Guinness Draught Keezer

Joshham84 · Feb 7, 2016

I have an addiction to Guinness Draught. Although I am proudly a part of the craft beer community, I always come back to Guinness Draught when it's time to relax and slip into blissful serenity.

So, I decided, with the help of a buddy of mine, to take my love for it to another level by building a Guinness keezer.

I wanted to build something with a rustic, yet fancy design in order to give it an old school feeling. Guinness has been around since 1759, so it just made sense.

The project is currently underway and I will be posting pictures and build information here shortly to record what I've done and what I plan to do.

Enjoy!

Joshham84 · Feb 7, 2016

I've only been able to locate 50L keg sizes for Guinness and the keg has a pretty big circumference. With that in mind, I decided to go with a fairly large chest freezer. The bad news is wow that was costly. The good news is if I decide to add other brews, I'll likely have plenty of space for it.

*edit* I'm not sure why the picture on the bottom is turned. That's not how it's saved on my computer.

cilestiok · Feb 7, 2016

You sure you're going to like lifting those heavy kegs up into a chest freezer?

Joshham84 · Feb 7, 2016

"Back in the day", furniture (and just about everything, really) was built to last. It was built with quality craftsmanship and strength. I wanted my keezer to reflect this so I decided to go with great quality wood. I saw a really nice gentlemen who ran a lumber yard and picked up some rough-cut, kiln-dried poplar wood. I originally wanted to go with dark maple but it cost a little more than I wanted to spend. So, I went with poplar and bought some really nice dark maple stain.

The work with the poplar was a bit tedious and time consuming but worth it. We cut the boards up into 25 42" sections and a couple of 55" sections, which will make up the border of the bar top. Each board was planed and squared.

Joshham84 · Feb 7, 2016

cilestiok said:
You sure you're going to like lifting those heavy kegs up into a chest freezer?

It's definitely going to suck, but I think it will be worth it!

Joshham84 · Feb 7, 2016

My buddy showed up with a couple of thin sheets of brass, which we will design, cut, and fasten to the corners with tiny brass nails. I wanted to take a sheet of brass, cut out a Guinness harp, and lay it into the bar top. However, after a little realistic thinking, I realized it could be a bit more trouble than it's worth. Right now, i'm thinking I'd like to just burn a harp emblem into the front of it. But, we'll see.

Also pictured is the base of keezer. We mounted 2 inch wheels to it, which is good because it's going to very heavy.

Joshham84 · Feb 7, 2016

This is the frame of the keezer. Because the sides of chest freezers get really warm when it's running, we knew we needed to have a gap between the freezer and the framing. Two other ways we are going to combat overheating is to have a gap between the overhang of the bar top border and the wall of the keezer, creating a vent all the way around. The overhang of the bar-top border will be long enough to hide this vent so it won't be noticeable, yet the gap should be enough to allow warm air to escape. Lastly, because I did not want to buy computer fans and make it more complicated than my skill level, the back of the keezer build is framed but it will not have a wall. The back will just be open, which should also help with venting heat.

Joshham84 · Feb 7, 2016

Test fitting the bar top. The bottom layer of the bar top is ply wood, which I expect will keep the bar top itself from bowing. The poplar boards you see in the next photo are the boards we decided to use for the top. There's just so much character in these boards compared to the others. Once it's stained and the finishing is completed, that grain and detail in the wood is really going to show beautifully.

Joshham84 · Feb 7, 2016

Time to fasten the ply wood to the poplar. After clamping the boards tightly together, we used small screws and liberally fastened it all together.

Joshham84 · Feb 7, 2016

Check out the wood we ripped to make our borders. That's going to look nice. We decided to cut the ends of the border so that it creates an overlap. Also, this isn't fastened yet, it's just a rough fit. Next time we work on it, we will smooth out the overlapped corners and pin it. After that, we will fasten the border and hang the bottom part of the border. Once it's all put together, and the boards on the front and sides are hung, we will fasten the bar top to the freezer lid.

That's all for now. Til next time!

Joshham84 · Apr 6, 2016

Bar top work

Joshham84 · Apr 6, 2016

We made borders for the bar top and added wedges underneath for strength.

Joshham84 · Apr 6, 2016

The top has been rigorously sanded and the corners smoothed out. punch a hole in the bar top/freezer top and inserted our pvc pipe. The beer tower will fit over this. It has been caulked underneath the top, ensuring I will not have an air leak.

The bar top has 4 bolts, going from the bar top through the freezer top. No glue. Underneath the bar top, the bolts come through wooden spacers and the nuts are screwed tight. The wooden spacers have been caulked, again, ensuring no air leaks.

We made wooden plugs that cover the bolts on the bar top. The plugs were glued in and sanded down.

The bar top was stained with Dark Walnut.

Joshham84 · Apr 6, 2016

After 2 coats of stain, we have begun the process of applying varnish. This is after 2 coats, we will do a total of 5 hopefully...filling varnish into the cracks between the boards, ensuring a smooth, seamless surface. The varnish is marine grade.

The boards for the front and sides of the bar are done and stained. I just haven't taken pictures of them yet.

I plan to be done with the varnish by Friday, and having the tower, tap, lines, Nitrogen/Co2 tank and Guinness Draught Keg installed by Saturday evening.

Ready for that pour!

Joshham84 · Apr 6, 2016

This is my tap! I also just got these new glasses (the 2 pewter plates ones).

This is my thermostat that I'll install on Friday. It's a Johnson Controls A19AAT-2C Freezer Temperature Controller. The one that all the homebrew sites recommend has terrible reviews on Amazon and other sites. However, this one I bought has a near perfect rating. I don't give a crap about a cute little digital face, I just don't want it to tear up.

Calaeb · Apr 7, 2016

Looks good, I've had awesome luck with my inkbird ITC-308 was plug and play. Sure that controller isn't bad but the price was the difference maker for me.

BrooklynTom · Apr 7, 2016

Looks good. I am looking forward to seeing the finished product. I use the same controller as yours, it has been running for over a year now with no problems. Lots of luck. :mug:

Joshham84 · Apr 24, 2016

The keg is tapped! We are super stoked with the job we did on this bar.

We did a really good aging job on the top and made good use of a hand chisel to scuff up some edges.

The gas mixture is at 75% nitrogen 25% CO2. The psi is set at 30. The freezer temperature is set at 40 degrees.

I still need to fine tune my settings (the head is a little too thick), and make some brass corners for the bar top.

I also plan on getting a beer mat to place under the nozzle and to drop a line from the ceiling to dangle an old school Edison-type light bulb (you know, the dim ones that allow you to see the filament inside the bulb)

I will post the pictures in just a few minutes. Having an issue with the upload button.