Keezer Build - Part 2

Time to conclude the keezer project I started in Part 1.  Last time I had built the dolly, the temperature controller and cut the wood for the collar.  Now it was time to put it all together.

I went to a welding supply shop in Cranston with my empty CO2 tank.  As I figured, the hydro stamp was out of date (basically ever five years the tank has to be tested to verify it's still safe.)  They charged me for the hydro test but swapped out the tank which saved me having to wait about three weeks.  Great guys and they have good deals on filling your propane tank, FYI.

Anyway, with my new full CO2 tank I quickly discovered that it was heavy as hell.  I decided to double the 2x4 base on the dolly to make sure it could hold it.  Then I fashioned some ramshackle chains to hold it in place and it was good to go.  It won't be winning any beauty awards but it'll do the trick.  The tank could have easily just gone on the floor next to the keezer but this will make it easier if I want to move it.

Time for the collar.  First I drilled a couple holes in the front for the faucets and one in the back for the gas line.  After that I sanded it and put on two coats of polyurethane.  You're supposed to add a base later of some other stuff first and then sand between coats and blah blah blah.  I'm not building an mahogany cabinet here.  I slapped a couple coats on it and called it a day.

Time to drill!

Once dry I attached the collar to the freezer using silicone sealant.  I waited most of the day for it to dry.  I probably should have waited longer but I was impatient.  After six hours excitement got the better of me and I attached the freezer lid to the collar.  It worked great.  The faucets were attached and I screwed the air splitter to the back wall.  The red gas line goes into the splitter and then on to the separate kegs.   It was a bitch trying to get the gas line through the hole I made and I had to run my drill bit around the edges which is probably definitely not recommended to get it through.

The keezer was now ready to hold beer!  I had an ESB that was ready and waiting.  Normally I'd have to transfer the beer to a bottling bucket along with priming sugar and then sanitize, fill and cap many a bottle.  Instead I ran some StarSan through the keg and then racked the beer into it.  So easy!

With the keg half full of beer (it was a 2.5 gallon batch) it was time to learn how difficult it was to move it into the keezer.  It wasn't too bad but then I filled the other keg with water - this was a real bear to lift and I had to use a stepstool to help lift it over the collar.  It was not easy but luckily I won't be doing it that often.

In case you're wondering I filled the other keg with water to improve the thermal mass in the keezer.  Liquid holds a temperature much better than air so the more liquid in you have, the better the keezer will hold the temp.  After I added the kegs, I plugged it into the temperature controller and over the next couple days monitored it.  It would take about 30-40 minutes to climb to 44 degrees before turning the keezer on and cooling it down to 42 degrees.

That's not a great amount of downtime and having the keezer's compressor turn on every 40 minutes or so will wear it out sooner rather than later.  Some more online research on the great homebrewtalk.com really helped me out.  First, I added some pink foam insulation around the inside of the collar.  This stuff was easy to cut and proved to be the perfect size.  I cut a couple holes for the faucets and cut a couple smaller pieces to fit around the red gasline.  Then I screwed the air splitter through the foam and into the wood.  The stuff fit so snugly that I didn't even have to glue it.

The other change I made was to cover the thermometer with bubblewrap insulation and tape it to the side of a gallon glass jug filled with water.  Since liquid temp changes slowly, it is much more efficient to gauge the temp of the water rather than the air temp which can fluctuate wildly, especially if I open the lid.  After I made these improvements, it now takes about 2-2.5 hours for the temp controller to rise from 42 to 44 degrees.

Pink insulation and better thermometer placement helped a lot

A few more small projects rounded out the build.  I attached the temp controller to a board behind the keezer so it was out of the way.  It's held in place but some nuts but can easily be unscrewed in order to move the keezer.  Then I attached another board and did some half-assed woodwork in order to hang some of my favorite glasses within arms reach.

At a craft store I found a couple magnetic photo holders which worked great to identify the taps. The labels slide right in and can easily be switched out.  Hopefully it'll encourage me to get creative with each new batch.

 

Finished!

There you have it!  Come on over and have a pint!

Keezer Build - Part 1

For the past few months I have begun assembling the components necessary for a kegging setup for my homebrew.  The biggest question was what type of refrigeration unit.  Kegerators aren't that cheap (even on Craigslist) and an used full-size fridge would not work in my house.  That left a chest freezer, which when converted by homebrewers, is known as a keezer.

First I picked up two kegs, a giant CO2 tank and a CO2 regulator on Craigslist.  The common size for a CO2 tank is 5 lbs and this one is 20.  Still a quick look on the forum assured me that folks with 20 pounders were quite happy with them - less trips to get the tank filled.  However, it is quite large and heavy.

About a month later, I picked up a 5 cubic foot chest freezer on Craigslist.  Amazingly it fit in Amanda's Honda Fit.  The two kegs fit inside no problem but it would haven't a lot of clearance to fit the CO2 tank.

Once I had the chest freezer, I was able to put together measurements and begin the build in earnest.   In order to have taps you either need to go through the lid (via an expensive tower) or attach a wooden collar and drill through that.  You can't go through the walls of the freezer 'cause you'll hit the coils.  I went to Home Depot and got some cheap 2x6 which I had them cut for me.

I knew I wanted this thing on wheels so that I could wheel it into the finished section of the basement if we have a party.  I kept this really basic.  I bought some wheels at Harbor Freight and just used some old 2x4s we had in our creepy trailer.  I added a little ledge on the side of the dolly where I can attach the tank so that it can get wheeled around as well.

One thing I didn't really consider is the height increase from both the dolly and the collar.  It adds another foot to the keezer.  It looks good but I hadn't considered how I'd lift a full 5 gallon keg over the collar.  I filled a keg with water and tried it out.  It was not easy.  A stepstool helped but it's still tricky.  For this reason many people opt to attach the collar to the lid so that when you raise the lid the collar, taps and lines all move out of the way.  That sounds great but it's also more DIY than I want to deal with.  So I'm going to glue the collar down and just deal with the clearance issue.

Another hurdle was temperature control.  Since this is a freezer, I can't just run it or it'll freeze the beer.  So some kind of device is necessary to regulate the temp.  You can buy plug 'n play versions but they veered into the $60-70 range.  This project was up there already and that was way more than I wanted to spend.

The homebrew forums provided a cheaper alternative.  A DIY version could be made using an aquarium temp controller ($13 on Ebay) along with an old computer cord and a wall outlet.  Once I bought the controller I was able to scrounge together all the components from around the house.  I was nervous about the DIY wiring but it proved to be very easy and within an hour I had built a functioning temp controller (I used an old tupperware to contain it all.)

The temperature controller worked!  I set it up so that it would switch on when the temp in the freezer reached 46 degrees and turn the freezer off at 41 degrees.  But my ghetto tupperware case wasn't cutting the mustard - the outlet hung pretty loose in there and I wasn't satisfied.  Another stop at Home Depot and I picked up a hard plastic outlet box.  This one fit the temp controller and the outlet snug as a bug.

I was off to a good start but there was much more to do!  Click here for Part II where it all comes together!