Longtime Lurker - My Keezer Build

[MikeTHIS]

This is going to be one heck of a first post!

I’m am a long time lurker here, observing from the shadows. I’ve landed on this forum through Google searches for years regarding my original Kegerator and even MORE since I started brewing in March of this wonderful 2020 we’re having.

Being home for close to four months gave me a ton of time for home improvement projects and brewing. I’m on my 8th beer, extract still - with plans in the near future for full grain as I’m comfortable with the entire process from sanitizing to packaging in my corny kegs (skipped bottling).

My original kegerator just wasn’t viable for home brewing, having ONE 5 gallon batch I was finding I was giving it away far too quickly. So I landed here searching for Keezers.

I found the amazing list and documentation here on the forum regarding Keezer sizes and layouts. Truly a remarkable resource - I’m talking about this:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/chest-freezer-specs-and-layouts.377518/page-19
Being a pandemic it was next to impossible to find a chest freezer, but I found a brand new one on LetGo - 9 cubic foot Frigidaire and it worked perfectly. That was in August.

I’ve gathered some parts slowly and here are the results.

Started with a 2x10 collar that I decided was way too tall and cut it down. I used a pocket hole jig and filled all holes, seams and as much of the grain as I could after sanding and sanding and sanding.

I know, I know I could’ve used nicer hardwoods but why bother when I was going to paint it anyhow. I wanted to paint the sides white and the front with chalkboard paint for the beer list.

lined the inside with foil faced styrofoam, using a five valve manifold for my co2

I’m a terrible HVAC guy - ran out of foil tape I’ll finish that today.

Went with Intertap stainless taps with internal springs and Kegco 5 1/2” shank. I saw someone on here who labeled their lines for organization and thought it was a good idea.

I did run out of some barbed 1/4 swivel nuts - but I transferred over what I could. More on order - I know a lot of folks like duo-lock though.

I plan on tying to squeeze six kegs in there at some point, I’m going to mount the co2 tank to the outside of the collar on a fire extinguisher mount.

I transferred over my controller from my old kegerator - Penn A421

I have to order a new one for that small one as I’ll use it for fermentation - but why pay for one right now

Threw some taps on for the picture but it’s all done and I’ll be kegging two beers today to start carbonating. A Hefeweizen and a Kölsch

The only thing I’m going to do is add a fan for circulation. I don’t get any condensation yet as the load is low with the empty kegs, we shall see how it goes.

Thank you all for the help, guidance and inspiration you didn’t even know you were giving me!

Any thoughts or critiques are welcome!

CHEERS!

 

[JohnSand]

Hi Mike! Nice job, welcome aboard!
I notice the Blue Point tap handles. Are you on Long Island?

 

[MikeTHIS]

Yes I am!

Long time BP regular too

 

[JohnSand]

Cool. There are a few of us here, and a thread Who is brewing on Long Island?
In normal times there are meet ups and shares posted there.
I'm in Rocky Point.

 

[MikeTHIS]

Cool. There are a few of us here, and a thread Who is brewing on Long Island?
In normal times there are meet ups and shares posted there.
I'm in Rocky Point.

Awesome, just posted over there!

 

[MikeTHIS]

Lines sanitized and first two beers in the Keezer!

Had to tape the sensor to the side of the keg, I felt like the bottle I had the sensor god cold too quickly.

My closed loop setup:

 

[bracconiere]

i don't know why, but that beer line looks HUGE! what is that? 5/16" ID?

sorry if i missed it being said.

 

[day_trippr]

Looks like standard Bevlex 200 7/16" OD from here...

Cheers!

 

[MikeTHIS]

i don't know why, but that beer line looks HUGE! what is that? 5/16" ID?

sorry if i missed it being said.

It is deceiving, it’s 3/16 lol

 

[MikeTHIS]

Looks like standard Bevlex 200 7/16" OD from here...

Cheers!

Exactly, 3/16 ID 7/16 OD

 

[bracconiere]

it looks huge. what's ID of 7/16" bevlex?

i see my question was answered while i typed!

 

[MikeTHIS]

it looks huge. what's ID of 7/16" bevlex?

i see my question was answered while i typed!

The blazing speed of the interwebs!

The line is really thick, but I’ve had the best results with the 3/16 ID

 

[bracconiere]

The blazing speed of the interwebs!

