Keezer insulation

[jjinsa]

Hi All

I am planning my keezer build (old chest freezer).

It will have 2 kegs inside and 2 taps. I am going to make it out of wood (so from the outside it looks fully wooden, with freezer inside)

It will have a wooden tower on top with 2 taps - on the inside of the tower I am going to build in 2 fans - one for intake and one for extraction to keep cold air flowing from inside the freezer.

What material do I use to insulate the inside of the tower - I have watched videos and seen pictures that people have posted. Seems to be some kind of silver material they stick on the inside? Is this suitable? What is it called? Should I use more than just this?

Also how should I seal the wood? Just simple varnish, and then stick the insulation on top of that?

Thanks in advance
JJ

 

[purplehaze]

JJ, the wooden tower on top of the keezer is called a Coffin. I did not seal the wood inside the coffin on the several I have built but then again I went the passive cooling route. The insulation that most people use is the hard board insulation sold at big box stores. The silver color is probably the aluminum tape that helps seal the interior of the coffin.

 

[jjinsa]

Thank you. I did not know it was call the coffin. What is the passive cooling method?

 

[purplehaze]

Passive cooling is using .copper pipe to encase the beer line to keep it cold. The copper extends into the keezer a bit and the cool temp rises up the pipe. Take a look at my "second keezer for Lil brother " at the bottom of my posts. U don't have to the extreme that I did but it's a decent example. Both methods work

 

[jjinsa]

I have looked at your keezers now. It seems a lot easier than using fans. Can you recommend your method over using fans?? How far up the beer line does the copper pipe go? And is it insulated/closed at the top of the copper pipe so that the cool air doesn't flow into the coffin? Inside the actual freezer I see you have the two copper pipes connected together. What is the reason for this?

 

[purplehaze]

I have never used fans so I can't say for sure but others have used them with good results. The copper goes all the way up to the nipple at the shank. The cold air is not circulated up into the coffin. Copper is a great conductor so as the section of pipe in the keezer gets cold this travels up the pipe making the entire length cold. Use regular pipe insulation over the copper in the coffin, its cheap and available at most home improvement stores. The pipes are connected for ease of placement and if one section gets slightly warmer it can draw the cold from the other pipes.

 

[MusicalBrewer]

I have never used fans so I can't say for sure but others have used them with good results. The copper goes all the way up to the nipple at the shank. The cold air is not circulated up into the coffin. Copper is a great conductor so as the section of pipe in the keezer gets cold this travels up the pipe making the entire length cold. Use regular pipe insulation over the copper in the coffin, its cheap and available at most home improvement stores. The pipes are connected for ease of placement and if one section gets slightly warmer it can draw the cold from the other pipes.

I just finished building a keezer and I use fans to circulate the air. I have a small coffin and use two 80mm CPU case fans, one drawing air in and one forcing air out. I am able to maintain 3-5 degree temperature differential between the freezer and the coffin. So foaming beer lines aren't an issue.

The thing I'm finding though is that I lose a lot of cold air through the coffin (and I have it insulated with 1" insulation and it is a very small area). With the fans on for circulating air my freezer cycles on every twenty minutes (and that's with a keg of cold beer in it). When the fans are off it's more like once an hour. So the compressor runs 3x more often when fans are used to cool the coffin.

If you go with the coffin I would recommend doing a passive cooling system like purplehaze has done. It will add life to your compressor. My keezer is currently up for sale (because my wife wants a collar style), but if I were keeping it long term I would change to a passive cooling system. Just my 2 cents.

 

[jjinsa]

Purplehaze is the copper sealed at the top by the nipple so air doesn't get out into the coffin, or is it open?

Thank you for everything so far.

 

[cowboy1]

Hi All

I am planning my keezer build (old chest freezer).

It will have 2 kegs inside and 2 taps. I am going to make it out of wood (so from the outside it looks fully wooden, with freezer inside)

It will have a wooden tower on top with 2 taps - on the inside of the tower I am going to build in 2 fans - one for intake and one for extraction to keep cold air flowing from inside the freezer.

What material do I use to insulate the inside of the tower - I have watched videos and seen pictures that people have posted. Seems to be some kind of silver material they stick on the inside? Is this suitable? What is it called? Should I use more than just this?

Also how should I seal the wood? Just simple varnish, and then stick the insulation on top of that?

Thanks in advance
JJ

I used fans on my build to circulate 1 pulling air up and other pushing it back in. They seem to work fine. 1 thing I have changed since I first built mine is the insulation. I went from the hard foam board to a black sort foam insulation like the material used on water lines under the house. I changed this because a pipe insulator told me the black soft foam was better for cold applications. hope this may help in your build.

Cheers,

David

 

[jjinsa]

I used fans on my build to circulate 1 pulling air up and other pushing it back in. They seem to work fine. 1 thing I have changed since I first built mine is the insulation. I went from the hard foam board to a black sort foam insulation like the material used on water lines under the house. I changed this because a pipe insulator told me the black soft foam was better for cold applications. hope this may help in your build.



Cheers,



David

What was the name of the insulation you used - the first one and the new black one?

Has the new one worked better??

 

[cowboy1]

I will get the name of the black foam one today at work. The other was the standard wall foam insulation you get at the box hardware stores. It had a green color. The new insulation seems to keep the coffin cooler and cycle times have reduced.. I will get back to you on brand this evening.

 

[cowboy1]

What was the name of the insulation you used - the first one and the new black one?

Has the new one worked better??

Here is a link to what I used. I was able to get enough scraps at my work to complete mine and yes the new stuff works better. I did a double layer. It says to use glue for the joints but I used the metallic duct tape.

Cheers,

David

 

[jjinsa]

Thank you !!