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Sizing your Chest Freezer for Corny Kegs

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I've searched this thread and can't find the 19.8 cu ft Kenmore Elite I just bought....does anyone have 1 that can give me any info on it?

What sort of info are you looking for? If you're wondering how many kegs you can fit in it, put out some cardboard circles and test it out! You own one, right? Post your findings (and pictures) so others can use that info! :mug:
 
I just bought it from a guy local but won't pick it up until after thanksgiving and was curious if anyone had already converted one....will post pics soon
 
I just bought it from a guy local but won't pick it up until after thanksgiving and was curious if anyone had already converted one....will post pics soon

Gotcha. Well, with almost 20 cubic feet, it's safe to say you can fit many kegs in it. Looking at the first page, people with ~15 cu.ft. freezers can fit 8-9 ball locks. Since your freezer is ~33% larger, you'll be able to fit MANY kegs! :ban:
 
So I am thinking that the GE at Home Depot is a good buy. I was recently given 2 corny kegs, and I was thinking it would be nice to have 2 guest taps. It seems that I have more consumption than time to brew as of late. I contacted some brew pubs and brewers, and it seems that some do 1/6 barrels. My question is, will the 7.0 cu ft ge at home depot fit 2 corny kegs and 2 1/6 barrels? I may wind up going and measuring, but if it would save me a trip to the store I thought I'd post.
 
Not sure what size 1/6 barrels are, but I actually bring my cornies to local breweries and then will normally fill them up for you. Last time I got a nice oatmeal stout for $60 for 5 gallons. They just have a coupler that goes from a sanke connection to ball lock and transfer from a keg into the corny. Works well when my brewing can't keep up with my drinking!
 
D_Nyholm said:
Not sure what size 1/6 barrels are, but I actually bring my cornies to local breweries and then will normally fill them up for you. Last time I got a nice oatmeal stout for $60 for 5 gallons. They just have a coupler that goes from a sanke connection to ball lock and transfer from a keg into the corny. Works well when my brewing can't keep up with my drinking!

In Georgia we have third party sales laws that make that impossible. Beer must be purchased through a third party (distributer, liquor store, grocery or connivence store). It sucks because I am less than 10 miles from the Terrapin brewery.
 
Not sure what size 1/6 barrels are, but I actually bring my cornies to local breweries and then will normally fill them up for you. Last time I got a nice oatmeal stout for $60 for 5 gallons. They just have a coupler that goes from a sanke connection to ball lock and transfer from a keg into the corny. Works well when my brewing can't keep up with my drinking!

Must be nice living in a state that allows that...
 
So I am thinking that the GE at Home Depot is a good buy. I was recently given 2 corny kegs, and I was thinking it would be nice to have 2 guest taps. It seems that I have more consumption than time to brew as of late. I contacted some brew pubs and brewers, and it seems that some do 1/6 barrels. My question is, will the 7.0 cu ft ge at home depot fit 2 corny kegs and 2 1/6 barrels? I may wind up going and measuring, but if it would save me a trip to the store I thought I'd post.

I just picked up the GE a couple of weeks ago. It should be plenty big enough if you put the CO2 on the hump. I put my CO2 on the hump and had to turn the gauges a little to get the lid to close until I can get my collar built.
 
Awesome thread. Joined just to say thanks. Scheming for a some-day keezer build.

Also, noticed the Holiday 5 cu ft is on sale at Lowe's for $169. Grab a mover's coupon from the Post Office (10% off) or Military ID and it's $152. Looks to be the same one from the first page. Edit: Not the same one from the front page... this is the one that only holds 2 Cornys.
 
Been reading all 640 posts in this thread for the last several hours. Super informative stuff! You guys have me hooked. The wife's already worried.

Perhaps somebody can help me out. I want both space for some kegs as well as fermentation space; two freezers. Space constraints allow me to fit two ~7 CF units pretty well and allow for future flexibility.

I'd like to be able to get 4 ball locks on-the-floor. I'll be making collars. CO2 will have to fit inside; I don't mind 5# tanks.

My options seem to be, per my Excel spreadsheet:

Magic Chef 7.0 CF HMCF7W for $219 at Home Depot. [fit?]
Room for four ball locks on the floor plus two 5# CO2 on the hump
(or four on the floor, one on the hump, and one 5# CO2 on the hump with collar)</s>
Online only item at Home Depot. Out of stock online. Not available elsewhere that I can find. Removed from consideration.

