Another KEEZER build.... w/ pics.

[Tripod]

Wow...just wow!

 

[cyberbackpacker]

Have you paid attention at all to any heat build-up on the paneling?

 

[HOP-HEAD]

Have you paid attention at all to any heat build-up on the paneling?

The panels get warm... as they should. If they did not, I'd need to worry. The cooling of the freezer depends on the heat from the inside radiating out through the sides... if the sides were cool, it'd mean that the heat was trapped inside. If they warm when it's running, it's working as it should. I have the exact same freezer for my food... it's no cooler or warmer than this one when running.

The approximate r-value of 1/8" hardwood plywood is a mere 0.09. That's the equivalent of almost nothing... where-as, a 1-inch air space can create up to an r-value of 1.00. That's why I kept the material very thin and tight to the sides.

 

[Guntr]

WOW! I am not normally a fan of Collar Keezers, but this thing is beautiful. Great job!

 

[Pumori]

Very nice build!

Just picked up a Holiday on Craig's list and am looking to do something similar but with a tower and a short collar (to gain room for hoses, etc.).
Is the wrap pretty much all glued (panels, columns, etc.)?

 

[HOP-HEAD]

Very nice build!

Just picked up a Holiday on Craig's list and am looking to do something similar but with a tower and a short collar (to gain room for hoses, etc.) and a tower.
Is the wrap pretty much all glued (panels, columns, etc.)?

99% glue and/or construction adhesive with a brad or two here and there on the base, and screws, nails, glue and brads for the top/collar. For the most part, assembly consisted of gluing one piece, clamping it... letting it dry, and then glue and clamp another piece. Just be careful with the excess glue, keeping the stain nice and uniform over glue is very difficult.

 

[Pumori]

Thanks. That seemed as if it would work.
Where did you source your veneer & marble laminate? Online or a local supplier for cabinetry?

 

[HOP-HEAD]

Everything came from Home Depot, Lowes, and/or Menards. The paneling is simply 1/8" oak veneer and the marble laminate came from the kitchen center at menards.

 

[JakeTheHopDog]

Hop-Head,
That is absolutely beautiful. I am planning mine now, and I will be taking a lot of your ideas for the build. Like you, SWMBO insists it look like furniture, which is OK by me because it’s going in the living room.

One question (For now!). How did you attach the drip tray brackets to the front? Construction adhesive?

Again, beautiful work!

 

[HOP-HEAD]

Hop-Head,
That is absolutely beautiful. I am planning mine now, and I will be taking a lot of your ideas for the build. Like you, SWMBO insists it look like furniture, which is OK by me because it’s going in the living room.

One question (For now!). How did you attach the drip tray brackets to the front? Construction adhesive?

Again, beautiful work!

Yes, construction adhesive. It's held many a full pitcher to date without a bit of flex. I'd love to pull on it to see how strong it really is, but I fear the worst so I won't... not that there's a problem, because there's no wiggle what-so-ever, I'm just a nail/screw guy, so it's tough to get used to. But the bottom line is... it's worked great so far and has held everything it's needed to.

Glad you like the build... be sure to post or send pics of your own.

 

[JakeTheHopDog]

Sure will post the build. Another question (See, I did say, “For Now”), did you use the standard 5 1/8” shanks?

 

[HOP-HEAD]

Sure will post the build. Another question (See, I did say, “For Now”), did you use the standard 5 1/8” shanks?

Yes, I believe so... I can't recall what I ordered, but I just measured one as best I can in place and that seems to be about right.

 

[HOP-HEAD]

Now serving with 3 taps.... actually, it's been a little while, i just haven't updated this post. The third is pretty much set aside for the wife and her mixers, etc... right now she's serving root beer. Damn good root beer I might add..... The other two are serving Full Circle by New Holland Brewing and a Home Brew IPA...

Now if only I could settle on tap handles... bought some, made some, and yet, I'm back to the stock short little black guys that came with the taps....

