Keezer tips

[NWMOBrewer]

I bought a 15 cubic foot freezer from a garage sale today and have finally gotten SWMBO to accept it in our small apartment living room. I plan on beginning with just the cheapo picnic taps until I get the cash for faucets. What I'm wondering is any tips anyone can offer me on converting to a keezer. I'm not in a place where I have the space to build a coffen top so will be putting the taps in the side of the collar. Any tips, what you learned, wish you knew, or anything would be helpful.
As this thread progresses I will put pictures for everyone to enjoy.

 

[JoshuaWhite5522]

depends on what your plans are, and your level of skill.... but if you plan on doing something like mine....

Measure twice cut once
a little trim is an eask way to cover up a poorly mitered joint
insulate with the pink foam board, it's easier to use than the white disposeable cool type stuff
if you are going to do a collar dual hinges make for greater flexibility

 

[NWMOBrewer]

I'll tell you right now, i'm probably going to do a collar, and not a coffin. Not due to skill, but due to space. I have no garage or anything, all of this work will be done in our living room. I will do the dual hinge, and the board will partially depend on what the store in my small town has. I'll keep the pink in mind.
Thanks for your tips.

 

[hillhousesawdustco]

That's a big keezer for a "small apartment living room"!!! You could probably just go with a really thin collar (2x4 or whatnot) and not have to worry about the dual hingers.

 

[NWMOBrewer]

If I do a 2x4, how would I attach the collar to the lid? or just kinda have the lid sitting there? My whole apartment has a living room, dining room, SMALL kitchen (1 person) bathroom, and bedroom. Thats it. It is a huge keezer, but we want to have some soda taps coming out too, so it won't be 7-8 beers. She also wants me to paint it chalkboard, so I'm deciding on ways to do that.

 

[33cash]

I just finished my keezer a couple months ago. I opted to use a real chalkboard on the front instead of paint. I had heard to many complaints about chalkboard paint especially on an appliance.

 

[NWMOBrewer]

does the real chalkboard give you any heat problems?

 

[duckmanco]

If I can reco anything:

1. Get your faucets (perlick, or anything forward sealing) now. Yeah, its money you might not have, but find it, you'll love pulling the tap for a pint, and so will anyone who uses it. You probably won't heed this advice, but you should, and get as many as you think you might need now. I bought 3, have room for 5, and should have bought 5.

3. Buy, procure, whatever, as many kegs of your decided type as possible. Used ball locks are getting tougher to find at decent prices. I've watched prices on these climb inside of the 3 weeks I was planning/building mine.

2. Collar on freezer body build is MUCH simpler and easier to do, but some people (bunch of skirts if you ask me) complain (whine) about lifting a full size keg over the collar....... Its really not a big deal in practice, but for me, collar on body was much easier to build and I don't worry about the added stress on the hinges or buying a separate set of hinges. You also don't have to worry about sealing 2 separate surfaces, probably not hard either way, the choice is yours.

Half of my post should be taken lightly, especially those with reasons that don't allow them to lift a full keg over a collar, but the picnic tap thing makes me cringe. I know people's financial situations are all different, but if you are going to dedicate a freezer to something other than beef and some fish you caught, you have to go for it, spend the money now. My .02

 

[33cash]

There isn't any heat to really worry about. The back of my keezer is still open. The chaulk board I installed is just on the front and has barn wood trim around it. I posted a couple pics yesterday in the DIY section .

 

[Catt22]

If I can reco anything:

1. Get your faucets (perlick, or anything forward sealing) now. Yeah, its money you might not have, but find it, you'll love pulling the tap for a pint, and so will anyone who uses it. You probably won't heed this advice, but you should, and get as many as you think you might need now. I bought 3, have room for 5, and should have bought 5.

3. Buy, procure, whatever, as many kegs of your decided type as possible. Used ball locks are getting tougher to find at decent prices. I've watched prices on these climb inside of the 3 weeks I was planning/building mine.

2. Collar on freezer body build is MUCH simpler and easier to do, but some people (bunch of skirts if you ask me) complain (whine) about lifting a full size keg over the collar....... Its really not a big deal in practice, but for me, collar on body was much easier to build and I don't worry about the added stress on the hinges or buying a separate set of hinges. You also don't have to worry about sealing 2 separate surfaces, probably not hard either way, the choice is yours.