The line is really thick, but I’ve had the best results with the 3/16 ID

not if you had my DSL!

and yeah i have to say i just upgraded my beer lines from 12' of 1/4" to 10' of 3/16". way better! but i just use vinyl PVC, and it's tiny!

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

not if you had my DSL!

LOL....STOOpid!

 

[bracconiere]

STOOpid!

i might be slow, but i'm not dim! it just takes me more time to load a page of "what i drank to day"!

 

[Gozie Boy]

Very nice! One observation is that you have really long shanks. I have 4-1/8" in mine, and could have gotten away with 3-1/8" and wish I did. I also use similar insulation on the collar, but have a small rectangular section of (unglued) insulation around the shank entries that I can remove if I (hopefully never) need to remove a shank. Reducing the amount of penetration of projections into the keezer makes it easier to work around and move kegs in and out.

 

[MikeTHIS]

Very nice! One observation is that you have really long shanks. I have 4-1/8" in mine, and could have gotten away with 3-1/8" and wish I did. I also use similar insulation on the collar, but have a small rectangular section of (unglued) insulation around the shank entries that I can remove if I (hopefully never) need to remove a shank. Reducing the amount of penetration of projections into the keezer makes it easier to work around and move kegs in and out.

Thank you!

I’m not sure what I was thinking ordering those as long as I did, but so far they don’t seem to be too much of an issue.

I grabbed another roll of 4” foil tape for me to finish my tape job today - so I’ll likely do the same as you.

If I ever need to switch the shanks they’re cheap enough.

 

[MikeTHIS]

Both my beers are fully carbed! I definitely need a drip tray, anyone have any recommendations?

 

[PaleMan]

Both my beers are fully carbed! I definitely need a drip tray, anyone have any recommendations?

View attachment 705662

Ive seen one youtube video where a guy built a keezer and attached his drip tray with strong magnets.

 

[day_trippr]

imo the best solution given the collar is fixed and the lid is hinged is to hang a drip tray attached to the collar.
There's a really cool example of that in this forum where the person used black metal plumbing bits to hang the tray below the faucets.

There are also solutions with stainless steel back splashes that attach to the collar...

Cheers!

 

[MikeTHIS]

Small update!

Finally got a chalk marker lol

 

[MikeTHIS]

Two more beers fermenting away - a porter and an IPA. Taps one and two soon to be filled for the Holidays.

 

[Ragman]

Really nice and clean looking Keezer!

 

[eric19312]

Nice build Mike thanks for sharing. Another Long Islander here noticed your Bluepoint taps too. Like your chalkboard looks great.

My build is similar with a 7cf freezer. I hold my drip tray on with L brackets that are held onto the freezer with rare earth magnets.

I'm thinking about rebuilding when freezers are plentiful again as I think mine is wearing out. It ices up in the bottom and up about 3" on the sides but no higher. I defrosted it a few months ago to get rid of the ice and it took it nearly a week to get back to 39F when I plugged it back in and the ice reformed in few days after that anyway.

One issue I've had is I hold 4 kegs in there very tightly situated. They are jammed against each other. Due to the shanks poking in from the front and the manifold reaching in from the back and a fan I mounted in one corner...reminder to self to try moving that fan...I have a difficult time getting the kegs in and out. It is like one of those sliding block puzzles where you have to try to get the numbers in the right order so you can swap out a keg. Once I remove the left front keg I can slide the rest around to get to them.

I'm liking @day_trippr 's solution with the collar attached to the lid to move all that stuff out of the way when you open it up but don't think I've got his carpentry/mechanical skills to pull that off. I think when I redo I will probably cluster the shanks closer together and not centered on the long wall and put the manifold on one of the short sides. Probably not the side over the hump as I end up using the hump for bottle, can and yeast storage.

I'd also figure out my drip tray earlier in the design. The L brackets work ok but I'd not trust them to hold a full beer while I'm filling a second one.

 

[MikeTHIS]

Nice build Mike thanks for sharing. Another Long Islander here noticed your Bluepoint taps too. Like your chalkboard looks great.

My build is similar with a 7cf freezer. I hold my drip tray on with L brackets that are held onto the freezer with rare earth magnets.

I'm thinking about rebuilding when freezers are plentiful again as I think mine is wearing out. It ices up in the bottom and up about 3" on the sides but no higher. I defrosted it a few months ago to get rid of the ice and it took it nearly a week to get back to 39F when I plugged it back in and the ice reformed in few days after that anyway.