 

[HOP-HEAD]

By the way.... if you're a perfectionist like me, order all your tap handles at once. These three all came from the same source and are the exact same model... unfortunately though, the "P" on the front is different with the last one I ordered... and the top of the cheap black handle is flat not rounded like the other two.... while others might not notice, I do every single time I pour.

 

[Rick500]

By the way.... if you're a perfectionist like me, order all your tap handles at once. These three all came from the same source and are the exact same model... unfortunately though, the "P" on the front is different with the last one I ordered... and the top of the cheap black handle is flat not rounded like the other two.... while others might not notice, I do every single time I pour.

Heh... same *exact* thing happened to me. Tap and handle, both.

But, I was fortunate enough to have bought them from kegconnection.com and they fixed me right up.

 

[BrewBeemer]

SWMBO's looking at me in a goofy way because i'm just staring at your keezer build, that thing's a piece of art congrats. My wounded keezer has a sheet of galvanized tin glues to it's side from a line puncture repair, it had a bullet hole not by me LOL! It looks like the Red Green show built it a Red Neck special.

 

[PennJersey]

Are you able to post some pictures of the back of your keezer?

Thanks,

Henry

 

[Kegcowboy]

Great looking Keezer!

 

[HOP-HEAD]

Are you able to post some pictures of the back of your keezer?

Thanks,

Henry

Sure can.... I'll try to remember after work this evening.

...though there's really nothing to see, pretty much just your everyday back of a freezer.

 

[HOP-HEAD]

If I remember correctly, I emailed a few of these shots to the person who first requested them awhile back... but I had someone ask again, so here you go.... nothing special from this angle.

 

[2puttbird]

Wow ... really great work! Your unit was pointed out to me by user PapaO on the Micro Matic forum because I'm planning to do a conversion on the exact same freezer, and with very similar SWMBO requirements (except that my wire loves beer ... am I lucky or what?)

As a Mechanical Engineer, I must admit that my first concept of completely enclosing this type of chest freezer included air gaps between the freezer walls and the "skin", with vents to allow the warm air to exit out the top and cool air to enter through the bottom ... which would make the unit at least a couple inches bigger, but would definitely help it use less energy (in fact, the "chimneys" would probably be more effective than just counting on random air flow around the unskinned unit).

However, your logic is quite good, and your subsequent positive experience is causing me to rethink that approach. So I thank you for posting all of this excellent information.

Using the oak stair treads is genius ... much less expensive than buying "boards". And I'm embarrassed to say that I hadn't considered just tossing the lid ... so thanks for that idea as well.

The top looks very heavy ... how is the gasket holding up? My current plan is to use 1x6 oak for the collar (mostly to keep the weight down). I'm also going to make a frame for the bottom that can support 2.5" casters (with a skirt around it to hide them) so that I can easily move it when needed (e.g., roll it over to the sink for cleaning) without worrying about damaging the tile floors ... and the casters will raise it up about 4"-5" to put the taps at a good height like yours.

One other question: what was the primary reason for putting the CO2 bottle on the outside?

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for some inspiration, and let you know how much I liked your keezer. Cheers!

 

[2puttbird]

[snip] ... she's a work in progress, with plenty of things I'd already have changed.

Anything particularly noteworthy?

 

[HOP-HEAD]

However, your logic is quite good, and your subsequent positive experience is causing me to rethink that approach.

Still running flawlessly... sure it still hasn't been a true long duration test, but at about a year and a half, she's still purring.

The top looks very heavy ... how is the gasket holding up?

So far so good... you can tell that it's being squashed a bit (so my 1/8" gap around the top where it meets the base isn't perfectly even anymore... actually the gap is now slightly thinner in the front), but it's working fine. And no issues with the hinges holding up what-so-ever.

My current plan is to use 1x6 oak for the collar (mostly to keep the weight down).

