Bar Top Keezer Build

[dgil53]

How did you attach the bottom collar to the fridge? Is it just the hinges on the back for the original lid? Can you show pictures of anything else you used to attach it?

Beautiful Keezer by the way!!

 

[spitfirefd]

Great job!!!!!

 

[msherretz]

Are you willing to share your Rootbeer recipe? Your project is fantastic! Nice job.

 

[jlindborg]

How did you attach the bottom collar to the fridge? Is it just the hinges on the back for the original lid? Can you show pictures of anything else you used to attach it?

Beautiful Keezer by the way!!

Yes, the original freezer hinges are just used as anchor points for the lower collar. I included the extra corner braces on the lower collar because I wanted it good and solid for the upper collar to attach to. I had intended on epoxying a couple anchor points to the inside wall of the freezer, and using a couple threaded bolts through the front two corner braces to anchor things down. But after I attached the drip tray shelf, I found I didn't need them. I have rubber pads attached to the top and bottom edges of the back of the drip tray shelf, and the shelf is carriage-bolted to the lower collar. When I tightened the shelf down, it basically clamped the lower collar to the freezer. When I laid in the insulation, I used foil tape for all the seams. That, coupled with the clamping of the drip tray shelf pretty much locked everything in place. Here's a couple more photos showing more detail.

 

[jlindborg]

Are you willing to share your Rootbeer recipe? Your project is fantastic! Nice job.

Don't have one yet, but I'll start experimenting. I did a kit with the kids a couple years back that actually came out quite good. But that was before I got the kegging setup; now that I can force carbonate I want to start perfecting a recipe. I'm keeping my eyes open for a good deal on a couple reconditioned 2.5 gal kegs (they'll fit up on the hump a lot easier), and I'll start trying different recipes.

 

[bodobeers]

Finished product and first pour. I currently just have 3 taps installed, but drilled holes for five. Plan is to install a nitro line next, and might put in a soda line for homemade root beer. Let me know what folks think. Thanks

This table keezer thing is.... just freaking awesome. Like knights of the round table awesome.

 

[audioa84]

I am incredibly jealous of your mad fab skills. That is one beautiful table/keezer hybrid.

 

[Donald1983]

Amazing work!

 

[jimmerz]

That is very nice!

 

[JimCharb]

Beautiful!! How did you fasten the top to the upper frame?

 

[Stillraining]

And here I thought I was a wood worker..how depressed you have made me.

 

[Gunner59]

Looks great. The lift kit was a good idea. What type of hinges bear that weight? Any measure of cooling efficiency (loss of cold)? You could commercialize these and sell them around the country. I'm inspired!

 

[dstockwell]

Very nice..

 

[rileyj]

...Don't expect many spills, but want to be prepared. I wanted the drip tray low enough that I could fill growlers without any issue (have problems trying to do that on the small kegerator I have upstairs).

Inspiring, I may attempt a similar idea. My only concern is the tap handles being above the level of the table. Someone knocking one open. Especially a slight, unnoticed one.

Thanks for writeup. Nice work!

Riley

 

[jlindborg]

Beautiful!! How did you fasten the top to the upper frame?

I assembled the slab top and upper collar upside-down, and just used some corner brackets screwed into the slab and inside of the collar to secure everything. Since I was going to cover the entire interior surface with foam insulation, I wasn't worried how the brackets would look.

 

[jlindborg]

Looks great. The lift kit was a good idea. What type of hinges bear that weight? Any measure of cooling efficiency (loss of cold)? You could commercialize these and sell them around the country. I'm inspired!

Just used brass door hinges (three of them); they're pretty heavy-duty. I used about 90 pounds of extra weight on top to compress the weatherstripping foam before I attached the hinges, to try and make sure I got a good fit when it closes. The lift cylinders are probably a bit over-powered (90 pounds lift, each), but the next size down was a shorter cylinder, and I wanted that length.

I've just been feeling the seams to see if I detect any leaks, but haven't noticed anything. I do know it goes an hour or more between cycles of the compressor. But I haven't been running the recirculation fan much at this point, so the cold air will be pooling in the freezer compartment. I'll start running the recirculation fan this weekend (to keep taps, lines cool), and we'll see what kind of a difference I see.

 

[jlindborg]

Inspiring, I may attempt a similar idea. My only concern is the tap handles being above the level of the table. Someone knocking one open. Especially a slight, unnoticed one.

Thanks for writeup. Nice work!

Riley

The plastic tap handles are just temporary; I'm planning on building my own (we're thinking of using spike antlers). So they'll be more noticeable, but they will be sticking up above the bar top. I'm a little worried that someone will slide something across the bar (i.e. a plate of nachos) and knock the taps open. I have built a little stand-alone framed chalkboard to set on the bar top to identify what's on tap, so that might act as a bit of a barrier.

