Hi everybody, long time lurker short time poster here. After reading hundreds if not thousands of posts about keezer's i decided to build my own. I figured I would merger two passions, beer and skiing, and thus the ski cabin keezer concept was born. With an idea in place and having decided that i "need" a keezer i created my list of demands for this keezer which is admittedly not very demanding:
1. It had to be hobby future proof (i.e. i needed it to be expandable as my hobby grows. right now i have two corny kegs but im fairly certain that number is going to go up. as a result i will start by building a two tap keezer but i need it to be expandable to at least 6)
2. It has to be built at a very reasonable price so i can still focus on brewing. (mostly the getting good at it part)
I figured my first real step had to be getting a chest freezer, because without it i could not design anything else with certainty. In accordance to my second demand i took to craigslist, and after a brief 2 week hunt i found someone giving away a 1960/70's Kenmore Coldspot Model #1986213170 15 cu ft chest freezer. the exterior is a bit (read lot) rusty but the interior has zero rust and more importantly it runs fine (although im sure it isnt the most power friendly of chest freezers). side note it weighs a **** ton, and i thought i was going to die more than once moving it into my basement. But now that i had the chest freezer i could plan out my build. over the next 48 hours i modeled out to scale what i intended to build in sketchup: (i would upload the sketchup file but i have no idea how to)
Its hard to tell in the model but the base which wraps around the chest freezer will be made out of rounded wood logs. At first i was hoping a local lumber mill would be able to supply me with their milling scraps which would be roughly what i was looking for, however after a trip to the lumber yard and a conversation with the owner (fun fact upon walking into his office i see a home brew sticker on the wall) he told me of a grave miscalculation i had made which was that trees taper and thus it would be incredibly difficult to secure similar size pieces. Lucky further research lead me to this company also fairly local that makes log cabin siding that is perfect for what i need: http://www.merrimacloghomes.com/logsiding.htm
The bar top is going to be made by putting down a sheet of white felt then placing various ski area maps down (leading candidates are Jackson Hole WY, Sugarbush VT, Mad River Glen VT, Tignes FR). Then a thick layer of epoxy. So far i have not found a single local supplier of any sort of epoxy, and i am scouring the internets for a good deal. Any recomendations, from some research on these boards it seems like enviro-tex is a good bet but i cant find any definite info on how much i will need to cover 10-12 sq ft in epoxy almost 1/2 an inch thick (1/2in less the thickness of the felt + maps).
Now onto the tower and taps. the tower will be a fairly simple box consisting of 2 sections, a lower section to hold pint glasses (I am looking for a way to securely hold glasses so lifting the bar top to access the chest freezer won't require removing the glasses) and an upper section for the taps. I decided on perlick taps because i figure long term they will be cheaper, for two reasons, they will last longer and more importantly eventually i would feel the need to replace regular taps so why spend the money on something i would want to replace. To fit my theme I am planning on making my own tap handles themed as ski poles, as of right now im not sure what makes more sense cutting ski poles and trying to attach them to the taps or using wood dowels which i can easily put tap threads into and attach ski pole grips to any suggestions would be appreciated. I will also put two more poles inline with the taps on either side of the tower these will support the skis. OK so i know it seems crazy, and I'm sure you have been thinking it since you saw the model but i want to mount a pair of skis across the taps and the end poles will be the support for the ski ends. i figure i can cut the skis into equal sections each section being mounted to a tap handle so that when all the taps are closed it looks like one ski but each tap can open independently. i want to then paint the ski bottoms which are facing out in chalkboard paint so i can write what is on each tap.
All in all I'm hoping to end up with a really unique keezer, but i still have a few pieces of the puzzle to figure out. Right now I'm trying to work out my beer line. At first i figured i would just order some beer line, but after reading this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/beer-line-tests-solution-plastic-taste-60380/index3.html i am having doubts about using beer line. I don't really want to use 1/4in barrier tubing because i would need to use so much to balance my system. I did take a look at some stainless steel 304 tubing that is 3/16" but i have no idea if i could bend it enough to connect to the taps, or even how i would attach it to the taps. I would love some advice on this.
