My gf has very kindly offered to cover the cost of building a keezer as a birthday present! Very exciting and a great late-quarantine activity. As we started looking into chest freezers, though, we had a really tough time finding any that were actually in stock. We’re looking for a black freezer in the ~9 cu ft range. Any suggestions very much appreciated. We’re in Minneapolis in case anyone knows of some local options.
Finding a Chest Freezer
- Thread starter catman
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Good luck. When my current keezer started bleeding out a couple of months ago I trawled every appliance and big box store including on-line stores and could not come up with anything that would work. Everyone was saying call back in 2021.
Got lucky, a store we had done recent business with scored three 14.8cf units - clearly sporting cosmetic damage and called me. I got there first and picked up the cleanest of the bunch - a slight crease in the front you have to be in the right orientation to even see.
So, keep plugging, call everyone, and get on their lists. Might get lucky...
Cheers!
Got lucky, a store we had done recent business with scored three 14.8cf units - clearly sporting cosmetic damage and called me. I got there first and picked up the cleanest of the bunch - a slight crease in the front you have to be in the right orientation to even see.
So, keep plugging, call everyone, and get on their lists. Might get lucky...
Cheers!
looks like freezers are coming back in stock. I think mine is getting ready to quit and have been watching the big box stores. Best Buy had quite a few when I checked last week.
Snark_Wolf_Brewing
Snark Wolf Brewing
Freezers and fridges are few and far between here in my neck of the woods.
I'm looking in the 14 cu ft range right now as our current one has issues. Home Depot was saying a Frigidaire model is backordered till early Nov. Should have pulled the trigger immediately, now it says out of stock with no option to buy.
Black though? Good luck with a black chest freezer. I'd prefer that but I think only one brand in one size (maybe around the size you wanted) I ever found in black. I'm pretty sure this is because unlike other appliances, chest freezers are almost always put in basements, garages, or other out of the way places so very few people care about color, and offering colors costs more. If you find otherwise though, please let me know, as I too would prefer black.
Black though? Good luck with a black chest freezer. I'd prefer that but I think only one brand in one size (maybe around the size you wanted) I ever found in black. I'm pretty sure this is because unlike other appliances, chest freezers are almost always put in basements, garages, or other out of the way places so very few people care about color, and offering colors costs more. If you find otherwise though, please let me know, as I too would prefer black.
I expect your belief is on target, most chest freezers aren't destined to glorious service 
wrt appearance, though, a viable option is a vinyl wrap. Won't hinder the condenser under the skin and the possibilities are nearly endless. The Spousal Unit pitched that for my K3 build (in progress). I am giving it consideration...
Cheers!
wrt appearance, though, a viable option is a vinyl wrap. Won't hinder the condenser under the skin and the possibilities are nearly endless. The Spousal Unit pitched that for my K3 build (in progress). I am giving it consideration...
Cheers!
dawn_kiebawls
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Check facebook market place. None of the stores around me have anything in stock because all the asshats on FB marketplace bought up all the stock to try and sell it for a profit in Omaha right now there are 6 or 8 people selling NIB chest freezers and have like 10 boxes in their garage...bastards. They're probably the same people that were hoarding all the TP a few months ago. Best of luck, though! Maybe consider a white one. I think you'll stand a better chance
in Omaha right now there are 6 or 8 people selling NIB chest freezers and have like 10 boxes in their garage...bastards. They're probably the same people that were hoarding all the TP a few months ago. Best of luck, though! Maybe consider a white one. I think you'll stand a better chanceStonehenge360
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I found mine on Costco.com after 3 months of dealing with Best Buy lying to me about delivery times. Good luck man...everyone is prepping for the apocalypse right now and we just want good beer.
Weird. The 14.8 ft³ Frigidaire I mentioned is now listed as Oct 20th delivery from Home Depot. So in the span of less than 24 hrs it's been early Nov, unavailable, and now Oct 20th. Weird.
Perhaps this means you just have to keep checking websites? I'm going to order this, I'll let you know it I actually end up getting it or if it's a red herring.
Perhaps this means you just have to keep checking websites? I'm going to order this, I'll let you know it I actually end up getting it or if it's a red herring.
How many ball lock kegs does that Frigidaire 14.8 hold on the floor?
Zero kegs without a collar. The lid liner protrudes so deep that it hits a standard QD before it closes. With a collar or custom lid you can fit 10 kegs on the floor...
Cheers!
Cheers!
See post #28 in this thread
That 2012 model is quite different from my 2020 unit...
Cheers!
Cheers!
catalanotte
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Local Best Buy had a 10.2 cu ft Insignia in stock. Holds 6 on floor, no collar, 2 more on hump with collar. Unfortunately for OP, I don’t believe it is available in black.
Thanks I didn't realize the freezer was old enough to be in the database.
Doh I thought that might be the case. How many does it fit? Also I keep reading your mentions of your new unit...have you posted a thread about the build?
I expect your belief is on target, most chest freezers aren't destined to glorious service
wrt appearance, though, a viable option is a vinyl wrap. Won't hinder the condenser under the skin and the possibilities are nearly endless. The Spousal Unit pitched that for my K3 build (in progress). I am giving it consideration...
Cheers!
Thanks--this opens up some possibilities. There are a few places in the area that have white freezers in stock (Home Depot, Menards). Preliminary research suggests that a high-quality wrap for a roughly 9-10cu ft freezer will set us back about $300 (which is about as much as the freezer costs!). Does that sound right?
I better start brewing more!
10 will fit on the floor with collar or a taller lid.
I've been serializing my build reports in the General/"what I did for beer today" thread, you can catch it all there so far. Eventually I'll pull them together in a separate thread. I'm up in the NH White Mountains this week with family so no progress to report.
Btw, I couldn't even figure out how to open up the lid to see if I could replace the liner with a flat sheet of frp. I think the whole lid may have been injection-foamed together. That is why went with a custom lid approach...
Cheers!
Thanks that is an awesome build. I've got a number of "how come you did it that way" questions but won't take this thread off topic. Looks like this could be a sweet project for 2021.
Just an update to round this out--based on some advice in here we decided a white freezer would be fine with a wrap. We were eventually able to find what we were looking for from Appliances Connection (and there were several other options). Thanks to all for the advice.
Let us know how much the wrap costs if you would. I have no idea - the wife just sprung it on me and I haven't done any research yet...
Cheers!
Cheers!
What wrap were you looking at? Are you still looking at the same wrap?
We were looking at the 3M refrigerator wrap but are now thinking of some kind of more interesting wallpaper. In any event, we’ve decided to defer the wrapping decision until after we get the hardware portion of the keezer squared away, so it’s likely to be a while until we revisit the wrapping issue.
Ah. I found a site with solid 3M wrap, I figured it would run about $150 to wrap the 14 cubic foot model I'm getting. Seems kinda pricey to me. Maybe the 3M stuff is overkill for this?
While I've seen people box in freezers with wood on this site, I don't recommend that myself. Chest freezers, all of them I'm aware of, use the outside of the freezer to cool the condenser. Putting wood on/over it will cause the compressor to work harder and cost more money to run the kreezer.
Painting the freezer directly is an option that should have little effect thermally, I did that with some spray paint on my current kreezer but it was an old POS I got free, which later broke (starting relay went out, unrelated to the painting). I'm a little more hesitatant to paint a $600 new freezer though.
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