One issue I've had is I hold 4 kegs in there very tightly situated. They are jammed against each other. Due to the shanks poking in from the front and the manifold reaching in from the back and a fan I mounted in one corner...reminder to self to try moving that fan...I have a difficult time getting the kegs in and out. It is like one of those sliding block puzzles where you have to try to get the numbers in the right order so you can swap out a keg. Once I remove the left front keg I can slide the rest around to get to them.

I'm liking @day_trippr 's solution with the collar attached to the lid to move all that stuff out of the way when you open it up but don't think I've got his carpentry/mechanical skills to pull that off. I think when I redo I will probably cluster the shanks closer together and not centered on the long wall and put the manifold on one of the short sides. Probably not the side over the hump as I end up using the hump for bottle, can and yeast storage.

I'd also figure out my drip tray earlier in the design. The L brackets work ok but I'd not trust them to hold a full beer while I'm filling a second one.

Hey thanks!

I did see a similar design with rare earth magnets. I haven’t really decided what I’m going to do just yet.

Stinks that your unit is having issues, but I hear you about them not being available. I was looking since May and stumbled across an almost new one on Letgo.

Im certainly going to move the co2 outside for more room, my tank always falls down when loading.

Yeah the shank length was probably one of the only mistakes I made, so I’ll be changing them at some point.

I’m glad there’s so many long Islanders here!

 

[DrStrange]

So I'm in the planning phase of my own build and have seen folks use 2x6 and 1x6 for the collar - does that really depend on the width of the freezer walls or is the width done on purpose? I'm looking at a 15.7 cf garage ready one that is new so I'm guessing the newer ones have thinner walls? Boston winters get chilly and my garage/brewery isn't heated (but underneath the house so so far the coldest it has gotten is 45 degrees)

 

[MikeTHIS]

I’m on Long Island, so winter is the same here for the most part.

I originally went with a 2x10 but felt it was HUGE. I cut about 2” off, and I can still fit two kegs on the compressor hump.

I measured my collar for the outside diameter of my freezer, so I can insulate the Inside with foam, which is mostly for warm weather.

It’s also for looks, don’t get me wrong. You want it to look good and also function good, too.

Don’t fear the cold, makes your system work less during the winter. Mine is also in my garage.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Very nice! The toasted lager tap looks familiar ;-)

 

[DrStrange]

I’m on Long Island, so winter is the same here for the most part.

I originally went with a 2x10 but felt it was HUGE. I cut about 2” off, and I can still fit two kegs on the compressor hump.

I measured my collar for the outside diameter of my freezer, so I can insulate the Inside with foam, which is mostly for warm weather.

It’s also for looks, don’t get me wrong. You want it to look good and also function good, too.

Don’t fear the cold, makes your system work less during the winter. Mine is also in my garage.

The cold is not overly concerning - I have a upright fridge/top freezer that I converted to a kegerator - only holds 2 cornys though that was in a unattached/uninsulated garage in the old house that as soon as the temps dropped below 20ish the damn thing seemed to work in reverse (melting everything in the freezer section - gads what a mess). This new house is a totally different configuration - garage is part of the foundation and only 1 wall exposed to the outside world (with the door of course) so hopeful I wont run into that issue again

 

[MikeTHIS]

Very nice! The toasted lager tap looks familiar ;-)

I play on Blue/Point’s (what a stupid new logo) hockey team. I regularly had toasted on tap til I started brewing though.

One of my favorite beers for sure.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

I play on Blue/Point’s (what a stupid new logo) hockey team. I regularly had toasted on tap til I started brewing though.

One of my favorite beers for sure.

Sweet!

 

[MikeTHIS]

Just a small update!

Waiting on two more tap setups to increase up to six now that I confirmed they fit!

Also finally built my drip tray thanks to one of the guys I follow on Instagram!

I have since used putty to fill all the holes, need to be sanded and painted yet. Went with Neodim magnets and it works really well!

Oh, and custom CNC’d tap handles with my “Brewery” logo (I have stickers for trade!)

Check out my Instagram Page

 

[MikeTHIS]

Got another round of filler on it, have to sand and see where we are at. I’ve worked close to 20 hours of overtime with all this snow, so my only free time went to my first all grain brew in my Anvil Foundry!

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Very nice!