Another Keezer Thread - GE 7.0cf

[Pittbrewer]

Subscribed for reference. Looks Good!

 

[barhoc11]

I have this freezer and I think I am going to convert but had a question about fitting 5 kegs in with the 8" collar.

Has anyone done this and can show what it looks like? It seems to me like if you take out the rack you could fit 4 in but not sure how 5 are able to fit?

Any feedback is appreciated!

 

[GroovePuppy]

Check out my link. Different but same freezer. If you keep the CO2 outside you can put four kegs on the floor and a fifth on the compressor step.

 

[barhoc11]

Great thread, I did same thing to my GE freezer after reading your post and love the results.

One question to you or anyone who has done this... how do you get the top lid to not fall back when opening both the lid and the collar?

It isn't a huge deal for me since I can always rest this on a wall but I was wondering if there was an easy solution so that you could lock the top lid to the collar or something.

Thanks again!

 

[Hoppopotomus]

I incorporated safety straps on mine, but then again, I also build a cabinet around the freezer, put an oversized top on it, and have a coffin. My top weighs a ton with all of the cement board, tile, lumber, logs, etc. If I didn't incorporate safety straps to stop the travel of the lid, it would rip the hinges off. Worked like a charm. I'm sure you could come up with something secured inside of the freezer if you don't have a cabinet around yours. Check out Page 12 of "knotty pine and cedar log keezer" build thread and you will get a better idea about what I'm talking about. Jester had a phenomenal idea of incorporating linear actuators to motorize the lifting and closing of the lid, but I blew my budget out of the water on this thing, so that's a later project for me. Good luck!

 

[Hoppopotomus]

.....oh, nice work by the way LTownGarageBrewery! Very well organized thread with great information. Where are you located in SE Michigan....I'm up in Oxford/Ortoville area. I've been down to Adventures in Homebrewing.... great place, but a little too far for me. Hoppmann's Beer and Wine Making Supply in Waterford is an awesome place as well. The staff is phenomenal and they always have fresh products. Later

 

[barhoc11]

Thanks for the tips Hoppopotomus, I think I have found a solution but it needs to be tested. Since I used a standard door hinge I think I could use one or 2 of these to stop the hinge from ripping off.

Do you know of any home brew places in the Royal Oak area? I seem to have to drive to 21 and Garfield (Cap n Cork) or down to Taylor (Adventures in Homebrewing) if I want to get anything.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Boy I don't know if they would work or not. If I were to go that approach, I would certainly use one on each hinge. I have the same ones on several doors in my house and when the kids open a door too hard, they dent the hell out of the door casing, because there is such a small point of contact. I was carrying water softener salt down to the basement and used my foot to open the door, opening it too hard and it snapped the one on that door in two. Like I said, they may work, but you are dealing with quite a bit of weight in the lid of your keezer. Granted you don't have a big 'ole coffin on top with cement board and tile like I do, but still there is a decent amount of weight your dealing with. Most of the weight is now situated to the front of the collar with the addition of the shanks, faucets, lines, etc. This means that the majority of your weight happens to be located the furthest distance from the axis of rotation of the hinges, which creates quite a bit of torque on the hinges with that long of a lever arm. They may work out fine, but you won't know until you test it out. Good luck!

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Oops...didn't see the bottom of your post. I don't know of anything in RO. I get all of my supplies at Hoppmann's in Waterford. I have been to both of the places you mentioned, but Hoppmann's is closer for me and they do a fantastic job over there. I'll ask around to a few people. I have a couple of patients right now, a husband and wife, that are avid home brewers and they live in Ferndale. I'll ask them and let you know.

 

[barhoc11]

I think you are right Hopp, I have some on my doors at home and they work for light jobs but probably not going to cut it if I drop my entire collar and lid back on accident.

Let me know if you hear of anything, I have been brewing for a year and there has been a place that opened up in Southfield but its kind of worthless. Thanks!

