Le Fûgidaire v2.0 - 6 tap keezer/bar

[mrmansfeld]

I've taken a break from updating my garage brewery while I move into a new flat (the brewery is staying where it is though), so I thought I'd start a build thread to document my progress.

The new flat has an L-shaped kitchen that opens onto the dining/sitting room, so we decided we would build a kegerator-bar-kitchen island to separate the kitchen from the rest of the room, and get some more counter space.

The plan is to build a 2.5m x 85cm island, where one half will house a pull-out keezer and the other half will have a second small fridge and some storage space for various things.

I already have the freezer that should just be able to fit 6 ball lock kegs with a CO2 tank, as well as all the draft equipment (dual body regulator, 7 gas pipes, 6 liquid side kits with Perlick 630SS). I tried one 650SS on my previous kegerator, and wasn't really convinced that the difference in price was worth it. I think I prefer the simplicity of the regular taps...

To start things off, here's a quick render of my initial sketch :

The freezer itself will be on 6 wheels. A wooden frame allows us to pull it out from the front, and serves to guide it into the surrounding box (might need some small wheels there or telescopic drawer elements). The idea is to have all the weight supported by the wheels on the ground, and only use the frame as a guide.

Still need to figure out a clean way to manage the cables, get the insulation aligned between the bar top and the keezer, and plan an airway to get cold air through the tower...

 

[mrmansfeld]

So, three months after my initial idea post, I’m ready to share some progress with you all.

First of all, I’ve updated my CAD model. I’ve made the tower taller and moved it forward. This Should allow us to run a shelf behind it and still leave space for wine bottles or plants behind the shelf. I’m also planning to add some little LCD displays above each tap to show the beer information. I’ll only make the cuts if/once I’ve written the software part though.

Dimensions have been changed a little to make sure I can fit a hefeweizen glass and an insulated growler beneath the taps.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Here’s a preview of where it’s going. The main part of the unit is the freezer that’s sitting against the window. We flipped it over (after reading lots of opinions about whether or not it was okay to do so&#8230, and started building the frame. Testing a layout for the wheels :

Ended up going with tiny hard rubber wheels that are rated for 35kg each. 8*35 = 280kg which should be plenty for 6 kegs, one freezer and a full bottle of CO2. Preparing to cut the shims, to ensure the spacing between the two parts of the frame, and adding a contact surface along half of the underside of the freezer :

More tests. Stain colours and gas lines (I had to change the nut on the regulator since it didn’t fit swiss CO2 canisters)

Frame is joined with dowels and glued :

Brothers came to help with the paint and assembly of the frame

 

[mrmansfeld]

Cut and painted the two parts of the outer shell. Countertop :

And the walls that will be holding it up :

I assembled the walls with dowels and angle pieces because I want to be able to take it apart easily when I move out. So far it seems to be solid enough

And here’s the frame in place in the kitchen :

Building the frame required moving the freezer in and out several times, turns out I didn’t really think that part through all that much...

And the last gluing step :

Quick test for fit and clearance. We then loaded up the freezer with as much weight as we could to see if it with move (it doesn’t!). It’ll probably shift over time with changes in humidity, but for now it seems stable.

It fitssssssss!

Next post, the tower…

 

[noggins]

nestar:nestar:nestar:nestar:nestar:

 

[NathPowe]

So awesome dude. Your builds are inspiring. Good luck on this project and keep us updated.

Cheers and enjoy the brew.

 

[mrmansfeld]

Not shown here, my attempts to make straight cuts through beechwood using a jig saw. I failed miserably, so I took all my wood back to my dad’s workshop and we cut everything to length on the table saw :

I got a little carried away during the next bit and didn’t take many progress pics. I drilled some more holes for dowels

Then fitted everything together dry using dowels and little angle pieces, since I’m still planning to take it apart more than once, to paint, then to cut holes for the LCD screens. Here I’m holding it together with clamps while I screw in the angle brackets at the back.

Mark the holes for the taps :

Test fit the first tap just to make sure :

It fits! Drill 5 more holes, and put everything together! (I was a bit too excited so I’ve only got a picture of everything assembled)

Now that I’ve ascertained that it all fits together nicely, we can remove the tower and start drilling holes for beer lines and air flow. Beer line slot :

Tried to cut the 80mm holes with the jigsaw, but the curve was just a little sharp for the blade I was using, and the wood was burning. So I drilled a bunch of 80mm holes and then sawed through what was left. Much easier, looks like crap but I don’t really care since it’ll be hidden inside the tower very soon.

Finally ready to pull the beer lines through!

Tower back in place (again, temporarily, but I like to be sure that this part is going to work okay)

And to finish off the evening, I thought I’d try powering up the freezer. I hadn’t tested it since we moved it, flipped it upside down etc, so I wasn’t actually sure it worked. After 10-15 minutes, the walls are at -4°C (24°F). Success!

Hopefully this week-end I can get around to finishing the tower (I need to remove a layer from behind the taps with the router, because the shanks I ordered are too short, then I can plane and sand the uneven bits and paint it). I should be able to find time to insulate the freezer and the tower and wire up the temperature regulator so I can start chilling the kegs next week!