6-inches will not likely be enough to squeeze a keg on the hump if that's your goal. It might fit, but it'd be tight. As I did mine, with the insulation on the underside of the lid, if I place a keg on the hump, the top of the keg touches the underside of the lid ever so slightly...

I'm also going to make a frame for the bottom that can support 2.5" casters (with a skirt around it to hide them) so that I can easily move it when needed (e.g., roll it over to the sink for cleaning) without worrying about damaging the tile floors ... and the casters will raise it up about 4"-5" to put the taps at a good height like yours.

This is one of the areas I'd have changed... I guess I could still easily do it, I just probably never will. It slides decent on the carpet, but casters would have been nice.

One other question: what was the primary reason for putting the CO2 bottle on the outside?

I was worried about it taking up space on the inside. In hindsight, it would have fit inside just fine.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for some inspiration, and let you know how much I liked your keezer. Cheers!

It's always enjoyable to receive feedback... good and bad, so thanks.

Anything particularly noteworthy?

Casters as mentioned above.

But mostly, if I did it again and could change something, I'd actually make the base larger than the originally freezer. In a sense, extend the width enough that I could have a smaller cabinet door on the front, with shelves for bottled beer and chilled mugs. The added width would be insulated with openings to the original freezer to keep it cold as well. The lid would just span the full width, original freezer and added area, so it all appeared original. The only difference would be that you could access the added side area without opening the top. Someone on here, excuse me for not remembering so I could credit them, did something similar. I don't think they insulated or chilled their additional space, but I would.

 

[DogFace_Brewing]

Casters as mentioned above.

But mostly, if I did it again and could change something, I'd actually make the base larger than the originally freezer. In a sense, extend the width enough that I could have a smaller cabinet door on the front, with shelves for bottled beer and chilled mugs. The added width would be insulated with openings to the original freezer to keep it cold as well. The lid would just span the full width, original freezer and added area, so it all appeared original. The only difference would be that you could access the added side area without opening the top. Someone on here, excuse me for not remembering so I could credit them, did something similar. I don't think they insulated or chilled their additional space, but I would.

Now I was thinking the same thing....add a additional 5-6 inches on the side and put and insulated door on it so you can easily grab beer mugs or even store wine bottles in there. Only thing I can't decide is to either make a 6in slim door for the front or a full size door on the side....any thoughts?

 

[madgaffler]

beautiful work, thanks for sharing

 

[1Mainebrew]

How did you affix the laminate paneling to the keezer? Liquid nails?

 

[HOP-HEAD]

How did you affix the laminate paneling to the keezer? Liquid nails?

Yes, construction adhesive as noted in this partial quote of an earlier response...

1. Construction adhesive... the entire outline of the panel and then randomly throughout. Held it tight using clamps and a lot of weight, gluing each piece separately and turning the freezer on its side as needed.

Except not Liquid Nails... because, in my opinion, there are a lot of other, better (or at least equal) products out their for much less cost. I used a PL 200 paneling adhesive.

 

[crlova2]

What are the inner dimensions of this frigidaire 7.2 cu ft. keezer? Basically I am trying to figure out if it will fit a half barrel in it (front to back wise) and possibly two with a collar. I use half barrels for fermenting and want to use a 7.2 for a fermentation chamber. If anyone knows the inner dimensions I would appreciate that information.

 

[2puttbird]

What are the inner dimensions of this frigidaire 7.2 cu ft. keezer? Basically I am trying to figure out if it will fit a half barrel in it (front to back wise) and possibly two with a collar. I use half barrels for fermenting and want to use a 7.2 for a fermentation chamber. If anyone knows the inner dimensions I would appreciate that information.

Front to back, about 16 1/4.

Left to right, about 18 3/4 beside the compressor hump, about 29 3/4 overall.

 

[bykviking]

So could you run two corny's on the hump and a 1/2bbl in the main? Ignoring the challenge of getting the 1/2bbl over the collar of course.