Keezer with no collar!

[theQ]

Cheers to all of you!

I am going to get straight to it. I am building my one keezer under the cabinets. I had the cabinet maler buld me a custom hallow cabinet and I can slide in and out, on a heavy duty rail, the freezer.

I am about to drill the beer lines an doing it on the top is out of discussion, I won't be able to slide it back and forth - very small room there.

So that leaves me just the top lip for the freezer.

The question is: anyone can tell me how close to the edge of the top those lines run ? Is there a rule of thumb ?

I am planning to put a whole in the thin then gingerly scoop around, I assume it's a high density foam so I could see if I have any lines.

Thanks for dropping by and reading me questions, cheers again!

 

[Jayjay1976]

Don't cut into the side wall. I would suggest cutting a trough into the edge of the lid above the original gasket to run the beer lines out then seal the gaps with spray-in foam or stuff some weather seal in there with a screwdriver. You can safely cut away the plastic underside of the lid to run the lines down to your kegs. Be sure to cover any rough/sharp metal edges to prevent cutting the beer lines. How do you plan to insulate and refrigerate the beer lines on their way to the taps?

 

[theQ]

That could work better !

For the beer lines I will wrap them in insulation. it's going to have 4 beer lines will add 2 more to move cold air around. So there will be an 1.5, 4 feet tube in the open. Not ideal, i get it, but that's the best. Hope is not to big of a compromise.

That's the plan however I am open to adjust this plan. Ideas are welcome. I need to start looking for the best insulation solutions. Moving water/glycol could be something to consider. My tower will be 2" black iron piping.

 

[Jayjay1976]

That could work better !

For the beer lines I will wrap them in insulation. it's going to have 4 beer lines will add 2 more to move cold air around. So there will be an 1.5, 4 feet tube in the open. Not ideal, i get it, but that's the best. Hope is not to big of a compromise.

That's the plan however I am open to adjust this plan. Ideas are welcome. I need to start looking for the best insulation solutions. Moving water/glycol could be something to consider. My tower will be 2" black iron piping.

Air alone does not have enough thermal capacity to pull heat out of the taps and the beer lines. I would run a loop of tubing all the way to the taps and back to the keezer, hook it up to a little pond pump submerged in a small tub of water so that it will circulate cold water through the line and either let the keezer temp controller kick it on and off or use a timer to run it for a few minutes every half hour or so. Insulate that bundle as well as possible and consider extending the cooling loop across the shanks and insulate them as well. It's a bit of effort but it sure sounds like your setup is going to be awesome so why not spend a little extra time and make it perfect? Sputtering foam at the start of each pour wastes beer and isn't going to impress anybody.

 

[theQ]

Absolutely!

Since is a "special setup" I will have to spend all the time to make it work, I am waiting to receive the shanks and beer line then I will have to work some magic. Working with iron pipe fittings would be a bit tight.

Since the coolant line has to be flexible, can you think of any wait to increase the thermal properties/transfer ?

Now I have to look for a little aquarium pump and a little bucket to create the coolant loop.


BTW As I hinted above the problem I see with water is that the water will be insulated and there will be hardly any transfer tubing to tubing contact while the air will surround the lines. if I could run some cooper inside the tower the transfer would be more efficient. Ideal if I could have the lines surrounded by water that would be a better way but that's hard to achieve as everything needs to be tightly plumbed.

Thanks for the food for thought Jay! It's great to have someone willing to engage into a discussion and bounce the ideas of. Thank you again!

 

[Jayjay1976]

Absolutely!

Since is a "special setup" I will have to spend all the time to make it work, I am waiting to receive the shanks and beer line then I will have to work some magic. Working with iron pipe fittings would be a bit tight.

Since the coolant line has to be flexible, can you think of any wait to increase the thermal properties/transfer ?

Now I have to look for a little aquarium pump and a little bucket to create the coolant loop.


BTW As I hinted above the problem I see with water is that the water will be insulated and there will be hardly any transfer tubing to tubing contact while the air will surround the lines. if I could run some cooper inside the tower the transfer would be more efficient. Ideal if I could have the lines surrounded by water that would be a better way but that's hard to achieve as everything needs to be tightly plumbed.

Thanks for the food for thought Jay! It's great to have someone willing to engage into a discussion and bounce the ideas of. Thank you again!

The rate of thermal transfer isn't super important since the temperatures should be relatively stable, this is indoors, right? The tubing might be a poor conductor but the heat load should be pretty low. You might consider splicing the tubing to copper at the taps and back to tubing for the return line. You could explore alternatives to beerline for the cooling loop, but beerline has the lowest drag and will give you the best flow rate and cooling efficiency and of course will be reliable. The more important thermal transfer occurs between the air in your keezer and the water in the reservoir; if you could find a container made of metal that would be ideal. It could be a small, cheap single-wall stock pot. I would think 6-8qt would be large enough.

 

[FunkedOut]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/running-water-lines-through-keezer-lid.594249/

Some good pics of a lid ^

 

[theQ]

Thanks ! That looks interesting.
It's a good idea keeping the gas outside.