Ipe keezer build

[pedimac]

Been looking at and drooling over the numerous keezer build threads for several years now. Finally convinced my wife to let me build on a year ago, so I started getting together supplies to build a collar keezer. Had taps, a couple boards of ipe (ee-pay) hardwood, and a chunk of black walnut cut into short blocks for tap handles. We lived in North Carolina at the time, and the plan was for it to live in the basement.

Then late last year, there was a hostile takeover at my place of work. We decided to not be part of a new administration and looked for a change of scenery. This put a hold on my dreams and aspirations of having functional taps, but we spent 2 months roadtripping across our beautiful country. We ended up on the Oregon coast, good jobs, great town, nice scenery. Dogs tagged along as well. (disclaimer - my wife took this picture from the backseat over my shoulder as I was driving. The cat was stuck on something in the back and she went to save her)

 

[pedimac]

We found our current house, but no basements exist in our area. My amazing and fabulous wife said, "You can put it in the house, but it has to be pretty." DEAL! Took about a week to come up with plans, and got ideas from http://dcloutdoorcontracting.com/outdoor-kitchens/, and numerous threads on here. Bought more ipe, contacted a local metal fabication shop that is thankfully owned by a friend's dad, and got to work.

Built a dolly for the base out of 2x6 and 3" casters. This bad boy is going to hold 5-6 kegs, a 20# co2 tank, and ipe is ridiculously heavy. Built a cabinet frame around the freezer.

 

[pedimac]

Put together the gas lines with a secondary regulator. 6 years ago, we had a bottle of sparkling shiraz and have been unable to locate it since. I plan on keeping at least one wine on tap plus a seltzer. I enjoy brewing, wine, and mixology, so cheap seltzer is awesome and easy. One side is set at 14 psi, 2 lines at 30.

 

[pedimac]

Meant to take more pics at this point, but things slipped by. I took the freezer lid, attached a sheet to 3/4 plywood to it with 6 stainless bolts and lots of wide washers. Caulked everything I possibly could and dropped it off a couple weeks prior at the metal shop.

Cut ipe to length, and sanded it to 220. Tap handles were sanded to 800. Attached the ipe boards with 2 stainless steel screws to the frame. Put T nuts into the tap handles and finished everything with Danish oil. Simple stuff to use.

Found a random 6 board mini-pallet while we were looking at picture frames. Painted it with chalkboard paint for a tap list.

Got the freezer lid back, and I couldn't have been happier with their work! Attached the ventmatics, insulated the pipe and ran lines. Poured a brewsky!

 

[day_trippr]

Nicely done, that's a beauty!

I'm betting the Spousal Unit is quite pleased!

Cheers!

 

[John Paul Stoddard]

Looks great...Love the wood

 

[shellsbells]

Wow, that looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing, pedimac. Really well done!

 

[OkanaganMike]

Are you circulating the air through the tower and does it condensate at all? If not, is the first pour foamy?

 

[pedimac]

Are you circulating the air through the tower and does it condensate at all? If not, is the first pour foamy?

I do not. I’ve thought about adding a snake fan for it, but haven‘t ever had the need. The first pour has 1-2 fingers of head, same as the second or third. I have the lines wrapped in pipe insulation, so the tower doesn’t have any condensation. This is a first pour of a Vienna lager.

 

[OkanaganMike]

Designing mine right now. I like the industrial pipe look but as a mechanical insulator, I know the risk of condensation. I have figured in order to have the cool air recirculating over the lines inside the pipe, I could line the pipe with a 1/2" elastomeric insulation but the the 90's are tricky and you'd want a complete vapor seal. Is this how you did it or are the lines tightly packed within some kind of insulation tubing within the pipe?

May be overthinking it a bit too

 

[ChiknNutz]

Looks great! I love IPE too, heavy and hard on tools though. When I saw the walnut blanks (which I also love walnut), I hoped I would see them lathe turned into something else. Oh well, real wood is still cool.

We just did the opposite, moved from north of Seattle to NC...moved into our home a year ago yesterday (May 30).

 

[pedimac]

Designing mine right now. I like the industrial pipe look but as a mechanical insulator, I know the risk of condensation. I have figured in order to have the cool air recirculating over the lines inside the pipe, I could line the pipe with a 1/2" elastomeric insulation but the the 90's are tricky and you'd want a complete vapor seal. Is this how you did it or are the lines tightly packed within some kind of insulation tubing within the pipe?

May be overthinking it a bit too

The pipe is stainless steel, so condensation isn't a big issue even if it existed. I was planning on the black iron pipe, but a welder friend advised against it because of the rusting that would inevitably happen.

I have an access panel that the taps connect to. I took my 5 taps lines and taped them together, then wrapped them with the pipe insulation. I then just pushed the bundle through the access panel, across the elbow, and through the pipe to the keezer body. I used enough insulation to fill up the entire pipe. This picture is from the inside of the keeper, at the base of the pipe.

The pipe never has condensation on the outside, it isn't cold to the touch, and I don't notice any drips coming down the inside of the pipe, either. I can guarantee it doesn't have a vapor seal, but it works 99% perfect! If my first pours were all foam, I'd definitely add a fan and more insulation. But they come out right for me. I have 10ft 3/16 ID lines on the taps, with a restrictor qd on the water keg. Beer taps are 12 psi, water tap is 25 psi.

 

[pedimac]

Looks great! I love IPE too, heavy and hard on tools though. When I saw the walnut blanks (which I also love walnut), I hoped I would see them lathe turned into something else. Oh well, real wood is still cool.

We just did the opposite, moved from north of Seattle to NC...moved into our home a year ago yesterday (May 30).

I wanted to turn them, but didn't have cash for a lathe. One of those things I'd love to do. I can build boxy square things like a boss, so having rounded tap handles would throw off my style Enjoy NC, we miss it!

 

[OkanaganMike]

You did it exactly as I was thinking. Glad to know it works! Honestly I'm surprised you get such great first pours from all of my latest extensive research but if it works, it works.