Half of my post should be taken lightly, especially those with reasons that don't allow them to lift a full keg over a collar, but the picnic tap thing makes me cringe. I know people's financial situations are all different, but if you are going to dedicate a freezer to something other than beef and some fish you caught, you have to go for it, spend the money now. My .02

No, half your post should not be taken lightly. Your advice is spot on IMO. Perhaps an exception for the picnic taps. I got by with picnic taps for a long time and, while not very elegant, they got the job done at a very low cost. I added the collar and taps later on. IOW, you don't need to lay out the cash all at once. Buy the kegs. Wait awhile. Buy the freezer. Wait awhile. Buy the taps and build the collar. Lifting the kegs into the freezer is not too bad, but lifting a 6.5 gal carboy into it can be challenging, not to mention downright dangerous. Much depends on how tall you are. I prefer not to possibly disturb the integrity of the original lid seal with collar attached to lid option. Having two sealing surfaces doesn't much appeal to me either.

 

[bruin_ale]

One thing to keep in mind with the coffin top/tower design. It looks great, but you have to move it away from the wall to open it. My first kegerator was coffin top, I loved it - but I went with collar the second time around and it's much easier not having to move the whole kegerator everytime I want to open the lid.

 

[NWMOBrewer]

I'm doing collar. I have room for 8 kegs I am estimating. I'm estimating low so I may fit 9, but I can use extra space to lager in. I currently have 2 kegs, but neither has beer in it. I'm hoping to have 2-3 kegs for pop for the SWMBO (I like the idea too) and have some cash to spend now. I am ordering taps and shanks. At farmhouse, they have a discount if you order 6 shanks, so I'm thinking of doing that. Do you guys suggest getting a full 10' of gas line? I agree with the idea of putting the collar on the bottom, but how would you attach it? I was thinking of using the freezer hinges to attach collar, but if I need to have the hinge on top? I'm confused on how you did that? I'll keep in mind the chalkboard on the front, and will look at yours. On kegs, I have noticed the prices going up, but I will still need to wait. I'm bottling my next batch, then kegging the one after that and have enough to do that so I'll be fine there. Every time I see cheap kegs, I'll be buying. Hoping to get around 10 or more to be able to store and age if necessary. I will head to KC within the next week or so to pick some stuff up.

 

[hillhousesawdustco]

Yeah I'd recommend getting at least 10 or so ft of gas line, particularly for your very first setup. You can always cut it down and figure out what works best for you pours.

My collar is 1.25x9" with rigid insulation inside and is siliconed to the top of the freezer. I removed the hinges from the back, and then reinserted the original machine screws through the bottom portion of two short pieces of 1x6. Then I screwed the tops of the short 1x6s into the collar itself. Then I just put screws through the original hinge body (where the machine screws had attached the lid to the keezer) and screwed the hinge assembly to the collar. Works great to hold the collar on and to attach the lid. Sorry if that was confusing, I could probably find a picture if that would help. Also, it might not work with such a short collar as the hinge and 1x6 might overlap...

 

[beaksnbeer]

Have you thought about a tower?

 

[33cash]

I used liquid nails and attached my collar directly to the freezer then used the hinges to reattach the lid to the top of my collar. It seems to be just fine.

 

[NWMOBrewer]

Have you thought about a tower?

Yes, I don't think a tower would be the best idea because of where I'm putting it. I'll see if I can find SWMBO's camera and put a picture of where it is. I think a collar would basically look better and be cheaper.

 

[NWMOBrewer]

Just an update, I have found my fiances camera, but no pictures yet. Its ok, build hasn't really started yet. It'll be done by mid june because I have a beer I'm kegging that needs to go in there. I'm also getting a lagering recipe I want to make.

On to the update. I have my temp control and my new faucets. I heeded advice I found on here and went with the more expensive Perlicks. Farmhouse for $24 isn't too bad. I have just bought 3 so far, because I don't have many kegs yet. As I get more kegs, I will be getting more faucets. In my first few pictures, it'll look very spacious, lol.