Help With Keezer Design - No collar, through the wall...

[banik]

Well, my SWMBO told me that I had to start being able to drink the beer that I was kegging and therefore needed to build a Keezer.

I, after much deliberating, bought a 14.8 Maytag MQC1552TEW, which will hold 10 ball locks on the floor, a 5# tank on the hump, and doesn't need a collar to do it.

No, combine the fact that it doesn't need a collar with my design choice- through the wall taps to a small bar in the living room- you might start to see where I'm coming up against keezer-builder's block. My perlicks are here, along with nearly everything else (no tail pieces...), but I don't know what the best way to handle this is.

I've thought of drilling the freezer, but the lines travel in the walls, and I'd hate to pierce one.
I can't think of a way to bring the lines up out through the lid without either A) losing the ability to open it or B) having the lines exposed (both visually and uninsulated).
Doing a coffin build doesn't work ("Too much geometric solid in the living room, No!" says the architect SWMBO)

So.. Yeah- Suggestions?

 

[day_trippr]

How about going ahead with a collar, fixed to the freezer chest. Build out the perimeter of the back side of the collar a few inches - enough to account for the lid hinges and the clearance needed to open the lid - and fill that space with insulation board right up to the wall.

Then run long shanks (I've seen 14" shanks so there's probably some length that will work for this) straight through the collar and the insulation board and the wall to wherever your faucets are located...

Cheers!

 

[LandoLincoln]

If I were in your shoes I'd still build a collar and run the lines through a pvc pipe to the wall, and running a fan to keep the inside temp of the pipe cool. Someone else on here did this trick and it seemed to work well. If you don't care too much about how the collar looks you can build it with construction grade 2x6 pine and use butt joints and deck screws. Some liquid nails to keep the collar in place and, done. Super simple build.

 

[BierMuncher]

Don't drill the walls. I can guarantee based on experience, that the sinister hissing sound you will hear will make you limp for 3 weeks.

Collars are not difficult at all to build. Some pine 2x6's, some screws and clamps and some white appliance spray paint and done. I used simple caulk to hold it in place. Plus, if you ever deconstruct it, you’ll still have a perfectly good chest freezer to use or sell.

 

[banik]

Thanks for the advice- by "through the wall," I mean the keezer is on one side of the living room wall (sunroom) and the taps are go through the wall, to the bar in the living room.

I think I'll go with a short collar and some sort of insulated pipe- I'm thinking copper with a length in the freezer for thermal mass and rely on conduction to chill the lines...

 

[Flomaster]

You need a fan to pull cold air from the bottom of the keezer into that trunk line the beer lines are running through

-=Jason=-
Sent from my HTC Incredible using Home Brew Talk

 

[beaksnbeer]

Insulated small box off the back to the wall and cut a flap out of the seal.

 

[jpinetti]

Check out my build
I think this is what your trying to do