bbentley's Keezer Build...

[bbentley40]

I will remember that next time.. If there is a next time.. Lol. Started testing stain last night.. Not sure when I will get around to it though.

 

[bbentley40]

So here is a question for those of you that might know. About how may amps does a PC fan pull? I want to run 4 fans, 2 in the keezer and 2 to help pull warm air out from around the casing. I have a 12v 1.2amp power supply, but I am not sure if that can easily run 4 fans or if I need to put two on that one and two on another power supply.

EDIT: Nevermind.. I found the answer to my question. Found a screen shot that I can blow up of the fans I am getting. Says 12v 0.18A.. so 1.2A should be enough to run all of them.

 

[bbentley40]

Ok guys.. sorry I have not posted any updates but the progress as been a little slow lately. And what progress I have made has not been really picture worthy. So here we go...

Started doing the wiring.. this 4 plug box will be constant power, I have a power strip attached to my Ranco temp controller too. The fans in the freezer will be constant powered, fans on the outer case will only kick on with the compressor to pull warm air out of the shell.

The switch at the top will have my rope light plugged into it and allows me to flip the switch to turn it on. You can see one of the case fans in the middle.

I am not building in any kind of tubing to pull the air into the coffin right now. Going to see if a fan blowing in and one blowing out will push enough air through it to keep the temp where I want it. Here is the out fan.

Here is the in fan.. you can also see where I made the part of the lid that I cut out look a little better by flipping the plastic I cut off over and putting it back in.

Here is the case fan on the other side..

Here is the hole picture of the wiring..

Here is the fully assembled picture without stain. The spots on the front are wood filler. It had just been put in, not sanded yet. It looks much better now.

And the staining begins!

Top, front and back of the coffin

Tomorrow should be a great day off work.. going to stain the rest AND brew while things are drying. What else could you ask for.. working on my keezer while homebrewing!

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Looking great man.....keep up the good work! What kind of tile did you decide on?

 

[bbentley40]

Looking great man.....keep up the good work! What kind of tile did you decide on?

Its a porcelain tile I picked up from HD. Think I posted a picture of one of the tiles.

 

[rsklhm10]

Looks real good. What stain did you go with?

 

[runningweird]

That thing is looking really nice, can't wait to see it all finished.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Its a porcelain tile I pick up from HD. Think I posted a picture of one of the tiles.

You're right.....sorry, I went back to the 2nd page of your thread to take a peak. Very nice, should look great with the stain! I look at so many of these threads, that I forgot that you posted a pic. prior. Great work man, your almost there!

 

[bbentley40]

The stain is Cherry by Cabot. Had planned on using minwax Cherry (it's a little less red) but I think this color looks great. First coat is on the base and strike water is coming up to temp! . Brewing a simple cream ale today, hoping it doesnt need any age time and can be kegged and ready to drink for my Halloween party on the 29th.

 

[bbentley40]

Ok.. been a long weekend and I am not just talking about the number of days I been off work. Here is the progress I made today.

First coat of stain on the base

Both coats on the top.. and added the backer board:

This is what I call a good day.. brewing homebrew while waiting on the stain to dry between coats:

Tomorrow I am hoping to tile the top, but that is if I can get the pieces I need cut for the back splash. And finish staining the cabinet doors. After that it is basically just final assembly and clear coat.

Here is a shot of how the back splash will be laid out.. got to get some pieces cut, then we will try to actually glue them down. Have to thank my SWMBO for this.. she did all this herself.

Here is the top after the second coat.. you can see the hole in the cabinet that my gas line and stuff will go through.

 

[bbentley40]

Ok guys.. update time again. I would have posted this yesterday but I had a minor set back in life. Some cowardly b@stards broke into my house and wiped me out. Luckly they didnt harm anyone (no one was home) or damage anything.. they just took over 8k worth of my electronics and stuff!

Anyway.. back to better things.. I finally started on my tile last night. Let me just say that it wasnt really difficult, but I will not be quiting my day job to persue a new career in it anytime soon.. lol. Some of my gaps ended up being a little off, but hey.. it was my first rodeo so to speak.

Here is the layout (sorry if some of the pictures are blurry.. just snapped them before going in and passing out.. stress is exhausting.. lol)

Set in adhesive..

Here is a shot of the layout on the backsplash. Ran out of adhesive on the top so didnt get to set it last night. Will do that tonight and hopefully apply the first coat of poly to the whole thing.

Thats it for now.. will update you all again when I can.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Looks good man! Keep up the good work.

 

[rsklhm10]

First, sorry to hear about somebody breaking into your house. Hopefully they catch them, and as you said luckily no one was hurt. As for the keezer, looks great. Keep up the solid work.

 

[futzwash]

Hey, Ive been following ur build! Sorry to here about the break-in... but as a positive, luckily they didnt take the keezer!!!!

