I could find at the time. It looks a little 80s to me. I think I'd probably replace it with some black iron pipe if I could. Unfortunately it would be a pain to refinish the whole lid again, so I'll live with it,

Here is the drip tray. I used red oak to construct a box. I routed the edges to form a lip which the drip tray sit on. The tray is attached using rare earth magnets. They do a good job of holding the tray to the keezer, but it slowly slides down the side of the keezer. I added some brackets to keep it from sliding. Not pretty, but they are simply glued on with epoxy and can be easily removed. You really can't even see them when you're standing. It's strong enough to hold a pitcher now.

Here is the inside of the unit. It curently has 3 kegs. 2 5-gal cornies and 1 commercial 1/6 keg. There is a 5# CO2 tank in the unit as well. It's a tight fit, but it works.

It's difficult to see, but the second picture has a gray box that houses the electrical and the temperature sensor. It drops into a small bottle filled with water that is siliconed to the side of the unit. It has a thermowell made out of a piece of copper tubing. It works well. Prior to this I had the temp sensor just hanging. It cycled a lot more often than it does now.

To cool the lines and taps I use a squirrel cage blower attached to the lid. It pulls cold air up and blows it directly on the tap lines and shanks. The taps are ice cold to the touch.

I used Perlick 525SS faucets. I really like them. They never leak. Because of the lid, I had to add some wood to the face of the keezer to push the taps out so they wouldn't hit the lid.

I still haven't come up with a good way to label my taps. Currently I just use a labeler.

I also have a 3 Cu Ft ferm chamber/keezer in my garage. I use it for fermenting and as an emergency keezer for parties. I can roll it onto my deck as needed. I use a similar approach to building this, but use closed-cell PVC instead of oak. it has a 6-inch collar.

It holds 2 kegs or a 6.5 and a 3 gallon carboy. I used the STC1000 for this build, so it has a heater option using a reptile heater device I put together.

This is a Danby freezer. It's very well built. If you're looking to do a 2-tap system I would recommend this freezer. It has a small footprint, but has plenty of room on the inside.

More of the ferm chamber...

Nice! Any info on the fans I am building a kezzer for my bosses husband like the look.

Nice looking keezer! Is that a CO2 detector in one of the pictures?

pickles said:

Nice looking keezer! Is that a CO2 detector in one of the pictures?

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I saw that too, good idea. What is the old school light fixture in the bottom of the smaller one?

beaksnbeer said:

Nice! Any info on the fans I am building a kezzer for my bosses husband like the look.

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It's a DC fan. I got these at http://www.sciplus.com/search.cfm/term/Blower. They also sell the DC Adapters separately.

Gear101 said:

I saw that too, good idea. What is the old school light fixture in the bottom of the smaller one?

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That a ceramic light fixture mounted to a block of wood. It holds a reptile heater. It is used to raise the temp during the winter. Keeps the beer from freezing and bumps up the temp for fermentation. Its a 100 watt heater. Probably overkill. It gets hot. I burned myself a few days ago. I wanted to test it to see if it skill worked. It did.

http://m.petco.com/product/5003/Zoo-Med-Repticare-Ceramic-Infrared-Heat-Emitters.aspx

The STC1000 controller switches it on and off as needed.

Cool thanks may swap mine out as well depending on the db levels

beaksnbeer said:

Cool thanks may swap mine out as well depending on the db levels

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It's super quiet. Barely audible unless your ear is next to the keezer.

I like it because I can direct the cold air to where it's needed.

pickles said:

Nice looking keezer! Is that a CO2 detector in one of the pictures?

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Not sure what you're looking at. There its no CO2 detector. I've got a CO detector plugged in nearby. That's for when I brew in the garage.

Maybe the electrical box in the right hand corner?

beaksnbeer said:

Maybe the electrical box in the right hand corner?

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If it's a grey box, that's where all my wires tie together. And where my temp probe its located.

Edit: I just figured out what you were talking about. That is my Eva Dry dehumidifier. It helps keep moisture down inside the Keezer. I had problems when the keezer was in my garage. It's not really a problem anymore.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H0XFD2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20