New to brewing, Jumping right in. - Making a Keezer

[mjpeisher]

Ok Folks, here we go. A month or two ago, I started with this post:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/brand-new-jumping-both-feet-359572/

And here we are on the Keezer Build.
I got a chest freezer from sears when they had them on sale, and planned to make it into a collared keezer, so here are some picks.

Instead of buying a standard drip tray, I went to Lowe's and bought some decorative floor registers and mounted those to a wooden box I built. I used angle brackets from Lowe's (3") and rare earth magnets from Harbor Freight to attach then to the keezer, so I can remove them for easy cleaning.

I used the built in thermostat on the chest freezer and used the inner crude level adjustment screw to set the temp up to the 37 degree range. Overall costs are recollected below:

• Chest Freezer - 230 (Sears , craigslist would have been better, but nothing was in my area, upstate SC)
• Wood - 20 (Home Depot)
• Stain/Seal-10 (Home Depot)
• Angle brackets and screws - 8 (Lowe's)
• magnets - 10 (harbor freight)
• taps - 33 each (I got some more beer gift certificates for christmas)
• Inner 6 port Air Manifold - Morebeer, the chest freezer can fit 6 plus a 6 gallon carboy for lagering, so I planned ahead, 40 I think
• Hosing -15 (LHBS)
• Clamps - 5 (Home Depot)
• Drip Tray Grilles - 12 each (lowes)
• SWMBO's help staining and picture taking, free, granted, she just wanted the beer
• Great Stuff - 8 (Lowe's, I used it to seal the collar down, but I didn't want to damage the keezer incase I get rid of it)

Only problem, first beer was all head, and then I realized "should have turned the CO2 back on.

Any comments? Things I could have done better/cheaper/differently?

 

[Copbrew133]

Really nice, might steal the idea for the drip tray, good job.

 

[jaredriesel]

Looks great! I'm just about ready to begin building my keezer. I've been planning exactly what you've done. Are those 1x6 pieces of wood?

 

[limulus]

Great idea for drip trays! Enjoy the fruits.

 

[bsomogyi]

Nice job and great ingenuity on the drip trays. Wondering how the wood boxes will hold up to repeated moisture and the funk that comes with it. Did you stain the boxes or something?

 

[mjpeisher]

Yeah, the wood was just pine straight from the lumber department. I used a red mahogany stain, sanded multiple times, and then did a polyurethane sealant, multiple coats. I would think with the seal which is rated for outdoor duty, it should be fine.

The trays themselves are made from:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_63864-34146-AMFRPBV212_0__?productId=3260493&Ntt=floor+registers&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dfloor%2Bregisters&facetInfo=

And the wood underneath it is a small collar made from 2x1 and the base plate is a 1x3. I think that all things considered, instead of a box underneath, I could have just mounted the floor register right to the 1x3 without any kid of box, and it would have worked just the same, however, this will allow the box to hold some spillage.

 

[mjpeisher]

And no, the collar is made from 2x6. I went with 2 inch and skipped the internal insulation. I think a 2x8 might have been better just for more room, and then if you wanted to due the trays differently, you could go with a 2x12 and mount the tray to the collar itself.

I saw some people do the collar with a peice of 1x, but at that point you would want to have a sheet of insulation behind the wood, for certain.

 

[Double-R]

Nice....... 5 feet from the front door..