 

[mrmansfeld]

I managed to make some decent progress again this week-end. I took apart the tower and painted the parts. I used the same coloured varnish on the tower as I used on the table top. The backsplash is getting a coat of clear oil for contrast.

I had also pre-cut the parts for the shelving on the table saw. Just needed to cut out a slot to fit the tower, which I did with the kataba and jigsaw

Test fit, took a bit of gentle hammering but it works :

Next, got a sheet of 50mm insulation foam and cut it into strips to glue between the drawer and the table top (this is the main part where I have no idea what I’m doing… we’ll see how it works out in a few days!)

The plan is to cut all the insulation pieces diagonally down, with the top being at the front of the drawer and the bottom part at the back

Like so. Hopefully, these two wedges will come together neatly when we close the drawer (ha)

Gluing :

Since the test fit worked, I’ll assemble the shelf in a slightly more solid and permanent manner. I’m not gluing anything (at least not yet) since I’ll need to take things apart again soon. Haven’t decided whether I’ll glue it or just screw together the important parts. For the moment it holds together quite well just with friction.

Making some holes in the counter top to fix it in place:

Aaaaand it all fits!

It’s not quite functional yet since I need to finish gluing the insulation, connect the taps then wire up all the electrical parts, but I wanted to see what it would look like when it will be finished, so here’s what it looked like this morning:

 

[mrmansfeld]

I think we’re overdue for an update! Time to take things apart again and start building something functional.

First step. As you can see, I miscalculated the ledge when I built the solidworks model, and didn’t really pay attention to that part, so the drawer ends up too close to the edge of the tabletop for my tastes. I wanted an overhang (sorry for the potato quality pictures, the sun was in the wrong place that evening)

So I marked the edge with some masking tape

And cut it off. This turned out to be a terrible idea, since I had tremendous trouble keeping the saw straight (tried with a more rigid saw later, and it went a little better, but the result still sucks. It does beat taking everything apart and putting it through the table saw again though…)

Drilled some holes for ventilation. Not sufficient, but it’s a start

Since I was sure that wouldn’t be enough, I made an additional 130mm hole in the side and added a grille. I plan to add two 140mm fans if the freezer starts getting too hot. For now, I’ve pre-chilled the kegs by leaving them outside overnight, so the freezer isn’t running for very long and it doesn’t overheat anymore.

Now the fun part! My roommate helped to make sure that the LEDs would give the desired effect :

Success! So I poured myself an Old Foghorn and wrote some code that runs on an ESP8266, and listens for colour codes on an MQTT channel. I can send a hex code from a smartphone or computer and change the colour of the kegerator remotely. I’ll probably post the code with a description of how it works once it’s fully functional, but if you want to check out the first draft, it’s on github (I’m a total noob at LUA, please forgive me)

Colour changing? Check.

Here’s the device that’s driving the LEDs at the moment. I’ll package it up nicely once I have time and the codebase is a little more stable.

My friend who had borrowed my router finally returned it, so I got to take the tower apart again to rout out behind the shanks :

Routing done:

Test fit, it works as expected!

All done :

I also routed out some channels for the LEDs which will go under the shelves :

After this, I added some insulation and ventilation to the tower, and cut the lines open to install some flow sensors (I'll post a pic later once I've installed all six)

The view from underneath:

And here it is closed up (temporarily) with some insulation, to test the cooling in the tower:

Cabling in progress, finished wiring up the first segment of LEDs:

I had a friend over to help solder the other LED strips while I was working on connecting up the lines and adding in the flow sensors. TIME FOR THE FIRST POUR!

El Dorado single hop IPA, mmmmm

Wiring up the right wing:

And the left

And we're done.

It's not quite finished, and I'll add some pictures once I've had time to take better quality pics, but it's finally working now so I'm going to take a small break and concentrate on other things. I'm planning to work on the code and electronics (web page to change the colour, beer list, flow sensors etc), improve the insulation, close the back panel of the tower, and most importantly, brew some more beer because two of the taps are dry!)

Thanks for reading along!

 

[milldoggy]

Wow

 

[mucci2k]

In post #8, half the pictures didn't load. Not sure if anyone else is having the same issue.

Looks amazing by the way.

 

[Sammy86]

Looks awesome! Congrats on a job very well done!

 

[BrunDog]

Holy keezola... one of the finest builds I have seen to date! Well done!

-BD

 

[Gudders]

Sorry to drag this back up but this is the second pull out keezer Ive seen and the original lid has been removed.

Why is that? To keep the unit 2inches shorter? Have you had any problems with damp on the bottom of the wooden top?

Cheers

 

[day_trippr]

Imagine running beer lines if the original freezer lid was in place.
fwiw, I also have a wood top, heavily insulated inside, no moisture issues...

Cheers!

 

[Gudders]

I'd have thought fixing the beerlone to the wall of freezer and a spool before the opening would work reliably.

But if you're insulating the wood why not attach the lid to the underside of the wood. It just seem to have been bined. I can only think the seal on the edge is too strong?

 

[day_trippr]

It's simply an unnecessary complication, imo. I actually gave my keezer's original lid back to the appliance retailer so they could use it if they got a unit in with a damaged lid. I didn't want it, but didn't want to send it out with the trash...

Cheers!