Cheapest New 2 Keg Keezer

[CidahMastah]

Great looking build! Is there no hump in your freezer? All of the kegs appear to be sitting at the same height.

With some of the extra 2x10 lumber from the collar I actually put together a pedestal that allows air flow to the bottom of the freezer, but a shelf for the kegs. This makes everything level with the "hump". If I ever install glycol, I would put the glycol reservoir in the free space there. Glycol isn't the silver bullet either though, there is a lot of trouble shooting I have read with people who went that route (another reason I didn't chose it).

You may have noticed from the pictures that I put in an extension cord outlet (120v) in the keezer. I put that in there so I could go glycol, or if I decide to rig up a couple fans to circulate the air in the keezer. Probably will use computer fans. Unfortunately, I just completed my electric brewing build, so money has found new priorities right now.

 

[Brewfat]

I usually have a beer a day after work,... ok sometimes 2 ha! you would lose about 3-4 oz a week if you have a beer a week - that is a limitation of this set up. Or you could pour it into a frosted glass and go that route. The beer tastes fine, no O2 in it, it is just room temp at that point.

Something to consider is, if you go glycol, you kill this issue of 3-4oz pour off. However:
1. you have a pump running constantly
2. you have to buy a pump
3. you have to buy glycol
4. you need to install the glycol tubing which is about $12-15 a foot if I remember right.

So for me the cost of the 3-4oz, was cheaper than the electricity consumed by the pump and the glycol install. One day I might step it up, but for now I accept the limitation.

Glycol is out, I'm not interested in that expense and complication. I have the wife sold on a tower on the kitchen counter pending new countertops.

Picnic taps in the garage work for now. if i ever finish my basement, a keezer will be built.

 

[Jota21]

I have the wife sold on a tower on the kitchen counter pending new countertops.

Your wife is going to let you put a tower in the NEW countertops????? How'd you pull that one off??

 

[CidahMastah]

Very cool - when you do it be sure to post the results.

btw: I keep two picnic taps in the keezer to test carb readiness, sample brews and have secret drinking privileges in the basement - Picnic taps work great and are cheap.

With Glycol, I think if I maintained 6 active beer lines, and people over at my house for happy hour regularly, I might invest in glycol.

I have no interest in doing either of those things. I guess what I am saying is that, like you, I am not trying to run a bar at my house - which is the only way you can really rationalize glycol costs IMO. When my friends are over, we usually outside or are in the garage brewing anyway.

Show me a good way to run 350ft of beer lines down to a tap at the foot of my apple orchard and you have my attention - ha j/k

 

[heyjaffy]

I just headed to Home Despot today to pickup some 1x10 to upgrade mine to a 4 keg unit. I could have done this with the existing 3-inch collar with 2 5-gallon kegs and 2 3-gallon kegs but I just decided to give the thing the inches it needs to hold a full 20 gallons of brew. I'll be building tomorrow - will post pics soon.

 

[brewit2it]

I just headed to Home Despot today to pickup some 1x10 to upgrade mine to a 4 keg unit. I could have done this with the existing 3-inch collar with 2 5-gallon kegs and 2 3-gallon kegs but I just decided to give the thing the inches it needs to hold a full 20 gallons of brew. I'll be building tomorrow - will post pics soon.

Sounds great, I can't wait to see it. Are you going to tile it again or leave it natural wood? I have thought about doing this but am too lazy to change mine plus I worry that the cooling will be uneven. Folks use fans to push the cold air up to the dead space where there are no cooling coils in the large collar. Are you planning on adding a fan?

 

[heyjaffy]

I will be using tiles again on this build - Home Depot had some tile sheets on sale. I ended up cutting the 1x10 down to 8-inches as that's the height I need and the tiles fit better that way. I'll insulate this collar a bit better than the last time, but for now, I'm not planning on changing the cooling in any way with a fan - I'll see how it goes. It's going to be a tight fit with four kegs, to the point where I might not even have room for a fan, and I figure that thermal mass has got to come into play in some capacity. I just got my boards cut yesterday and ripped the old collar off and did a quick test/sanity check - should start actually building tonight and will take some pics. It helps that all but 1 of my kegs are empty at this time, but the pipeline is rebuilding.

 

[intense3123]

Looking to get this freezer at Sams club. I'll probably be going with a tower setup. Do the two cornies, CO2 tank and 5 gal carboy fit under the original lid without a collar? From the pics on the first page it looks like they barely do. Thanks.

 

[heyjaffy]

See my rebuild here

 

[natural320]

hey guys, did anyone (or could anyone?) measure the distace on the freezer floor from the wall to the hump?
I love this keezer for its size and practicality for where I would be putting it, but the best deals I can get on ball lock kegs are actually converted pins, so they are 9" in diameter. so if I wanted to follow this build to a "T", but only keep 2 kegs and the CO2 tank, will it fit? I guess I need someone to confirm that there is just over 18" inches on that area of the floor so I can start placing my orders! I totally appreciate your help!