 

[bbentley40]

Grout is done! I will go ahead and say it is not perfect by any means, but I am pretty damn pleased with it if I do say so myself. I still have to put poly on the coffin and attach it to the top, after that it is basically just plumbing and attaching the top to the keezer. Oh, and I have to poly the cabinet doors and put the back on. So shy of the cabinet doors the rest of this stuff MIGHT get done tomorrow!!

Here are the pics.. let me know what you think.

Close up of the coffin

Coffin with the lights off, with flash

No flash

Hopefully I will have more for you guys tomorrow!

 

[bbentley40]

Hey, Ive been following ur build! Sorry to here about the break-in... but as a positive, luckily they didnt take the keezer!!!!

lol.. thanks.. Had they taken the keezer my SWMBO would have hunted them down and.. well I am not going to even try and imagine what she would have done... she is ready for this project to be over so we can get back to having some kind of free time. I am just ready to see it done so I can pour a freakin beer!

 

[chapa]

Looks great! Can't wait to see it finished. I love the tile work. I might just have to tile mine when I get around to building one.

 

[Flomaster]

that lid must be a beast to lift... I have 6 12x12 granite tiles on top and then maybe 1 more tiles worth of edging going around mine and its "HEAVY AS F*CK"

-=Jason=-

 

[Zorin]

Sorry to hear about your break in...hopefully the cops will do their jobs and catch the SOBs. Other then that, the kezzer looks absolutely awesome. GREAT JOB!!!

 

[bbentley40]

that lid must be a beast to lift... I have 6 12x12 granite tiles on top and then maybe 1 more tiles worth of edging going around mine and its "HEAVY AS F*CK"

-=Jason=-

Yeah.. I am fairly worried about the hinges after lifting it the front of it a little..lol. I have some more ideas of how to help support it to get kegs in, but I am not sure when those will happen.

 

[bbentley40]

Thanks again for all the kind words all. On the break in, I am not sure the police can do much. It appears to have been the work of people with a fair amount of knowledge. No finger prints were left behind and I did not have the serial numbers of all my stuff. So my non-keezer advice to all of you.. go through your house and write down every single serial number of everything you own. Do NOT store it on your computer that may get stolen.. write it on a piece of paper and stick it somewhere with no other valuables. And it doesnt hurt to have pictures of all your stuff too. I am still waiting to hear back from my insurance to see what all they are going to replace.

On a positive (read keezer) note.. I have finished the clear coat on everything but the cabinet doors and started plumbing the gas lines inside the keezer. I still have a number of small things to do (grout around the coffin now that its attached, beer line plumbing, attach the top to the keezer, install cabinet doors once clear coating is done.. a low priority right now) but other than that is is almost operational!! There is a chance that I will get all that stuff done tonight and get kegs in there. Will update you all with more pictures after its all in the house.

 

[bbentley40]

Well guys.. here it is.. 98% done.. still have to put the final coats of poly on the cabinet doors then install them, need to grout the very small area around the coffin, then seal the grout. Other than that its ready for beer! Tonight I am going to flush the lines with cleaner then put 2 of my kegs in there and might get to pour my first beer! I have a batch of Pumpkin Ale and a Cream Ale sitting in carboys waiting to be kegged too.

Side note.. I still plan on coming up with a way to prop the lid up.. but that will have to wait a few weeks.

And with that.. the pictures!! (and sorry if some are a little blurry.. not sure whats up with that)

Not sure if this is its finally resting place or if I will move it to the other wall.. but this is where it is for now.

Please mind the mess.. I just got it plugged up and running and started snapping pictures..lol

Finally got to install some tap handles on there..

Had to make sure I could see to pour a beer in the dark.. never know when I might get thirsty while sleep walking.. hehe

Here is a shot of the cabinet.. I have to straighten up the wiring some, but everything easily fits.

Thats it for now.. I may snap a few more shots after I get the kegs and stuff in and when I get it 100% done I will go back and add a "finished" picture to the start of this thread. If anyone has any questions please dont hesitate to ask. Its been a great project.. but I am glad to have it all but done now! Now its time to RDWHAHB!!

 

[chapa]

Looks great! Congrats! That red oak looks really nice!

My only question (and this kind of goes for all keezers) what is the best way to attach the bar top to the lid? I don't mind drilling/gluing it. Also, are you concerned with weight on the front of the bar where people might lean on it(yours doesn't come out too much, but I want mine to be more of a bar where people can sit)?

As a side note, I know you may not keep it in that spot, but as much as I like the picture above the keezer, might I suggest a more horizontal picture that isn't as tall, so it doesn't disappear behind the keezer? Maybe something almost as long as it, that you can put just above (clearing) the taps? Sorry, I know you're not looking for decor tips, I'm in real estate and do some staging here and there, so just thought I'd throw it out there.

Excellent work. I really want to get mine going!

