mrgreen4242
Well-Known Member
I'm getting near the mid point of this build, so I thought it was time to post about it... The freezer is a 5cuft Kenmore (I bought a ~15cuft freezer on CLs for $75, but decided to swap around my current food freezer so it wouldn't take up so much room in the house.
The collar is 1x12" glued spruce, which ended up being really bowed, nearly an inch of curve from edge to edge. Cie la vie. Held together with finishing nails and liquid nails. Lots of liquid nails. My carpentry skills are subpar, I had to borrow a circular saw and buy a hand miter saw for the trim.
The lid is getting painted with chalkboard paint, and the wood stained/poly one step in a light oak color (classic oak, or some such). The bottom trim is s silicone glued to the freezer and the collor sits on top and will be held in place by a 1x3/4" lip on the inside (probably put either some rope caulk or some weather stripping on it to form an airtight seal) so I can lift the collar off for cleaning/maintenance.
There will be two kegs/faucets in at first (currently in transit from Keg Connection - two stainless Perlicks, 5# CO2, and pin locks with all other bits) but there's room for a third in there with the CO2 tank. I had to build a little stand to extend the hump out a bit to make room for the 3rd keg. The third keg will be on it's own regulator, mostly for soda water to make mix-in-the-glass soda.
Hm, what else... I got my eBay aquarium thermostat in the mail today and I'll be mounting it on the side of the collar, with the outlet box around the corner on the back, so the whole thing (kegs, co2, thermostat) is all self contained in the keezer - it's one of the reasons I went with the 12" collar, extra space in the "head space". Oh, I have a 100mm case fan rigged up to an old cell phone charger to push cold air all the way up there. Not sure if I should run in continuously or only when the compressor is on?
Oh, also, right now I just have some 1" foam insulation (the cheap white stuff) but I'm concerned that with the size of the collar it will lose a lot of cold. Anyone have experience they want to share?
I guess that's it, I'll post updates as I move forward. I'm hoping to pour the first pint the first weekend in June!
(Crap, posted this with the HBT iPad app and I don't think I can attach pics with this... I'll add some in a moment. )
The collar is 1x12" glued spruce, which ended up being really bowed, nearly an inch of curve from edge to edge. Cie la vie. Held together with finishing nails and liquid nails. Lots of liquid nails. My carpentry skills are subpar, I had to borrow a circular saw and buy a hand miter saw for the trim.
The lid is getting painted with chalkboard paint, and the wood stained/poly one step in a light oak color (classic oak, or some such). The bottom trim is s silicone glued to the freezer and the collor sits on top and will be held in place by a 1x3/4" lip on the inside (probably put either some rope caulk or some weather stripping on it to form an airtight seal) so I can lift the collar off for cleaning/maintenance.
There will be two kegs/faucets in at first (currently in transit from Keg Connection - two stainless Perlicks, 5# CO2, and pin locks with all other bits) but there's room for a third in there with the CO2 tank. I had to build a little stand to extend the hump out a bit to make room for the 3rd keg. The third keg will be on it's own regulator, mostly for soda water to make mix-in-the-glass soda.
Hm, what else... I got my eBay aquarium thermostat in the mail today and I'll be mounting it on the side of the collar, with the outlet box around the corner on the back, so the whole thing (kegs, co2, thermostat) is all self contained in the keezer - it's one of the reasons I went with the 12" collar, extra space in the "head space". Oh, I have a 100mm case fan rigged up to an old cell phone charger to push cold air all the way up there. Not sure if I should run in continuously or only when the compressor is on?
Oh, also, right now I just have some 1" foam insulation (the cheap white stuff) but I'm concerned that with the size of the collar it will lose a lot of cold. Anyone have experience they want to share?
I guess that's it, I'll post updates as I move forward. I'm hoping to pour the first pint the first weekend in June!
(Crap, posted this with the HBT iPad app and I don't think I can attach pics with this... I'll add some in a moment. )