My Keezer Build

[BeachCoffee]

After seeing all of the great keezer builds here, I decided to give it a try. Here is my new keezer featuring 4 taps, granite tiles and LED lighting.

Mike

 

[stubbq]

That's what I want to build soon

 

[abeasst]

Any build photos? That is awesome.

 

[kevinb]

Very nice

 

[Vlint]

Sweet. Love the granite

 

[BeachCoffee]

I'll post some build photos this weekend!

 

[BeachCoffee]

Here are some pictures I took during my build. I got most of my ideas from pictures of keezers that I found on the internet and this forum. Thanks to everyone that posted their builds in the past.

Building the Frame. I used heavy duty casters so I can roll it around my finished basement.

The veneer plywood is birch and the trim is poplar.

The holes in the tap house (i call it tap house instead of coffin because I just don't like the word coffin :cross are 7/8". The tiles are black granite.

1st coat of Kona stain.

3rd and final coat of stain.

My first homebrew in 13 years! Its a Sierra Nevada clone that I made with my brother.

I'm including several pictures to show off the LED lighting. It looks much better in person. It has a remote control and has many color options. Looks really cool.

Drip tray arrived! Three of the taps are the Perlick SS.

Picture of the tap house while I was building it.

Here are a few pictures from behind and the inside of the Keezer. The center hole is for the beer lines and the left and right hole will be for the fans.

This was a fun project to work on. Currently, I have one home brew on tap and root beer for the kids.

Mike

 

[pannell77]

nice work

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Looks awesome and love the tile work! My only suggestion would be for you to try to decrease the volumetric space in the coffin with more insulation. In my coffin, I used rigid foam insulation to created a column of air flow from the intake fan, up across the shanks, and back down to the exhaust fan. I experimented with insulating the just the walls of the coffin and found that I was experiencing a 10 to 12 degree temperature differential between the chest freezer and the coffin. I have a dual stage, dual probe controller to control my fans independent of the freezer compressor. My temp. probe is positioned at the shanks and I found that with the larger volume of space needing to be cooled along with the fact that cold air sinks, my shanks were not staying cold enough. Once I created the air flow channel though the coffin, thereby significantly reducting the volume to be cooled, I can comfortably maintain a <5 degree differential without the inductor fans running non-stop. Here is how I did it originally with styrofoam insulation, but I got sick of styrofoam particles floating around the chest freezer so I re-insulated with rigid foam insulation panels. Here's a link to how I re-did it with rigid foam.....just a suggestion.

 

[Hello]

That is beautiful. Nice work.

 

[abeasst]

Any pics of the top opened after you finished it? Any issue with the extra weight making the lid close by itself when opened?

 

[FB12]

Very nice work! Love the lighting & tile. Kreg jig rules!! I just started my build & the framework is very similar. I'll have a birch top, with ash & cherry siding/trim. Did you have to pre-condition before staining? That's the toughest part for me. Love building-hate staining!! Prost!

 

[BeachCoffee]

Looks awesome and love the tile work! My only suggestion would be for you to try to decrease the volumetric space in the coffin with more insulation. In my coffin, I used rigid foam insulation to created a column of air flow from the intake fan, up across the shanks, and back down to the exhaust fan. I experimented with insulating the just the walls of the coffin and found that I was experiencing a 10 to 12 degree temperature differential between the chest freezer and the coffin. I have a dual stage, dual probe controller to control my fans independent of the freezer compressor. My temp. probe is positioned at the shanks and I found that with the larger volume of space needing to be cooled along with the fact that cold air sinks, my shanks were not staying cold enough. Once I created the air flow channel though the coffin, thereby significantly reducting the volume to be cooled, I can comfortably maintain a <5 degree differential without the inductor fans running non-stop. Here is how I did it originally with styrofoam insulation, but I got sick of styrofoam particles floating around the chest freezer so I re-insulated with rigid foam insulation panels. Here's a link to how I re-did it with rigid foam.....just a suggestion.

Great idea. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[BeachCoffee]

Very nice work! Love the lighting & tile. Kreg jig rules!! I just started my build & the framework is very similar. I'll have a birch top, with ash & cherry siding/trim. Did you have to pre-condition before staining? That's the toughest part for me. Love building-hate staining!! Prost!

