15+ cu ft Coffin Keezer Build

[BanditBrewCo]

Start to finish with Lots of pictures of the build process.

So craigslist searching for 3+ months came up with a deal I could not turn down. 1 hour drive away a male nurse was going back to school and moving into an apartment. He had a Kenmore 15+ cu ft chest freezer (Never plugged in!!!) that was bought brand new (receipt in hand) from Home Depot for $419 + tax. He was a hunter and bought it to store meat next season but that season never happened. Anyway he had it listed for "$150 obo and needs to sell this weekend". I called him as soon as I came across the post and asked if he would take $75 and I would be there in 1 1/2 hours. We settled on $100. Drove out to where he was, looked it over.... not a dent, scratch, dust or anything on it!!!

Let the build begin!!!

I am a telecommunications Engineer by trade and had been working on a Visio diagram for the past couple of months of my typical build based on this very freezer. I was waiting for it to go on sale at HD to buy it. Needless to say all of my cut sheets and wood/hardware requirements were already done before the score!:rockin:

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Freezer sans lid (lasted maybe 5 minutes) lol. Base is made out of 2"x6" joined with pocket screws and wood glue.

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Started framing out the front and sides of the keezer walls. 2"x4"s lightly sanded and painted with a waterproof sealer. Just in case this thing ends up outside or in a garage sometime in the future.

 

[BanditBrewCo]

End panels cut and fitted, 3 1/2" Rubber Casters mounted and some stain going on.

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Front panels are made of 3/8" clear plexi stacked with 1/8" "broken glass" light fixture covers with led lights behind them. Mocked up for now.

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Starting to frame out the lid. 1/2" MDF on top, freezer lid intact in the middle and 1/4" ply on bottom to make a sandwich all glued and bolted together.

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Trimwork all coming together with wood conditioner, stain and Spar Urethane.

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Ok, so I missed a couple of days worth of pictures showing the coffin build and electronics wiring. Continuing on...

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Now for the bottlecap top mockup and install. Modge podge to hold them down and bar top epoxy for a glass like finish...

 

[BanditBrewCo]

inside the coffin and in it's final resting place!. <Looked good enough SWMBO actually allowed me to put it right in the living room!!!

5 taps, can hold 9 kegs (Co2 tank outside of freezer)... Air distribution has since been upgraded to a bunch of secondary regs instead of the 3 shown here.

 

[m3n00b]

Wow. Just wow.

 

[BanditBrewCo]

2 outlet boxes mounted inside keezer frame to power everything with 1 extension cord plugged into 120v wall outlet. 2x 80mm fans in a push/pull configuration to keep keezer cold and temps stay within 2 degrees F of freezer temps. led IR receiver mounted directly behind middle tap under lip with 160 degree operation by remote control. Johnson Controls temp senser to keep temps at 38 degrees F. 12' beer lines at 12psi keep foam to a minimum even on 1st pour. Stock lid hinges used with no issues so far adjusted to maximum tension. All joints mitered, glued, pocket screwed doweled or joined by biscuits. 3/4" air gap all the way around keezer and bottom/back is open for ventilation. lid lip hangs over keezer by 1/2" with 1/8" gap. Bottom trim appears to sit right on carpet after casters sink in and still rolls very easily away from wall for keg changes.


Any other questions please let me know!!

Hope you enjoy the build. Total time took roughly 3 months after work and on weekends. Wood did not come from HD but a specialty wood shop here in town for the select white Pine and single piece of knotty pine in the front trim just under the lid. Coffin made out of 1"x12" select white pine.

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Current set up for Xmas!! Tap 3 now has a strawberry blonde no pictured.

Decided to go with no drip tray and just a bar mat and clean up is a breeze. Wet cloth/dry cloth and done!

 

[krazydave]

Care to go into more detail on the epoxy and process on the top?
Looks great by the way!

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Sure thing krazydave! I used the "Farmwood - Bar Top Epoxy" available at Lowes. I actually ordered mine off of Amazon because Lowes didn't carry the gallon kit. My top ended up taking roughly 1 3/4 gallons and covers the caps plus another 5/8" above the caps but 1/16" below the trim wood.

Process:
1: Painted the mdf black with a home lacquer that doesn't react with epoxy.
2: Spread a generous portion of Modge Podge down with foam brushes and pressed the caps into it as it dried to adhere the caps to the table.
3: Mixed up the first batch of epoxy (2 qts) and spread this over the caps making sure to fill in all of the gaps between caps. This layer did not completely cover the tops of the caps just the space in between.
4: Room was sealed and HVAC vents closed. Space heater held room at 112 degrees F to allow the bubbles to flow up through the epoxy and pop.
5: Wait 24 hours for layer to cure (between every layer). Wipe epoxy down with rubbing alcohol and lint free cloth before applying next layer.
6: Added layers 1 qt at a time after this until I reached 1/16" below the wood trim with 24 hours between each layer.
7: Let cure for 3 days in sealed room at 112 degrees.
8: Buffed with a car paint sealer, swirl remover and 3 layers of synthetic automobile wax (the good stuff!) I use all Prima car products

Notes:
Bought a bunch of paint mixing and measuring cups off of amazon, plastic spreaders and painters tape with "edgelock"
Laid new tape every layer and pulled off old layer right after laying new epoxy.