 

[Cacaman]

I have this build as well, and the ball lock kegs barely clear sitting diagonal from each other. I really doubt 2 pin lock kegs would fit in here.

 

[CidahMastah]

Yeah unfortunately this keezer is perfect for ball locks, but too small for 4 pin locks. Are you talking about putting 2 in the lower area and co2 on the hump? Two ball locks will barely fit side by side in the lower part of the keezer - so 2 pins sure won't.

 

[CidahMastah]

Also - ifyou are building a collar - get your CO2 tank outside the keezer and run the line through a hole in the collar. Don't waste that valuable space You never know you might happen upon a 3 gallon keg or similar that will fit on the hump.

 

[natural320]

well boo to me...but thanks to you guys! the plan WAS going to be 2 kegs on the lower area, so if they won't fit, then I am either going to have to pony up for "real" ball locks or find a slightly bigger freezer.

ugh, so close to kegging!

 

[CidahMastah]

well boo to me...but thanks to you guys! the plan WAS going to be 2 kegs on the lower area, so if they won't fit, then I am either going to have to pony up for "real" ball locks or find a slightly bigger freezer.

ugh, so close to kegging!

You won't regret a bigger freezer. You also won't regret that pin lock kegs (converted or not) are going to be what is readily available since the ball lock kegs have been chewed up as the preferred keg over the years.

i.e. if I was starting out and didn't have any kegs, I would seriously consider going all pin lock (even converted pin lock with ball lock attachments). You could stand to save a lot of money per keg

 

[natural320]

yeah I know...my only problem was that I bought a "keg kit" from Rebel last year (tank, regulator, and ball lock fittings) to start making my own soda using a carbonater cap (which works quite well actually), and my cheap @$$ doesn't want 2 sets of fittings floating around. however, I think it might be worth considering that point you made about the ball locks going the way of the buffalo at the moment...

 

[lalnx]

Yeah unfortunately this keezer is perfect for ball locks, but too small for 4 pin locks. Are you talking about putting 2 in the lower area and co2 on the hump? Two ball locks will barely fit side by side in the lower part of the keezer - so 2 pins sure won't.

I have a magic chef 5.5, and that snuggly fits 4 pin locks, 2 high, 2 low, and you need a collar that allows an additional 6" of interior height. (co2 is external of course)

 

[CidahMastah]

yeah I know...my only problem was that I bought a "keg kit" from Rebel last year (tank, regulator, and ball lock fittings) to start making my own soda using a carbonater cap (which works quite well actually), and my cheap @$$ doesn't want 2 sets of fittings floating around. however, I think it might be worth considering that point you made about the ball locks going the way of the buffalo at the moment...

you can use pin lock kegs, that are retrofitted with ball lock posts. So you get the ball lock posts, but the kegs are slightly wider and shorter. So you won't need two sets of connects. Make sense?

 

[natural320]

the retrofitted ones are the exact ones I was looking at buying, makes perfect sense

 

[CidahMastah]

the retrofitted ones are the exact ones I was looking at buying, makes perfect sense

Hope that didn't come off wrong - haha - just here to help. I think there will be WAY more competitive pricing on the retro fitted pin locks in the future.

 

[natural320]

oh no, not at all! I was just saying that I know what you were getting at! I really appreciate the feedback from you.

it was kinda funny this afternoon as I was walking through Sam's; lo and behold, the 5cu ft-er was sitting up on a shelf...

I just sighed and kept on walkin'! to quote my wife: "it really would have been a cute little guy"

yeah, thanks!

the 7 cu ft didn't look TOO big IMO tho...

 

[CrazyBrew]

Here's my version of your keezer build. I found a reconditioned 10 lb. CO2 tank that stays outside. I custom made the tap handles. The Moose is for my moose drool brown ale clone and the baseball is our house lager. The baseball was caught on a flyball at a Houston Astros game.

Click Here for the Keezer Build Pics ---->CrazyBrewing Keezer

 

[brewit2it]

Here's my version of your keezer build. I found a reconditioned 10 lb. CO2 tank that stays outside. I custom made the tap handles. The Moose is for my moose drool brown ale clone and the baseball is our house lager. The baseball was caught on a flyball at a Houston Astros game.

Click Here for the Keezer Build Pics ---->CrazyBrewing Keezer

That's awesome man. Love the story onthe tap handles as well! I need to step up to a larger exterior tank one of these days.