GE 7.0 CF FCM7SUWW for $229 at Home Depot or Lowe's or Fry's, $258 at Sears.
Room for four ball locks on the floor plus two 5# CO2 on the hump [tight fit]
(or four on the floor, one on the hump, and one 5# CO2 on the hump with collar)

Holiday 7.0... Very tight squeeze with 4 on the floor. Not comfortable with that tight of a fit. Removed from consideration.

Haier 7.1 CF HCM071AW for $259 at Sears
Room for four ball locks on the floor plus two 5# CO2 on the hump [loose fit]
(or four on the floor, one on the hump, and one 5# CO2 on the hump with collar)
Third party through Sears. Over $50 S/H charges. No in-store purchase option. Cannot find other retailers. Removed from consideration.

Looks like that leaves the GE 7.0 as the last man standing, unless we can dig up info on the Danby DCF700W1.

Can any of these cram in four on the floor, one on the hump for lager or carbonizing, and two 5# CO2 tanks (one for taps, one for the lager)?
Edit: Another user claims you can fit 5 kegs and a 10# CO2. Close enough for me.

Can any of these fit two 6-gal glass carboys?
Edit: Found the answer elsewhere. Two 6-gal Better Bottles fit, so I assume two glass ones probably would.
 
I have the Magic Chef and I know it will fit 3 on the floor and two on the hump. I got mine on sale for $158 but that ended last month. However, I was in a store in my area that still had a few left and they were still at $158 about 3 weeks ago. Here I have two 5-gal on the floor and two 2.5 gal on the hump.

DSC_0298.jpg
 
I have the Magic Chef and I know it will fit 3 on the floor and two on the hump. I got mine on sale for $158 but that ended last month. However, I was in a store in my area that still had a few left and they were still at $158 about 3 weeks ago. Here I have two 5-gal on the floor and two 2.5 gal on the hump.

Schnazzy! Is that the Magic Chef 7.0 CF, HMCF7W?

That one was on my list as being able to fit 4 on the floor in this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/7cu-ft-freezer-sale-starting-tomorrow-366240/

Are yours pin locks or converted ball locks, by chance?
 
Yeah, it is the 7.0. I don't know if it will hold 4 on the floor. I know it will hold three on the floor and then my two 2.5s on the hump. They are all ball locks.
 
Yeah they aren't cheap. But, I did not want to build a collar for my coffin keezer and they are more portable than a 5gal.
 
Yeah they aren't cheap. But, I did not want to build a collar for my coffin keezer and they are more portable than a 5gal.

Sorry to drag this off topic, but do you brew 2.5 gallon batches or just split up batches to fill these little guys up? Or bottle half/keg half?
 
Okay guys. I went out and took some measurements of interiors. Measured every freezer stocked at Home Depot and Lowe's. Was on my way to do HHgreg, Best Buy, Sears, Fry's, etc when the boss called me into work. So, sorry, this is all you get for now. My next days off are Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and then a family reunion. I'll try to pump out more of these when I get some spare time back.

From the previous page, the GE 7.0CF FCM5SUWW.

<<REMOVED FOR ORGANIZATION REASONS>>

Moved to: [thread=377518]Chest Freezer Spec Sheets and Layout Drawings[/thread]
 
Right now Lowe's has the Frigidaire 8.8 cu. ft. chest freezer on sale for $299 (regular $349) with free home delivery, and the Frigidaire 12.9 cu. ft. chest freezer on sale for $329 (regular $479) with free home delivery.

The 12.9 cu. ft. is an Energy Star certified freezer, so your local energy company may give you an energy credit for buying it (my local company will give me $50).

Having taken cardboard cutouts with me to the store, it looks like the 12.9 cu. ft. should be able to fit up to 8x 5gal ball locks on the floor, and another 2-3 on the hump with a collar.

I was going to get the 8.8 and fit 6 kegs, but with the energy credit, the 12.9 actually ends up about $20 cheaper, and I can fit twice as many kegs!

So anybody looking should check it out. They're going really fast for Christmas!