 

[Bearfoot]

Very well done sir!

 

[krazydave]

Thanks! I figured a lot more went into that epoxy top than it appeared. Looks great though!

 

[randomgnarkill]

That's AWESOME.

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Thanks for the kind words! Put a lot of time and work into it!

 

[m3n00b]

Thanks for the kind words! Put a lot of time and work into it!

Seriously nice work.

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Thanks for the kind words m3n00b!!

 

[Vlint]

That's a nice looking build. I love the bottle cap bar top

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Yea the gold caps and espresso stain compliment each other nicely!

 

[seckert]

I am looking at different keezer builds as I prepare to make the outside of mine all nice. I have been thinking about the bottle top idea you have. I figured I would have to pay someone to epoxy it for me though. guess it isn't as hard as I thought it would be. it came out great!

 

[seckert]

how do you access the distribution block and regulators? is the back hinged? if so how do you keep it sealed to keep the temps steady?

 

[BanditBrewCo]

The back is secured with a piano hinge across the entire bottom and door slider locks to lock it in place. The seal is made by insetting the back plate up against the sides and top of the coffin so it sits flush on the outside. I left a 1/8" of foam insulation sticking back to create a tight seal against the back plate when the slide locks are fully engaged. So I do have to pull the keezer out away form the wall to access the regs and dist blocks.

These pictures show the back of the coffin with the shelving on both sides for reference points.

The Epoxy was not difficult at all as long as you have a room you can dedicate to the process for around a week. Must be able to heat it and keep it relatively dust free if you want a good finish.

Let me know if you want some pictures of the back closed and the hinge and I may be able to get some this weekend.

 

[seckert]

some pictures of the back would be great. having a hard time visualizing how the back of it works. thanks so much!

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Here is a shot of the back of my keezer. Piano hinge at the bottom. Blue hose it CO2 feed from 20# tank outside freezer and door strike latches on the left and right to keep everything buttoned up.

 

[seckert]

Ok cool, i have 2 more questions for you. How often do you have to access inside of there? is it a pain when you have to? if so what would you do differently to make this easier?

Also, this is more for my own curiosity. I see you have 3 regulators, but it looks like you only have one airline running to your distro block. why is that?

Ok i guess that was more than 2 questions, I should have said 2 multi-part questions...haha

 

[mmertz]

For those looking for bar top resin, check this site out.

http://www.uscomposites.com/kk121.html

They have the best prices I have found. Here is a picture of a table I used 4 gallons on.

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Hey Seckert! The only time I would need to get into that back panel is if I need to change the settings on one of the regs or change the temp controller. So I do not need to get in there but maybe once every couple of months if that.

My current co2 setup looks something like this:
20# tank to 3-pack of secondary regs (blue hose)
reg 1 goes inside keezer to feed 2-pack regs (1 for sealing lid on kegs, co2 bklankets and such at 20psi, 2nd for my apple cider at 14psi)
reg 2 goes inside keezer to feed 5-way distributor for cold aging and serving kegs at 8psi
reg 3 goes to 3-way distributor shown above for serving kegs at 10.5psi

In total I have 10 co2 lines with quick disconnects inside keezer at 4 different carb/serving/aging pressures. Keezer can hold 9 kegs and 5 taps.

The only thing I would and am in the process of doing is moving my 20psi co2 line outside the keezer for ease of access. I will probably do this the same way as my high pressure feed (blue hose) and hang the coiled hose on the back of the coffin or keezer itself.

Hope this helps!

 

[seckert]

it does. I guess i was just not able to see the extra air lines. it looked like you were using only one of the regulators. explains a lot when you say how it is set up! haha
Thanks for the pics and you have a good set-up there! I might have keezer envy!

 

[ill4delph]

Wow!!That bottle cap top is exactly what i would like to do at some point...only im saving caps from all the new breweries i try, looking at that i am realizing that i am going to have to start saving some doubles!! lol. Thanks for the write up!

 

[BanditBrewCo]

No problem at all guys!! As far as the caps go... I believe I used somewhere around 1,100-1,300 to cover the entire top as well as a pair of very sharp kitchen sheers to cut the caps around the wood so there were no gaps. Thank SWIMBO for making the executive decision on all gold caps too. If it were in a man cave and not our living room (SWIMBO approved :rockin: )I would have probably saved all different kinds of caps as well.

As far as keezer envy goes, lol I know how you may feel. I had a lot of that looking around here and decided to build something that would last me hopefully 5-10 years without outgrowing it. 5 on tap with 4 cold aging as well as enough fermenting vessels to hold 80+ gallons should be able to hold me over until I can build my lagering chest!

Not bad for only 1 1/2 years into the lifestyle!! 45 gallons brewed year 1 and as of today 30 gallons brewed for 2014!!

 

[DakotaSouth]

Fantastic bunch of work there.