 

[peterlonz]

Lovely construction job with "nothing spared".
Hope the beer is equally good.

 

[bhfd64]

Did you just let the epoxy pour run over the sides?

 

[jlindborg]

Did you just let the epoxy pour run over the sides?

Yes, used a notched plastic trowel to spread the resin to all the edges. Caught some as it flowed over and brushed it on the edges to make sure everything was coated. It was messy, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

 

[musicbymark]

Gorgeous, and impressive flat/glossy mirror finish on top! Can't quite tell, but hopefully top sits on the cross pieces, and they aren't screwed in (opposite grain directions, like a fastened batten) as that would restrict expansion and contraction and could cause warping. Are you happy w/ your hardware (faucet, drip tray, regulator, etc.) choices? I'm hoping to build something simpler soon, but maybe I'll make a nice wooden top for it.
Fine work!

 

[binabik]

I would have gone with a piano hinge.

Great work. It is beautiful. Wish I had your skills.

 

[RichBrewer]

Looks Fantastic!

 

[kennya]

Great, great job, absolutely stunning! Just to let you know, if I decide to upgrade my current keexer build, I might be stealing some of your ideas! Again, great job!

 

[norcalniner]

My wife wants me to convert our shed into a bar (twist my arm) and I stumbled upon your setups. She loves it which means that I have a green light for this thing.

Few questions:
How long did this build take?
How wide is the 2x6 frame support?
If you could go back and do something differently, would you change anything? If so, what?
What made you choose the table top dimensions of 45x66?

Thanks. I am looking forward to getting this started.

 

[jlindborg]

My wife wants me to convert our shed into a bar (twist my arm) and I stumbled upon your setups. She loves it which means that I have a green light for this thing.

Few questions:
How long did this build take?
How wide is the 2x6 frame support?
If you could go back and do something differently, would you change anything? If so, what?
What made you choose the table top dimensions of 45x66?

Thanks. I am looking forward to getting this started.

This probably took me 4 or 5 solid weekends to build: 1 weekend to cut, sand and assemble the collar, with the following week to stain and poly. Then I had to wait for the slabs to be delivered. Once they were in hand, I had a weekend to glue, clamp and sand, followed by another week to put on several coats of danish oil and poly the underside. I let it sit for a week to make sure everything cured, then it was a full weekend for the resin pour.

The dimensions of the freezer itself is about 24" x 44", so that's the basic dimensions of the collar. I cut the end 2x6's to about 36" to help support the slabs a bit (was worried the glued outer two slabs wouldn't have enough support; in hindsight probably wasn't needed).

A couple things I would have done different. First, gone with longer shanks: I used 3 1/8" shanks, which would be fine with just the 2x6; but with the insulation it's a bit tricky getting a wrench on the nuts. Second, I would have routed my access hole for the thermostat probe and fan power cord differently: I drilled the access hole and assembled everything before I realized where I was mounting my drip try shelf; made it very tricky snaking the wires through. Also, the fan has been a disappointment; it was something I had salvaged from an old PC. I've had others work just fine, but I think this one had a bad bearing or something; it makes a lot of noise. So I pretty much leave it disconnected; I've got another I'll swap in at some point. Last thing I would have done different would have been to make friends with someone with actual wood shop tools (and skills); an actual clamp setup would have worked much better than the ratchet straps I used to glue together the slabs.

For the bar top dimensions, I wanted a 10" - 12" overhang on three sides, so originally I was looking for something about 48" x 56". The widest the slab provider could get me for 3 slabs ran between 44 and 46 with the live edge. He ended up cutting them long because of some great knots in the wood that he didn't want to cut, and when I got them I also didn't want to cut them. So I kept it long. I was worried that it was cantilevered too much, but it worked out great, and looks great.

So far, it's been working out great. I added a soda line (from a 2.5 gal keg on the hump) and am experimenting with root beer (a bit more of an adventure than I had realized). I still have a open slot for a nitro line down the road. I've been trimming back the length of the beer line: I purposely started longer than I figured I needed (9 feet each); I've cut them back a foot or so, and they're pouring pretty good, but I may cut them back a bit more.

Bottom line: I'm happy, SWMBO is happy, and our friends are very happy. Life is good.

 

[LJvermonster]

Last thing I would have done different would have been to make friends with someone with actual wood shop tools (and skills); an actual clamp setup would have worked much better than the ratchet straps I used to glue together the slabs.

I'm not going to lie, this is awesome. I was asking myself how I could accomplish this without clamps (assuming you had them) and this gem pops up! I Love it. It seems to have worked out pretty well, how did you go about doing this?

Cheers!