 

[rebl68]

I agree with Hopp, Hopmans is the way to go.

 

[akthor]

Is the three the max corny's this will hold? with the collar can you get a 4th in there?

 

[ingchr1]

Is the three the max corny's this will hold? with the collar can you get a 4th in there?

Yes, with a 8" collar you can get 4 in there along with a 20# CO2 tank.

 

[psymonkey]

I'm looking at building in the same freezer with a three-tap tower. Can anyone confirm that I can fit three ball-lock kegs with fittings with no collar?

 

[msehler]

It will fit 3 ball locks with no collar along with a 20 lb tank.

 

[psymonkey]

Thanks!! That's great news!

 

[STA]

Hi guys, can anyone using door hinges for their lid-to-collar connection tell me whether the hinges have enough friction to hold the lid upright when it's open? That is, does it stay open on its own or does it need to be propped up or leaned against the wall? Thanks!

 

[zymurgy101]

Door hinges have no springs; so depending upon the angle, gravity will have the last say in the matter. It sounds like the answer to your question is 'propped up or leaned against the wall'. That's the way mine works as well. The freezer hinges are spring loaded, so they work nice; but provisions are needed for door hinges.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

I couldn't find a post detailing this for sure till I got it, but a 10lb CO2 tank and 3x9" pin locks on the floor and one on the hump, with the CO2 tank snug between 2 kegs and the wall.

 

[JUST_BREW_IT]

OK! Finished the Keezer over the weekend! Here's the step-by-step of what it took:

1) Make a collar out of 1x6 premium red oak.
- I mitred the two front corners and did straight cuts on the rear.
- All corners are glued, and bracing brackets were added as additional structure

2) Drill your shank holes in the front piece
- I laid my 3 holes out in a 10-inch span; one dead-center, and the other two 5" away from the center hole in either direction.

3) Using basic door hinges, mark the freezer lid hole pattern on the hinge and drill 4 through-holes.

4) Mount the hinges to the freezer lid using the existing freezer bracket bolts

5) Cut and drill shims for the freezer lid brackets and the collar brackets.
- When assembled, the collar will be offset from the freezer and the freezer lid by about 1/4". I bought a piece of 1/8" thick aluminum strip at Home Depot and cut my shims to bracket-size. Each bracket location needs 2 shims to get the needed 1/4", which means a total of 8 shims are needed; 4 long shims for the lid brackets and 4 short shims for the existing freezer lid brackets that will be used for the collar.

6) Line the shims up to the brackets, mark the through-hole locations, and drill through-holes

7) Temporarily lay your collar seal onto the freezer ledge and place the collar on top of it. Center the collar to the freezer, then place the lid on top of the collar. Mark your freezer bracket locations using the existing freezer brackets.
- You need to accommodate the standoff for whatever type of seal you will be using on the collar to the freezer itself. I used a double-channel door weatherstrip which I temporarily laid between the collar and the freezer when I marked my bracket locations. If you do not accommodate this gap, your collar will not sit flush on your freezer.

8) Flip the lid upside down and place it on the ground. Place the collar upside-down on top of the freezer lid and center it to the seal. Mark your lid bracket through-hole locations on the collar.
- Putting the weight of the collar on the lid will ensure that your freezer lid seal gets the proper compression to fully seal your keezer lid.

9) Drill your bracket through-holes in the collar itself using an oversized bit.
- I used 1/4" hardware on all my brackets, so I sized my through-holes to accomodate.

10) Pick locations for your temp control unit and your manifold. Mark the mounting screw locations and drill pre-holes for the mounting screws.

11) Drill a hole to run your temperature probe into your freezer.

12) Pick a location for mounting your temp probe.
- I mounted the probe to a piece of wood and used some all-weather double-backed foam tape to mount it to the wall about halfway up the side of the freezer wall.
- Some folks put the probe into a water bottle and fill it full of ice-pak gel, but I didn't get this complicated with my setup.