 

[bbentley40]

Looks great! Congrats! That red oak looks really nice!

My only question (and this kind of goes for all keezers) what is the best way to attach the bar top to the lid? I don't mind drilling/gluing it. Also, are you concerned with weight on the front of the bar where people might lean on it(yours doesn't come out too much, but I want mine to be more of a bar where people can sit)?

As a side note, I know you may not keep it in that spot, but as much as I like the picture above the keezer, might I suggest a more horizontal picture that isn't as tall, so it doesn't disappear behind the keezer? Maybe something almost as long as it, that you can put just above (clearing) the taps? Sorry, I know you're not looking for decor tips, I'm in real estate and do some staging here and there, so just thought I'd throw it out there.

Excellent work. I really want to get mine going!

To attach the top to the lid I used liquid nails and bolts, washers and tee nuts. There is basically no chance that top is coming off the lid..lol. I am probably going to go back in and add some kind of bracing on the back that will help keep the freezer from being about to rock back and forth. It is stable as it sits, but just something to make sure it doesnt tilt back when I lift the lid or rock backwards if someone were to lean on the front then raise off if it tilts forward. Mine sticks out about 6" in the front (ok.. wow that sounded bad.. lol) so you could sit at it with a bar stool if you wanted, but its not meant to be a full fledged bar. If you wanted a bar that sticks out further then all you really need to do is make sure you design yours so that the freezer is very stable on the front end. Maybe even build in some supports that you would see under a highbar countertop, but in your case the top would not be attached to them.. just more or less resting on them. Actually just thinking about it I can think of a really cool way you might could do it.. but its really one of those need to see it to understand it ideas you might say. And I have no way to really show you on here.. lol.

Basic idea for making a full bar surrounding a keezer.. and this thing would be HUGE when you finish it if you could even make it work. Build up the 3 sided frame around the keezer (back is open like mine) and think of putting a bar top around the 3 sides and leaving the middle empty. So basically you would have a keezer base with a U shaped bar around it. Then you might could turn the keezer around backwards and install it. Then your lid would fill in the empty space on the U. Now the catch to this would be you would have a gap or line in your bar where the keezer top has to be able to lift up (but that could be a full foot or more away from the bar edge depending on how big you want to make this thing).. and it might be a B*TCH to get all that completely level.. but the weight of the keezer should balance out if someone leaned on the bar. You would have to have it on wheels to be able to pull it out and lift the lid to refill it (but most all keezers I have seen are on wheels) and you would want to be able to lock those wheels probably. It would actually cut down on the weight you have to lift though since your only lifting the lid with the top on it instead of like mine where the top is 3x the size of just the lid. The coffin can still be on the back of the bar, but it would be on the "front" of the lid as you lift it. You would want to be creative with your beer line to keep them out of the way. There are a lot of issues you would need to plan out and think about, but I think that design would be really cool and would fit your needs. If you can understand any of the garbled mess I just typed.. lol.

Sorry for the forever long post.. this is what happens when my brain gets an idea.. I could have explained it in 5 seconds with a drawing.. lol.

 

[bbentley40]

Well for some reason there is no edit button on the first page of this thread so I cant add any pictures of the finished product there. I am going to get some better shots of things, but I had to share this one real quick.

The first pint poured from my new keezer!! Vanilla Cream Ale that was aged in the keg for about 3 months. Damn tasty!

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Nice! Congratulations on your fully functioning keezer. It look fantastic!

 

[bbentley40]

So its been a long time since I did anything to the keezer.. but really its been a long time since I have got to do anything brewing related. My poor keezer looks pitiful right now because I only have 1 brew in it. But that is about to change!! I ordered 3 kits from Austins Homebrew and I plan to brew tomorrow. Why am I putting this in my keezer thread? Well I also changed out my temp controller last night. I got a TSS2-2100 for Christmas that I was going to use for my side-by-side fridge fermentation chamber. But that didnt work out because the fridge has an electric control board. So I build the dual stage controller and put it on my keezer and my old single stage will run the fridge for now. Now I can get temps in the freezer and inside my coffin too! I learned that my coffin really doesnt get below 45 degrees so I need to work on the ventilation a little bit to pull colder air from the bottom of the keezer. Might do that this weekend. I will post some pictures of it all when I get home tonight.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Go get 'em tiger! Brew all night if you have to, but get that keezer full!

Never disrespect or neglect the keezer again!

Kidding.....have fun. I have a TSS2 if you need any help, it has been a while, but I'm sure I could dust off my old keezer thread and find some info for you.

 

[bbentley40]

Thanks Hop.. I think I got it all programmed up and running the first try. Of course I searched all over on this thread to figure it out. I was hoping my kits would come in today.. but wont be here until Monday. Oh well.. I am doing my first lager tomorrow.. wish me luck.

 

[WhiteEagle1]

Great project dude! Very good job!!