Keezer Questions

[lorglath]

Hey all I got a 15ft^3 freezer this week and I am planning on making a nice wood surround for it, but I have a question for the community. I have seen lots of posts with just a collar and the taps coming through, all the way to a tap tower built on top.

I was thinking initially about making a nice surround, and going through the front similar to the collar type, my reasoning is it is a pain to lift up the top when you need to change out kegs with the huge assembly on top...

Those that have the big assembly on the top, do you find it a pain to change out kegs by lifting the whole assembly, or is there an easier way I am not seeing? I plan to put it against my wall so opening from the front would require moving it away from the wall, unless I opened from the back... Thoughts?

Also, where does the overflow beer go? Do you keep it in the tray and it is removable, or does it collect in a bucket in the kegerator?

Thanks in advance for the responses.

 

[carlisle_bob]

Hi

If you position the tower a bit towards the back of the lid, it balances out nicely. The lid goes up normally and stays up. You can't go to crazy with tile on everything for that to work. I've been doing stainless steel over plywood on the last couple and they have worked out well.

Stray beer goes into a drip tray. If you get one that just sits on the surface, you take it over and wash it out in the sink every so often. Much more convenient than mopping it up off the floor

If you do the surround remember that it will need air space between it and the freezer. You will need fans to move air though the air space. The outside of the freezer gets HOT when the compressor is running. I have a 14.8 sitting next to me and it does indeed...

Bob

 

[lorglath]

Do you have any links / pics?

 

[carlisle_bob]

Hi

Pics of which part? Most coffin tower keezers are built pretty much as I described. The best of the stainless steel top ones just got loaded into the pickup and headed north yesterday, so no pictures of that one - sorry.

The stainless I've been using has been from:

http://www.shopstarlandmetals.com/brushed-stainless-steel-sheet.aspx

They will cut it to fit the freezer lid. I chop a hole in the sheet with a Dremel tool and cutting disks.

Bob

 

[Jeebas]

Do you have any links / pics?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/coffin-keezer-list-256871/

There's about 101 examples of coffin keezers here, enjoy!

 

[lorglath]

Jeebas,
That was the post I was looking at where I didn't really see anyone just come out the front and do something nice on the top which got me wanting to ask the initial question.

 

[carlisle_bob]

Hi

Are you proposing to put a tower on the front edge of the lid?

Bob

 

[lorglath]

Nope, what I was initially thinking is to build a lip around the entire thing like a collar cooler, and then finish it nicely, so they come out the front of the device (no tower), but make the outside nice with oak and a bar top to set other things on.

 

[carlisle_bob]

Nope, what I was initially thinking is to build a lip around the entire thing like a collar cooler, and then finish it nicely, so they come out the front of the device (no tower), but make the outside nice with oak and a bar top to set other things on.

Hi

Unless I'm miss-understanding something, that's a very standard approach. There are indeed hundreds of pictures of exactly what you are proposing running around in threads here.

Is the "lip" that's around the "entiere thing" outside the cooler?

By "out the front" do you mean through the front wall of the freezer? (not going to work).

I must be missing something here...

Bob

 

[Jeebas]

It seems like you are suggesting a collared keezer with a nice bar top on the lid.

Examples of a collared keezer -

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/converting-frigidaire-7-2-cu-ft-chest-freezer-162225/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ge-7-cf-fcm7suww-keezer-conversion-192208/

 

[Doed]

lorglath - you talking about something like this?

 

[Ksanz]

Ya it sounds like he wants to do something like that on top but also have a skirt around it so it doesnt look like a freezer. The issue I could see with that would be unless the skirt stopped before it got as high as the collar, you would have to run a lot of the line through the space needed for the skirt (for airflow) or get REALLY deep shanks to go through the collar and the skirt. I chose to go with the coffin design and like other people said, when we lift the top, it stands up on its own due to the weight of the coffin itself. I have been opening mine a few times a week and it doesn't phase me at all (except i have to take the liquor bottles off the top every time I do that) Mine can be seen here. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/minimum-woodwork-experience-keezer-project-313790/index2.html One thing that you need to make sure to include if you're doing a coffin and want ease though are the wheels on the bottom. That makes it easy to slide forward so you can tilt the top, otherwise it would be banging against the back wall.

 

[carlisle_bob]

Ya it sounds like he wants to do something like that on top but also have a skirt around it so it doesnt look like a freezer. The issue I could see with that would be unless the skirt stopped before it got as high as the collar, you would have to run a lot of the line through the space needed for the skirt (for airflow) or get REALLY deep shanks to go through the collar and the skirt. I chose to go with the coffin design and like other people said, when we lift the top, it stands up on its own due to the weight of the coffin itself. I have been opening mine a few times a week and it doesn't phase me at all (except i have to take the liquor bottles off the top every time I do that) Mine can be seen here. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/minimum-woodwork-experience-keezer-project-313790/index2.html One thing that you need to make sure to include if you're doing a coffin and want ease though are the wheels on the bottom. That makes it easy to slide forward so you can tilt the top, otherwise it would be banging against the back wall.

Hi

With any of these approaches, you can get a bit to far "over center" with the weight of a tower. It's quite possible to build one that will flip an empty freezer over when the lid is opened ...

Bob

 

[lorglath]

So my initial thought was to come out the front, like a collared freezer, but make an entire faux front and sides and top like the ones found on this list . The main advantage is to have it look wonderful, yet being able to open the top without pulling it away from the wall.

After talking to my buddies that will be helping me, they liked the idea of the standard assemblies shown on the link above rather than coming out the front, so that is likely what I will do.

Thanks for the advising!
-Matt

 

[lorglath]

Ksanz,
By the way, yours is beautiful, and I will likely be copying your design, simple woodwork, with beautiful oak and great lighting, I like it!
-Matt

 

[carlisle_bob]

Hi

Another option for the top surface is a pre-cut piece of 24 ga stainless steel sheet. It's pretty cheap and very rugged. With a brushed surface (no charge from most outfits) the look is pretty good.

Bob