rmchair
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2009
- Messages
- 158
- Reaction score
- 48
I tried to avoid some of the physical work, especially since I can't cut a straight line, and I thought I might pass on a few tips. First, thanks to those who came before, I borrowed from all of your great ideas to make a keezer painlessly and without damaging the new freezer. I decided on my way to buy an old freezer that this much work warranted the extra $100 to just get a new one. I did not want to paint or damage the new one, and my wife doesn't like the redneckedness of having a white fridge on the porch so I encased the whole thing in wood.
The first thing I did was use a HF furniture dolly for my base ($16.95), screwing down plywood, saving building a frame with casters. (Putting wheels underneath was well worth the effort for those who are wondering.) I decided to use a collar with an extension and make everything 4 feet long to save a few saw cuts, even though my freezer (Holiday 7.0 GE clone) was 37 inches in girth. This allowed enough space to hide the CO2 etc.
I struggled with the decision about the collar base vs. lid, but ultimately attached it to the freezer base so that I would have something to attach my panels to without building a frame. I am not sorry, because I wanted to keep my lid light so that it would be easy for visitors to grab bottles out. (Plus, I am just strong enough to lift a full corny over the collar.) I offset the taps to keep room for the bottles on the inside hump, and I generally lift stuff to my right side, so the taps are mostly out of the way.
Another thing I did was skip the tile and opt for the nicest self adhesive vinyl flooring money could buy, which minimized weight on the lid. I could have even grouted the lines between the vinyl sheets, but eh. I even made sure my frame on top was the exact depth of the vinyl to save cutting vinyl.
I bought a front panel at lowes in the trim area that happened to be the exact right size 48X32. Then I found some thin 2'X4' sheet birch for side panels, but the stain didn't well, so i should've used oak. I used the same thin sheet birch to cover the lid, gluing the 1X2 to the birch around the freezer lid. Later I did decide to zip two screws through the birch sheet into my virigin freezer lid before covering the birch with floor tile-the only alteration to the new freezer.
On my interior collar, I was not comfortable without insulation being I am in 95 degree weather. So I bought a $5 roll of blue styrofoam at Lowes and circled around the inside of the collar with stainless staples. Then I bought a $2.99 plastic tarp which happened to be perfectly folded to go over the top of the styrofoam and stapled that down before filling all gaps and corners with silicone caulk.
Inside, I needed a backer board for my shanks because they would not tighten well over the plastic. The 4" shanks were way longer than needed, however, I later needed to add a front plate too, because I could not screw my tap handles on the recessed perlick faucets without additional clearance, even after I notched the trim around the lid. If you are using perlicks, make sure your taps are not recessed relative to any trim overhang. As it happened, my orignal backerboard was 1X8 that I used for the collar and I had even sanded the top edge, so I stained it, and then used it on the outside as a spacer, using scrap birch for the replacement backerboard.
I went through great trouble to get shanks with nipples based on someone else's rec, but in retrospect i would like to be able to easily unscrew the lines for cleaning etc, and was cursing about having to feed my whole line through the shank holes to make my alterations.
My next moves are to install an L&W thermostat control (circa $30 from makeakegerator.com) and to make a hanger for a recessed drip tray, since I can't seem to find a cheap 12" hanging tray. I also skipped the $50 manifold in favor of a plastic 1/4" tee, since I can easily pop the gas lines off my kegs when I want to shut the gass off to certain kegs. (Okay, check valves are probably worth it, but I like black and tan.)
I would note for newbs that this project has removed all of my arguments that homebrew is more cost effective than commercial purchase, and I am glad to finally get that monkey off my back.
Anyway, hope this helps somebody. Cheers.
(Yes-the floor slopes)
http://s775.photobucket.com/albums/yy40/rmchair/?action=view¤t=keezer015.jpg
The first thing I did was use a HF furniture dolly for my base ($16.95), screwing down plywood, saving building a frame with casters. (Putting wheels underneath was well worth the effort for those who are wondering.) I decided to use a collar with an extension and make everything 4 feet long to save a few saw cuts, even though my freezer (Holiday 7.0 GE clone) was 37 inches in girth. This allowed enough space to hide the CO2 etc.
I struggled with the decision about the collar base vs. lid, but ultimately attached it to the freezer base so that I would have something to attach my panels to without building a frame. I am not sorry, because I wanted to keep my lid light so that it would be easy for visitors to grab bottles out. (Plus, I am just strong enough to lift a full corny over the collar.) I offset the taps to keep room for the bottles on the inside hump, and I generally lift stuff to my right side, so the taps are mostly out of the way.
Another thing I did was skip the tile and opt for the nicest self adhesive vinyl flooring money could buy, which minimized weight on the lid. I could have even grouted the lines between the vinyl sheets, but eh. I even made sure my frame on top was the exact depth of the vinyl to save cutting vinyl.
I bought a front panel at lowes in the trim area that happened to be the exact right size 48X32. Then I found some thin 2'X4' sheet birch for side panels, but the stain didn't well, so i should've used oak. I used the same thin sheet birch to cover the lid, gluing the 1X2 to the birch around the freezer lid. Later I did decide to zip two screws through the birch sheet into my virigin freezer lid before covering the birch with floor tile-the only alteration to the new freezer.
On my interior collar, I was not comfortable without insulation being I am in 95 degree weather. So I bought a $5 roll of blue styrofoam at Lowes and circled around the inside of the collar with stainless staples. Then I bought a $2.99 plastic tarp which happened to be perfectly folded to go over the top of the styrofoam and stapled that down before filling all gaps and corners with silicone caulk.
Inside, I needed a backer board for my shanks because they would not tighten well over the plastic. The 4" shanks were way longer than needed, however, I later needed to add a front plate too, because I could not screw my tap handles on the recessed perlick faucets without additional clearance, even after I notched the trim around the lid. If you are using perlicks, make sure your taps are not recessed relative to any trim overhang. As it happened, my orignal backerboard was 1X8 that I used for the collar and I had even sanded the top edge, so I stained it, and then used it on the outside as a spacer, using scrap birch for the replacement backerboard.
I went through great trouble to get shanks with nipples based on someone else's rec, but in retrospect i would like to be able to easily unscrew the lines for cleaning etc, and was cursing about having to feed my whole line through the shank holes to make my alterations.
My next moves are to install an L&W thermostat control (circa $30 from makeakegerator.com) and to make a hanger for a recessed drip tray, since I can't seem to find a cheap 12" hanging tray. I also skipped the $50 manifold in favor of a plastic 1/4" tee, since I can easily pop the gas lines off my kegs when I want to shut the gass off to certain kegs. (Okay, check valves are probably worth it, but I like black and tan.)
I would note for newbs that this project has removed all of my arguments that homebrew is more cost effective than commercial purchase, and I am glad to finally get that monkey off my back.
Anyway, hope this helps somebody. Cheers.
(Yes-the floor slopes)
http://s775.photobucket.com/albums/yy40/rmchair/?action=view¤t=keezer015.jpg
