My New Keezer! Dual Hinge

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culaslucas

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Location
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Hey All,

Here are some pics of my new keezer. Currently on tap: Haus Pale, Stone IPA Clone, Apfelwein.

It's a GE 14.8 cu ft freezer. I think it'll hold 8 kegs. Eventually I'll bump it up to 6 taps once I have enough of a pipeline to warrant that kind of action.

I set up a dual hinge design so I could easily lift kegs in & out if the collar & lid were open but also have the versatility to work on lines and easily lift bottles out with just the lid open.

I also used a dowel to gently hollow out the foam inside the freezer (being very careful not to puncture coolant lines) to run the LOVE control wiring down to the thermostat.

I still need a drip try and a manifold to accommodate more taps but it works just fine as is! I am having an issue with the compressor running a little too often for my liking so I might insulate the walls or something...

FYI, total cost for this thing was around $1200-$1500 - Freezer, Cornies (6), Tubing, Regulator, CO2, Taps, etc - EVERYTHING. I tried not to spare any expense - premium regs, Perlicks, LOVE Controller, etc. I ran 7' of beer line to each tap and haven't had ANY issues with foaming at all.

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Front View

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Top View

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Only Lid Open

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Lid & Collar Open
 
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LOVE Wiring (White Cable)

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Dual Hinge

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First pour from the new keezer! (Stone IPA Clone)

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SWMBO's Artsy Perlick Shot
 
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Hole for Wiring

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Conduit w/ wiring in hole. I drilled a small hole on the inside of the freezer where the conduit ends, inserted a grommet & ran the lines through there. You can see the copper coolant line just above the gray conduit.

Thanks to everyone for their ideas and input. This was a blast!
 
I like the perlick lineup shot!

Your Stone IPA came out a bit darker than mine... huh. I've never had the real thing, but I floated my keg of the clone in about 2 weeks :tank:

Nice keezer build!
 
F'ing brilliant! Love the dual hinge innovation.

Thanks, I wondered why I hadn't seen it done on here before.

In hindsight, I didn't leave enough room for the weatherstripping so I have to clamp everything down after I open it or there are gaps toward the front and it seals a little to tight by the back. If I were to do it again, I'd put the weatherstripping on FIRST before I drilled holes for the hinges...

This thing was worth every penny - I hated bottling so I was brewing less because of that.
 
very nice on the hinge!

are you planning to do anything to the inside of the collar? i used some killz paint to make sure mold and mildew wouldn't ruin my new toy ;)
 

Ya, I really should. I'm contemplating building a different collar because the current one is a little ghetto and I'd like a little thicker wood for addl. insulation.

I want to find somebody who knows what the hell they're doing (woodwork) to help build the next one. I've done stuff like this many times before but it always ends up a tad $hitty for my tastes.

Good call on the Killz - I'll do that one of these weekends. I have some Damprid in there currently but I'm sure that won't do well enough in the long run.
 
That's awesome. Can you please show a pic of the latches from the lid to the collar and collar to freezer? What did you use to attach? Liquid nails / adhesive, or did you have to drill?
 
That's awesome. Can you please show a pic of the latches from the lid to the collar and collar to freezer? What did you use to attach? Liquid nails / adhesive, or did you have to drill?

No prob:



I drilled into the collar and freezer. For the collar, I used the longest screws I could. For the Freezer, I used the shortest screws I could get away with. I knew from digging out the foam (as seen in the pictures at the top) that my coils were a ways in from the outer wall but I didn't want to chance it. I've had no issues at all with the shorter screws.

I usually never need to latch the top, but do sometimes to make sure it's locked and sealed 100%. The bottom always has to be latched because when I was building this, I didn't leave enough room for the weatherstripping so it seals really tight in the back & not so much in the front. I had to put additional weatherstripping in the front to compensate for this but still need to lock it down to make sure it's sealed.
 
Thanks. I took your idea for my keezer and it turned out great! I couldn't imagine not being able to open just the lid for so many reasons; and needless to say also being able to open the collar for loading / unloading.
 
Very nice! Mine is a bit simpler than yours but I did insulate the collar. I just used flat foam insulation from HD/Lowes (it's like $7-$8 per pack and I used only 1/2 a pack) and black Gorilla tape to protect it. Took some time but it turned out OK. Thread/pics here.
 
I have the same freezer and am in the middle of the conversion. I too kept the original lid with light. I'm about half way through.
I got pre painted wood that is about 1x7 and glued them together so it is thicker. I wanted to do 45 d angle cuts but alas by BIL saw that I borrowed could not cut that width so I went with the butt ends.

Will post pics later. I'm doing the collar connected to the lid but single hinge. Do the stock screws work okay on the hinges into the wood or did you need to go longer?
 
Got mine pretty much done...still need top mount the air distributor, drill holes fopr shanks and mount taps...I can kit corny kegs on my hump shelf standing up...woohoo.
The c02 tank will be outside and I'll probably upgrade to the two regulators system so I can be force carbing on one manuifold and serving on the other...

Down the road is beer gas and a qstout tap.
 
Here's some pics of the new keezer 90% done. Still need to caulk a few places and paint the ends of the wood.
It's a little ghetto but for a garage home brewery it''lldo.
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Very nice job, I am going to dual hinge my GE 15cu as well. I noticed that you were able to get it looks like a 1x6 in there for a collar and still have your electrical connected for the lid. I did a test fit last night and measured the cord going from my lid to the compressor electronics only seems to have at the absolute most 4" of slack. I take it they gave your lid a bit more slack on the electrical line. Did you have to extend the cord at all from the lid to the compressor?
 
Very nice job, I am going to dual hinge my GE 15cu as well. I noticed that you were able to get it looks like a 1x6 in there for a collar and still have your electrical connected for the lid. I did a test fit last night and measured the cord going from my lid to the compressor electronics only seems to have at the absolute most 4" of slack. I take it they gave your lid a bit more slack on the electrical line. Did you have to extend the cord at all from the lid to the compressor?

Good question - with my fridge, there was enough slack after I cut a zip tie in the cubby that holds the compressor - I was able to pull the line a little bit more line through and I was good to go!
 
Good question - with my fridge, there was enough slack after I cut a zip tie in the cubby that holds the compressor - I was able to pull the line a little bit more line through and I was good to go!

Right on, I didn't take off the compressor grill yet to investigate anything that might be holding that down. I will check that tonight.

Thanks,

-huK
 
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