I had October off from work, so in addition to spending lots of extra time with the family I finally got off my butt and built a 6 tap keezer! I never thought this was something I'd be able to do, and after pouring my first beers from it last night I am over the moon happy with the results.
I did a lot of research before purchasing anything, and in the end I mainly followed this Homebrew Academy post, this Brulosophy post (which is very similar to the previous one), and this HBT thread.
For the chest freezer I went with the Magic Chef 6.9 cu. ft. Chest Freezer from Home Depot. It easily fits 6 ball lock kegs if you go with your CO2 tank outside the freezer. My plan is to use taps 1-4 for beer/hard cider, and then the last 2 taps for home made soda and kombucha. So I'm using 5 gallon kegs for 1-4 and 3 gallon kegs for 5 and 6. I could have gone a bit higher with my collar and made it so 5 gallon kegs would fit on the hump, but I don't think I'll ever need that so I went with a slightly shorter one.
The collar consists of a 2X6 inner pine frame, with a 1X8 outer frame attached to that using brass bolts. That sits securely on top of the freezer, and I used foam weather stripping under the collar to make sure it has a tight seal. Then everything got sealed up with clear silicone. I then attached 1" foam insulation to the inside of the collar using the loctite foam adhesive (which just happens to bring the collar flush to the inside of the freezer), and then went over everything with aluminum foil HVAC tape to make sure it was really sealed and looked a little more professional.
I have a single regulator on my 20# CO2 tank which sits outside the keezer, which then runs to 6 secondary regulators on the inside. The beverage tubing is all 3/16" ID, and I'm using 8' length for all of the beer taps. I'm using 5/16" ID tubing for the gas lines, and after spraying everything down with leak detector I was happy to find no leaks on the first try! All of the regulators are Tap Rite, and the faucets are Vent-Matic Ultra Flo V. I am extremely happy with both. Got perfect pours all night long on my first 2 kegs.
For the temperature regulator I went with the Inkbird ITC-308 as it is just plug and play, and it's mounted to the back of the keezer. For the fan I went with a 120 mm low speed AC fan. It just plugs directly into the wall, runs constantly, gets great air flow, and you can't even hear it with the lid closed.
3 levels of sanding on the collar, pre-stain, 4 coats of stain, and 6 coats of chalkboard paint on the lid finished it off. The tap handles I got off Etsy.
I'm happy to answer any questions if I can help someone out with their build. It was definitely easier than I thought, and I think this is something that nearly anyone can complete as long as your patient and have a drill and some sort of saw.
I did a lot of research before purchasing anything, and in the end I mainly followed this Homebrew Academy post, this Brulosophy post (which is very similar to the previous one), and this HBT thread.
For the chest freezer I went with the Magic Chef 6.9 cu. ft. Chest Freezer from Home Depot. It easily fits 6 ball lock kegs if you go with your CO2 tank outside the freezer. My plan is to use taps 1-4 for beer/hard cider, and then the last 2 taps for home made soda and kombucha. So I'm using 5 gallon kegs for 1-4 and 3 gallon kegs for 5 and 6. I could have gone a bit higher with my collar and made it so 5 gallon kegs would fit on the hump, but I don't think I'll ever need that so I went with a slightly shorter one.
The collar consists of a 2X6 inner pine frame, with a 1X8 outer frame attached to that using brass bolts. That sits securely on top of the freezer, and I used foam weather stripping under the collar to make sure it has a tight seal. Then everything got sealed up with clear silicone. I then attached 1" foam insulation to the inside of the collar using the loctite foam adhesive (which just happens to bring the collar flush to the inside of the freezer), and then went over everything with aluminum foil HVAC tape to make sure it was really sealed and looked a little more professional.
I have a single regulator on my 20# CO2 tank which sits outside the keezer, which then runs to 6 secondary regulators on the inside. The beverage tubing is all 3/16" ID, and I'm using 8' length for all of the beer taps. I'm using 5/16" ID tubing for the gas lines, and after spraying everything down with leak detector I was happy to find no leaks on the first try! All of the regulators are Tap Rite, and the faucets are Vent-Matic Ultra Flo V. I am extremely happy with both. Got perfect pours all night long on my first 2 kegs.
For the temperature regulator I went with the Inkbird ITC-308 as it is just plug and play, and it's mounted to the back of the keezer. For the fan I went with a 120 mm low speed AC fan. It just plugs directly into the wall, runs constantly, gets great air flow, and you can't even hear it with the lid closed.
3 levels of sanding on the collar, pre-stain, 4 coats of stain, and 6 coats of chalkboard paint on the lid finished it off. The tap handles I got off Etsy.
I'm happy to answer any questions if I can help someone out with their build. It was definitely easier than I thought, and I think this is something that nearly anyone can complete as long as your patient and have a drill and some sort of saw.