I just did a light sanding before staining. I followed it up with three coats of poly. I was a bit worried about staining also since its been a long time since I've stained.

 

[BeachCoffee]

Any pics of the top opened after you finished it? Any issue with the extra weight making the lid close by itself when opened?

I'll throw a picture on this weekend. I need to swap out my CO2 since I must have had a leak and lost my entire tank. The lid doesn't stay open by itself. I prop it up with a dowel rod when it's open.

 

[BeachCoffee]

Picture of inside and a picture of my CO2 and Regulator setup.

 

[Black_Z28]

I'm not seeing the typical bolts to secure the chest freezer top with the wood top. Did you use some sort of adhesive, or something I'm not seeing?

Looks great man. You must be from the Midwest...I see the Granite City growler.

 

[BeachCoffee]

I'm not seeing the typical bolts to secure the chest freezer top with the wood top. Did you use some sort of adhesive, or something I'm not seeing?

Looks great man. You must be from the Midwest...I see the Granite City growler.

I used construction adhesive and machine screws to attach the wood top. So far it's working out well.

Yep, I'm from Ohio. Finally getting rid of our snow!

 

[mattcuso]

What did you use to drill the hole in your freezer lid. I'm building one right now and wasn't sure what to use

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[day_trippr]

What did you use to drill the hole in your freezer lid. I'm building one right now and wasn't sure what to use

I used a bi-metal hole saw chucked into a beefy cordless drill...

Cheers!

 

[mattcuso]

Sweet thanks

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[wtgarrett]

Amazing work! Your build finally got me approval I build my own...
If you don't mind I have two questions - what freezer did you use? ( I would like a 4 ball lock keg system but need the final to be around 26" deep - length and height are not that critical) so I can get all 4 on the floor and off of the hump. And what are the dimensions of the tower - I'm gonna start with the tower first.

 

[BeachCoffee]

Amazing work! Your build finally got me approval I build my own...
If you don't mind I have two questions - what freezer did you use? ( I would like a 4 ball lock keg system but need the final to be around 26" deep - length and height are not that critical) so I can get all 4 on the floor and off of the hump. And what are the dimensions of the tower - I'm gonna start with the tower first.

Thanks for the kind words. I've been loving this thing the past month. Lots of great comments on the lighting.

This is the freezer. I picked it up at Lowes.

http://www.frigidaire.com/Kitchen-Appliances/Freezers/Chest-Freezer/FFC0923DW/

The tower is

• 16 1/2" High
• 24" Wide
• 11 1/4" deep (standard width, i didn't rip it)
• ~3" inset before the backsplash tile
• Taps are 4" on center and 13 1/2" high
• 7/8" bit is perfect for the shaft

 

[Jumpdive784]

Awesome work. I just emailed this to my wife, hopefully she agrees to let me build this when I get back from deployment. Fingers crossed!

 

[baltimorehokie]

Great build. I am using it for the inspiration for my keezer.

Could you post a few pictures of the back of the keezer? I am trying to figure out home much room to leave behind the unit.

What length shafts did you use?

 

[abeasst]

I'm gonna do about 4 inches of overhang on the back so that its not sandwiched against the wall and can get some circulation.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Awesome work. I just emailed this to my wife, hopefully she agrees to let me build this when I get back from deployment. Fingers crossed!

"Hurlbut Field".........Recovered a few broken F-4's from there in the early 80's.

 

[BeachCoffee]

Great build. I am using it for the inspiration for my keezer.

Could you post a few pictures of the back of the keezer? I am trying to figure out home much room to leave behind the unit.

What length shafts did you use?

I used the 4-1/8" stainless steel shank that I bought at Birdman Brewing. I don't leave much room behind my unit but I need to move it forward to left the lid or the top part hits the wall.

I overhang the back of the freezer by about 4 inches. The back of the whole thing is about 8 inches from the wall.

Mike

 

[IRBGOLF]

Awesome build where did you get your LCD lighting and can you provide the make/model?


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[BeachCoffee]

Awesome build where did you get your LCD lighting and can you provide the make/model?


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I bought it at Amazon. This is the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007X968RA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20