8.8 cu. ft.: http://www.lowes.com/pd_90724-2251-...rentURL=?Ns=p_product_avg_rating|1&facetInfo=

12.9 cu. ft.:http://www.lowes.com/pd_287017-2251...rentURL=?Ns=p_product_avg_rating|1&facetInfo=
 
Just a note with the Frigidaire models (I'll be posting layouts for these shortly). These are a little funky compared to what I've seen from GE/Holiday/Maytag so far.

All Frigidaire of their models have the hump on the left. Be sure to plan for that if you're mounting spouts off-center in-line with a digital control.

The 8.8CF LFFC09M5HW is a fine model. I'd be buying this one if I had room for more than two 7.0 CF models. It's just not in the cards.

The 13.0CF LFCH13M2MW has a protrusion on the underside of the lid, dead centered, where they installed a switched light. It's nice to be able to see into the freezer, but it also protrudes into the main compartment by 1-2". Be sure to leave a little extra space for your collar on this model.

The 14.9CF LFFN15MSHW is pretty much the same beast as the 13.0, just slightly bigger. The in-store model that I measured had a good deal of yellowing to the weather seals and the hinge springs were no longer able to hold the lid up. It has the same lid protrusion as the 13.0CF LFCH13M2MW. Because it's so large, they engineered it to accept twice as many hanging bins for organization... by permanently installing hanging rails on each of the long sides. They're glued on, not screwed in. If you don't remove them, you'll lose 1" on each long wall (reducing interior front-to-back depth from 22-1/8" to 20-1/8"). If you do remove them, you'll void your warranty. The hinges felt weak on this model because of the size of the lid (all Holiday and Frigidaire models seem to use the same size and type of lid hinge) and the lid felt flimsy. In general, I'd stay away from this one.

For PG&E customers in CA, you're out of luck on rebates. Only refrigerators qualify for any rebate, not freezers, which is $75 off any CEE Tier 2 model. Those models are usually $200-250 more expensive than your typical refrigerator.
 
For PG&E customers in CA, you're out of luck on rebates. Only refrigerators qualify for any rebate, not freezers, which is $75 off any CEE Tier 2 model. Those models are usually $200-250 more expensive than your typical refrigerator.

Nice info on the freezers. I did like that the 8.8 did NOT have a light on the underside of the lid. I don't know if I'll try to change that by removing the underside of the lid, or just make sure the collar is tall enough it doesn't matter.

As far as rebate's go, LG&E here in Kentucky offers a $100 rebate for qualifying refrigerators over 7.7 cubic feet, and $50 for any size qualifying freezer.

What really ticks me off is that I put a brand new 13 SEER dual-fuel furnace and heat pump in when I bought my house, but LG&E only offers rebates for 14 SEER and above... :mad:
 
Nice info on the freezers. I did like that the 8.8 did NOT have a light on the underside of the lid. I don't know if I'll try to change that by removing the underside of the lid, or just make sure the collar is tall enough it doesn't matter.

As far as rebate's go, LG&E here in Kentucky offers a $100 rebate for qualifying refrigerators over 7.7 cubic feet, and $50 for any size qualifying freezer.

What really ticks me off is that I put a brand new 13 SEER dual-fuel furnace and heat pump in when I bought my house, but LG&E only offers rebates for 14 SEER and above... :mad:

Funny. I had the power company's insulation efficiency cronies come by door-to-door in July, while we were still rebuilding after a house fire.

Smoke damage in the attic meant that the insurance company was paying to de-insulate and then re-insulate, and somehow the insurance company's contractor measured my R-15 cellulose as R-30 fiberglass, which I then paid $300 to upgrade to R-38. The wife mentioned this to the lady going door-to-door, who then told us that it's too bad we weren't paying for it ourselves, as we'd be eligible for their rebate, but not with the insurance company paying for it. :(

They said they'd come back in 2 weeks to offer weatherstripping, HVAC tuneups, etc... but they never returned. That was 6 months ago now.
 
Alright guys, two more coming momentarily. If I do too many of these, will have to figure out a way to organize them better. New thread? Index? We'll see.

These are the two biggest freezers I could find locally that weren't special orders for those that have ample space in their home or garage (not I). I highly recommend the Maytag over the Frigidaire in this size class for reasons of fit & finish, reduced compressor hump size, and the lack of a light hump on the underside of the lid. Note, I did not account for the light hump in the collar sizing.
 

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