Completed Kegerator - Almost

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Iowabeerguy

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Location
Johnston, Ia
Here's my Holiday 5.3 conversion - almost complete. Just need to finish the tap handles and the plumbing - pouring cold beer tonight. Enjoy!





Here are the skins being added with liquid nails - some say that you can't skin a freezer like this - everything is working fine. I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed.

OK - I get busy working on a project and neglect to take pictures so we'll fast forward. Here's the keezer with the top added, laminate installed, trimmed with oak, and stained to match the woodwork in the room it's going into.



The drip tray assembly simply sits in place, and can pull away for draining and folding down the taps.

 
This lets me remove a couple of thumb screws that hold the taps in place, and fold the taps down. This will allow me to raise the freezer top without moving the unit away from the wall.



When the taps are in their normal position, there is a matching back plate that is velcro'd in place.



Looking forward to comments and questions - sorry I don't have more pictures in progress, but that's just how I do things.
 
Nice looking design, simple and effective. Let us know how the skins work. I personally think it wouldn't be a big problem if they were thin enough to allow heat to escape.
 
Nice looking design, simple and effective. Let us know how the skins work. I personally think it wouldn't be a big problem if they were thin enough to allow heat to escape.

It's just 1/4" plywood. I think it'll be ok - it's been cooling for two weeks with the left and right sides on, front's been on for over a week.
 
Very nice craftsmanship.

+1 on keeping us updated with how it works with the attached "skin." It may be that it still cools to the proper temperature, but the compressor has to work much harder and more often than it would otherwise though.
 
Very nice craftsman ship.

+1 on keeping us updated with how it works with the attached "skin." It may be that it still cools to the proper temperature, but the compressor has to work much harder and more often than it would otherwise though.

I don't know what effect it will have, but I will let everyone know if I experience any problems with it. Do you suppose I affected the warranty?:D
 
Here is the completed product (less handles) in place in it's new home

CIMG3615.JPG


And a pic of the adjacent bar that it matches

CIMG3616.JPG


Cheers!
 
Nice looking! Now that you've had it for awhile, would you say the wood glued to the sides of the freezer is a problem or ok? I would like to do something like this, but am scared of heat transfer problems.
 
Nice looking! Now that you've had it for awhile, would you say the wood glued to the sides of the freezer is a problem or ok? I would like to do something like this, but am scared of heat transfer problems.

Thanks! It has been a lot of fun to build. The wood on the sides does not seem to be a problem at all. Stays at a consistent 38 - compressor doesn't seem to run to often or too long.

If you do it, I would recommend just permanently mounting the tower or tap box to the top. I spent a lot of time and energy building it so that the tap tower could be hinged forward so that they won't hit the wall when changing kegs. The whole unit is very light, even with three full kegs it slides easily on the carpet. I just slide it away from the wall, change kegs and slide it back. Much easier than dropping the box.

Let me know if you need any advice on your build, I'd be happy to help!
 
I had a kegerator go out on me where I used 1/4" ply around the sides - not even glued to the sides but actually applied to a frame that went around it giving about 2 inches of buffering between the ply and the freezer. It was an old freezer though, so it could just be that it was on its way out anyway.

Good job with your build, looks great! Honestly, the hinging of the taps is a great idea, I had a 7 cu ft freezer that got pretty heavy when it was full so even though it had casters under it the thing didn't want to move. I wish I could have hinged the top to make it easier. Oh well, I went for the standard collar this time around. Probably won't be the last kegerator I build, so we'll see if I like this setup better.
 
Looks nice!

And a shop full of Jet tools, too. My jointer, band saw, drum sander, and drill press are all from them... good stuff.
 
Looks great!

I need to do something like this one of these days. My old POS I bought from Best Buy is finally starting to crap out and 3 taps just isn't enough anymore!
 
So, it has been over 2 years..... Any issues with the "skin"? I want a small 3 tap kegerator and this looks perfect!
 
I had a kegerator go out on me where I used 1/4" ply around the sides - not even glued to the sides but actually applied to a frame that went around it giving about 2 inches of buffering between the ply and the freezer. It was an old freezer though, so it could just be that it was on its way out anyway.

Good job with your build, looks great! Honestly, the hinging of the taps is a great idea, I had a 7 cu ft freezer that got pretty heavy when it was full so even though it had casters under it the thing didn't want to move. I wish I could have hinged the top to make it easier. Oh well, I went for the standard collar this time around. Probably won't be the last kegerator I build, so we'll see if I like this setup better.

The 2" space is what caused the problem, if the failure was due to heat. You increased the R value 10 fold from 0.09 to 1.0 or so. If glued directly, no issue!
 
Thanks! It has been a lot of fun to build. The wood on the sides does not seem to be a problem at all. Stays at a consistent 38 - compressor doesn't seem to run to often or too long.

If you do it, I would recommend just permanently mounting the tower or tap box to the top. I spent a lot of time and energy building it so that the tap tower could be hinged forward so that they won't hit the wall when changing kegs. The whole unit is very light, even with three full kegs it slides easily on the carpet. I just slide it away from the wall, change kegs and slide it back. Much easier than dropping the box.

Let me know if you need any advice on your build, I'd be happy to help!

How did you address the tower box temperature? Is it a hot spot resulting in warmer initial pours and heavy head?
 
Sorry to anyone that has had questions on this, but I have been away from the forums for awhile. I know that a few had questions about how the temperature is holding up on my keeper - I am happy to report that after four years of constant service, I have yet to experience any problems with the unit not being able to keep temperature, or the freezer getting hot on those surfaces.

My suggestion, anyone wanting to build a keeper and wrap it - go for it.
 
I haven't had nearly as much time to spend on home brewing lately, so I have started to part with some of my stuff. The keezer still runs great, but unfortunately spends most of it's time chilling kegs full of starsan rather than beer. Anyone in the midwest interested let me know. Located in central Iowa.
 
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