Kevin

 

[BeerBaronBob]

Nice job on making your keezers... I made my keezer slightly differently based on some other variations I saw on this site somewhere. I went with a 48" wide Whirlpool Chest Freezer that I luckily found on CL for $125. It was basically in brand new shape. This size allows you to load 8 Ball Lock Kegs for both serving and lagering without having to use the hump or removing the inner shelf ledges. They just barely fit and you have to remove the baskets to get 8 in but they do fit.

I located the CO2 tank in a cabinet next to the keezer and use the hump to store about 2 cases of bottles in six packs. The collar I made sat both on top of the opening and down the sides so that I could hide the joint between the two materials and provide a cleaner look. I used regular 2x4 Red Cedar for the wood that sat on top of the keezer and used clear 1x8 Red Cedar with a nice grain pattern for the wood section that fit around the sides of the keezer. I splurged and bought SS angles and SS Carriage Bolts to give the hardware a finished look. I put neoprene Home Depot weatherstripping between the wood and the top of the sides to seal the gap between the wood and keezer airtight. This approach gave me enough head space to fit the kegs and CO2/dispensing hoses and still match the top of my keezer with my countertop height in the basement. Having space for filled bottles on the hump in a definate plus. I sanded the heck out of the cedar and finished with a few coats of regular clear semi gloss polyurethane for a nice natural cedar look that matches my basement walls.

I went with picnic taps for now but may add outside taps. Makes for a bit of a mess with all the hoses inside but I have not finished mounting the CO2 distribution hardware. One thing to note is that putting the CO2 tank inside the keezer will give you false readings on the CO2 remaining so I moved it all outside in a bottom cabinet with a dual regulator so I can both carb and serve at different pressures and still have a CO2 hose accessible from inside the cabinet for pressurizing kegs or doing transfers from Carboys to Kegs.

Here are some pics to see what I mean. Still a work in progress to finish mounting everything where it works out best. This setup with part of the collar coming down along the sides also makes the keezer look less top heavy.

 

[brewit2it]

Nice job on making your keezers... I made my keezer slightly differently based on some other variations I saw on this site somewhere. I went with a 48" wide Whirlpool Chest Freezer that I luckily found on CL for $125. It was basically in brand new shape. This size allows you to load 8 Ball Lock Kegs for both serving and lagering without having to use the hump or removing the inner shelf ledges. They just barely fit and you have to remove the baskets to get 8 in but they do fit.

I located the CO2 tank in a cabinet next to the keezer and use the hump to store about 2 cases of bottles in six packs. The collar I made sat both on top of the opening and down the sides so that I could hide the joint between the two materials and provide a cleaner look. I used regular 2x4 Red Cedar for the wood that sat on top of the keezer and used clear 1x8 Red Cedar with a nice grain pattern for the wood section that fit around the sides of the keezer. I splurged and bought SS angles and SS Carriage Bolts to give the hardware a finished look. I put neoprene Home Depot weatherstripping between the wood and the top of the sides to seal the gap between the wood and keezer airtight. This approach gave me enough head space to fit the kegs and CO2/dispensing hoses and still match the top of my keezer with my countertop height in the basement. Having space for filled bottles on the hump in a definate plus. I sanded the heck out of the cedar and finished with a few coats of regular clear semi gloss polyurethane for a nice natural cedar look that matches my basement walls.

I went with picnic taps for now but may add outside taps. Makes for a bit of a mess with all the hoses inside but I have not finished mounting the CO2 distribution hardware. One thing to note is that putting the CO2 tank inside the keezer will give you false readings on the CO2 remaining so I moved it all outside in a bottom cabinet with a dual regulator so I can both carb and serve at different pressures and still have a CO2 hose accessible from inside the cabinet for pressurizing kegs or doing transfers from Carboys to Kegs.

Here are some pics to see what I mean. Still a work in progress to finish mounting everything where it works out best. This setup with part of the collar coming down along the sides also makes the keezer look less top heavy.

Looks really great. I love the finish on the cedar. You will definitely want to drill it for real taps though. That's the main point of the collar in the first place, and having to open the top every time you want to draw a beer will get old in a hurry.

Keep us updated.

 

[carlisle_bob]

a little off topic but does anyone know what the cheapest cheest freezer is if you dont have a sams club membership?

Hi

Do you need to fit kegs in it? On sale or regular price?

Anything under about 7 cubic foot is likely to be "keg challenged" in one way or another.

Bob

 

[CloverBrew]

good stuff, bookmarked

 

[DrunkleJon]

Hi

Do you need to fit kegs in it? On sale or regular price?

Anything under about 7 cubic foot is likely to be "keg challenged" in one way or another.

Bob

You can often find a 7.1 cu ft GE at Home Despite for a reasonable price. Oftentimes you will find these listed on homebrewfinds when HD has them marked back down. (I own 2)

 

[libirm]

Got my Kenmore 7.2 @ Kmart for $150.00