13) If you want, stain and seal your collar
- I picked a gunstock stain and one coat of gloss urethane.=, which looks really, really good on premium red oak!

14) After everything is dry, apply the weatherseal to the collar between the collar and the freezer itself.
- I reccommend sticking it to the collar itself. Sliding against plastic is a litte easier on the seal than sliding against wood.

15) Flip the freezer lid upside down, lay the collar on it, and bolt your brackets to it.

16) Lay the collar/lid assembly on the freezer and bolt the existing freezer brackets to the collar
- To get the proper compression of the seal, I laid a 2x4 across the collar and put a 15-lb weight on it, making sure the seal was properly compressed all the way around.
- I used longer #10 machine bolts, washers, and nuts from Home Depot to attach the existing brackets to the collars.

17) Mount your manifold and temp control module to the collar.

18) Route your temp probe through the collar and mount it inside the freezer in the location of your choosing

19) Install your faucet shanks and tail-pieces

20) Install your faucets and tap handles

21) Run your gas and service lines

22) Leak-test the system using StarSan solution sprayed at each joint location.

Here's some finished images of my handiwork. I'm quite proud of how this all turned out!

First pour! House Amber (MMmmm!) in a Michigan State University mug (BOOOooo!! It's my fiancee's mug, not mine!).

A few lessons I learned:
- Get self-closing faucets!!! When I hooked up the beverage service, I wound up with a bunch of stout on my pants because the faucet was left open. Also, my cats like to jump up and rub on the taps, which spills lots of beer on the ground.
- Use proper-length (i.e. long!!) and proper ID (i.e. small!) service lines. I've currently got it set up with 3' of 1/4" ID tubing on each of my kegs, and it foams like crazy when I pour. There's a lot of info on this site about how to keep the foam down, so either use at least 10' of 3/16" ID tubing as your beverage service, or use one of the keg-side flow mixers as mentioned in a few threads on homebrewtalk.

So that's that! I'm going to install the new 10' 3/16" ID beverage service lines this coming weekend and will let you know the result.

good info on the service lines

 

[lawrywil11]

Good work man. I would like to join the beer with you. You do the nice design and good creations.

 

[atli126]

is there a reason you put a hing on the top door vs just sealing it to the wood? Awesome build and thanks for the info

 

[gatorforty]

It will fit 3 ball locks with no collar along with a 20 lb tank.

Wondering if you could elaborate on this just a bit? Do you just put the shanks and taps right thru the side of the freezer? Can anyone post a pic?

Thanks guys, really appreciate the help.

Ron

 

[ingchr1]

is there a reason you put a hing on the top door vs just sealing it to the wood? Awesome build and thanks for the info

For me it just makes it more convenient when you want to take a peek in there to check on things. To lift the collar requires pulling the keezer out away from the wall.

 

[ingchr1]

For me it just makes it more convenient when you want to take a peek in there to check on things. To lift the collar requires pulling the keezer out away from the wall.

Also easy of working on the shanks, controller mounted in the collar and adjusting pressures. I have a four regulator manifold mounted to the inside of the collar.

 

[atli126]

Cool thanks, that's what I really wanted to do also.

 

[atli126]

Did you figure out anything with the door stoppers on your setup. This is where I'm at so far...

 

[msehler]

Wondering if you could elaborate on this just a bit? Do you just put the shanks and taps right thru the side of the freezer? Can anyone post a pic?

Thanks guys, really appreciate the help.

Ron

Ron/gatorforty:
It isn't advisable to drill through the side of your chest freezer as the coolant lines run in the walls.
I can't take a picture because it is no longer set up this way.
For my setup (with no collar), the kegs were all set up on cobra/picnic taps; so you just opened the freezer, poured a beer from the black picnic tap, then closed it back up. Please let me know if you need more explanation.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[atli126]

this is great,thanks!

 

[atli126]

I made mine and it came out pretty nice!