Cheers.
1. It had to be hobby future proof (i.e. i needed it to be expandable as my hobby grows. right now i have two corny kegs but im fairly certain that number is going to go up. as a result i will start by building a two tap keezer but i need it to be expandable to at least 6)
2. It has to be built at a very reasonable price so i can still focus on brewing. (mostly the getting good at it part)
I figured my first real step had to be getting a chest freezer, because without it i could not design anything else with certainty. In accordance to my second demand i took to craigslist, and after a brief 2 week hunt i found someone giving away a 1960/70's Kenmore Coldspot Model #1986213170 15 cu ft chest freezer. the exterior is a bit (read lot) rusty but the interior has zero rust and more importantly it runs fine (although im sure it isnt the most power friendly of chest freezers). side note it weighs a **** ton, and i thought i was going to die more than once moving it into my basement. But now that i had the chest freezer i could plan out my build. over the next 48 hours i modeled out to scale what i intended to build in sketchup: (i would upload the sketchup file but i have no idea how to)
Its hard to tell in the model but the base which wraps around the chest freezer will be made out of rounded wood logs. At first i was hoping a local lumber mill would be able to supply me with their milling scraps which would be roughly what i was looking for, however after a trip to the lumber yard and a conversation with the owner (fun fact upon walking into his office i see a home brew sticker on the wall) he told me of a grave miscalculation i had made which was that trees taper and thus it would be incredibly difficult to secure similar size pieces. Lucky further research lead me to this company also fairly local that makes log cabin siding that is perfect for what i need: http://www.merrimacloghomes.com/logsiding.htm
The bar top is going to be made by putting down a sheet of white felt then placing various ski area maps down (leading candidates are Jackson Hole WY, Sugarbush VT, Mad River Glen VT, Tignes FR). Then a thick layer of epoxy. So far i have not found a single local supplier of any sort of epoxy, and i am scouring the internets for a good deal. Any recomendations, from some research on these boards it seems like enviro-tex is a good bet but i cant find any definite info on how much i will need to cover 10-12 sq ft in epoxy almost 1/2 an inch thick (1/2in less the thickness of the felt + maps).
Now onto the tower and taps. the tower will be a fairly simple box consisting of 2 sections, a lower section to hold pint glasses (I am looking for a way to securely hold glasses so lifting the bar top to access the chest freezer won't require removing the glasses) and an upper section for the taps. I decided on perlick taps because i figure long term they will be cheaper, for two reasons, they will last longer and more importantly eventually i would feel the need to replace regular taps so why spend the money on something i would want to replace. To fit my theme I am planning on making my own tap handles themed as ski poles, as of right now im not sure what makes more sense cutting ski poles and trying to attach them to the taps or using wood dowels which i can easily put tap threads into and attach ski pole grips to any suggestions would be appreciated. I will also put two more poles inline with the taps on either side of the tower these will support the skis. OK so i know it seems crazy, and I'm sure you have been thinking it since you saw the model but i want to mount a pair of skis across the taps and the end poles will be the support for the ski ends. i figure i can cut the skis into equal sections each section being mounted to a tap handle so that when all the taps are closed it looks like one ski but each tap can open independently. i want to then paint the ski bottoms which are facing out in chalkboard paint so i can write what is on each tap.
All in all I'm hoping to end up with a really unique keezer, but i still have a few pieces of the puzzle to figure out. Right now I'm trying to work out my beer line. At first i figured i would just order some beer line, but after reading this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/beer-line-tests-solution-plastic-taste-60380/index3.html i am having doubts about using beer line. I don't really want to use 1/4in barrier tubing because i would need to use so much to balance my system. I did take a look at some stainless steel 304 tubing that is 3/16" but i have no idea if i could bend it enough to connect to the taps, or even how i would attach it to the taps. I would love some advice on this.
Cheers.