 

[jlindborg]

I'm not going to lie, this is awesome. I was asking myself how I could accomplish this without clamps (assuming you had them) and this gem pops up! I Love it. It seems to have worked out pretty well, how did you go about doing this?

Cheers!

The guy who delivered the slabs had planed the inside edges and cut the biscuit slots, so I just had to glue things up. I assembled it upside down on a couple 2x4s and used a couple ratcheting tie-down straps to clamp everything together. Then it was onto sanding, lots of sanding. A friend with a planer or belt sander would have been nice, I just used a random orbit sander. Luckily, the top sides had been planed at the mill, so it didn't need a lot.

 

[tonymark]

That is a really sweet build. I am impressed with the results with minimal woodworking tools.

 

[gordon.e.maness]

Impressive!

 

[CarolinaBob]

I absolutely love that wood! Do you mind sharing the name of the guy you got it from?

 

[jlindborg]

I absolutely love that wood! Do you mind sharing the name of the guy you got it from?

It was a place called The Rocket Factory Timberworks, out of Rapid City SD. I stumbled on a Craigslist ad they had posted. Just happened to search for "live edge slab" and they had all these photos from their mill. Sam Chapman was the guy I worked with (and who made the deliveries to Minneapolis). But if you're outside of the SD/MN/IA general area you may be out of luck.

 

[jybingbrew]

looks awesome!

just curious - what kind of weather stripping did you use between the collar and the freezer? is that a sponge neoprene? looks like it must be dense as it doesn't compress much.

 

[inhousebrew]

Trying to think of something original to say here but I'm just going to raise my glass to you and say that this is AMAZING!!! I realize there are about three full pages of pretty much that same comment but what the hell does one more hurt?

Anyways, I love this and can't spare that much space but it's given me some ideas to change up the kezzer I bought on craigslist so I appreciate you sharing.

 

[jlindborg]

looks awesome!

just curious - what kind of weather stripping did you use between the collar and the freezer? is that a sponge neoprene? looks like it must be dense as it doesn't compress much.

Yes, it's a dense foam weatherstripping, and it ended up being a lot denser than I expected. I was expecting it to compress, and was worried about getting the hinges attached. I added 125 lbs of weight to the bartop to try and compress it before attaching the hinges, but it didn't make a difference.

 

[jlindborg]

Trying to think of something original to say here but I'm just going to raise my glass to you and say that this is AMAZING!!! I realize there are about three full pages of pretty much that same comment but what the hell does one more hurt?

Anyways, I love this and can't spare that much space but it's given me some ideas to change up the kezzer I bought on craigslist so I appreciate you sharing.

Thanks, we've been quite pleased with how the entire basement makeover came out, and the keezer is definitely the centerpiece. I'll need to post updated pics this weekend: I finally got my antler tap handles made, and just tonight got my Black Friday package; I've got a nitro setup to get installed (woohoo!).

 

[Rushman]

Beautiful. Best looking set-up in town . . . .

 

[jybingbrew]

Yes, it's a dense foam weatherstripping, and it ended up being a lot denser than I expected. I was expecting it to compress, and was worried about getting the hinges attached. I added 125 lbs of weight to the bartop to try and compress it before attaching the hinges, but it didn't make a difference.

Now that you've lived with it for awhile, do you reccomendation this type or something less dense? I've had other keezer lids really squish and deform the weather stripping too much, so was looking for a denser alternative.

 

[jlindborg]

Now that you've lived with it for awhile, do you reccomendation this type or something less dense? I've had other keezer lids really squish and deform the weather stripping too much, so was looking for a denser alternative.

This is the stuff that I went with. I was expecting the lid to come in pretty heavy, with the wood slabs and 2x6 lumber, so I thought I should go as dense as possible. However, if there is a step lower than 'Super Firm' I would probably suggest going with that. This stuff barely compresses, even with all the weight that I have. But it's definitely solid, and seems to give me a good seal.

 

[jlindborg]

So, an update. I've been picking up additional hardware here and there as it went on clearance, and just received the last of my Black Friday / Cyber Monday acquisitions yesterday (the last of what I needed for my nitro tap). Attached are some photos of the current setup. I put in my soda line (tied to a 3 gal keg on the hump; running a root beer recipe that I've been tweaking). I also installed the stout faucet, tied to a nitro tank on the hump. My wife had found someone with a bunch of spike antlers; I picked up some hardware at the local hardware store and got them threaded on (although we'll probably rework the one on the stout faucet when we get a chance). I also set up a small chalkboard tap list (just sits on rubber feet), which also acts as a bit of a guard against folks sliding stuff across the bar and knocking taps open.

So the build is pretty much complete. I still want to mount a 3-way secondary regulator inside (and possibly move the 20 lb CO2 tank outside), but that'll be later next year. For now, there are football and hockey games to watch!