Kegerator or Keezer

RocketMan

RocketMan

I've been using kegs for a while now using a portable system. Now it's time to start looking at a Kegerator or a Keezer and I'm really leaning hard towards a Coffin Keezer. I've read through the build threads for several and of the ones I've seen I really like these 2. The base of the first is really nice and I like the upper coffin on the second one.

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On this one I'd go with 3 regular faucets and a Stout faucet. Then the beer engines I'd make to despence wine. Not sure how I'll get them to work but that'll be half the fun.

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So, as I plan and get my design going I'll post more. Till then though, let's see your builds.
 
what tools do you have available? this will dictate what direction you should go in imho.

i would reccomend a track saw above all else if you were intending to buy some tools to do this.

most simple cabinetry( which is what this is) can be done with a track saw, miter saw, and router set up( 1.25 hp is fine)
and a shit load of other knick nacks.... jigs clamps drill buncha misc. stuff.
 
The first one has more of a mancave feel if thats what you're going for, but the second one is my fav out of the two. Seems simpler to make and looks better.
 
Worked a little on the plans. I found a 7 cuft chest freezer on Craigslist and if I get it before someone else does then I'll start picking up the parts as I can and till I'm ready to start building it, it can serve as a fermentation / cold crash chamber. Anyways here's what I'm thinking.
 
Front and side view
 
Keezer1_zps4onvlhgc.jpg

 
Side and back view, I'm planning to off set the freezer a bit and put 2 angled shelves in to hold CO2 and Nitrogen(75%)/CO2(25%) tanks. This will allow me to push Beer, Stouts and to push Wine as well. I didn't put the gauges on here but they'd be mounted to the spacer board and their hoses would enter through the board.
 
Keezer2_zpslee8cecw.jpg

 
Front and side view with the lid raised.
 
Keezer3_zps3uypfmvh.jpg

 
 
Thinking this will be pretty easy to build by building a couple of these:
 
TableLift_zpsaeecnyem.jpg

 
and then if I need any more space to get in and out of the freezer compartment I can put a simple drawer slide on it to slide the table top out of the way. Just some late night, can't sleep thinking.
 
Cheers,
 
I have a 3 tap kegerator, as it fit neatly in a corner, but if you have the space and time, I would build a big 6 tap chest keeper any day of the week.  It gives you options, and space to condition those beers that need some time
 
what say you folks about chilling the faucets?

i had to resort to using just the plastic picnic faucets coiled ontop of the kegs themselves...

first beer was always too foamy and dissapointing.
 
I remember seeing the first example on HBT, thats a classy setup and I likes to be liking it!
 
   your plans deff look the part but the bottle shelves may not be a good idea.  Did you plan on tilting them at a very sharp angle? say like 45 degree or more.    you can run the risk of freezing your Reg.   just my .03
 
because we are BFF's ill share something neat with you Mr man.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ROYAL-A-C-COMPRESSOR-CONDENSER-FAN-UNIT-EMBRACO-MODEL-FFU-130-HAX-/271815889641?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f497d52e9

270watts = 270*3.43btuh/watt = roughly 900btuh of heat removal.

unit has like 3x the nutsack of your average household fridge. assuming im recalling numbers correctly... average frige freezer combo is less than 400btuh.

plus with a forced air evaporator you could zone for a 40 degree area as well as a sub 0 degree area... meaning you could do a chiller circuit if you were clever enough.
 
Grant, thanks for the offer I might just need that for the upper coffin. I'm still debating whether I want to make the table top some kind of stone or tile it just keep it wood. Really thinking wood right now.

Bumper, exactly, the freezer is a 7 cu. ft., I was hopping to find a 9, but I figure I could probably hold 3 or 4 C kegs in the deep area and put 2 3 gallon kegs of wine/cider on the hump.

qeequeg152, there will be a fan blowing up into that area, im actually thinking about using some PVC to channel the air up to and over the shanks which will chill the faucets. There will also be duct work under the base unit that the wheels are attached to that will draw the hot air away from the skin of the freezer and compressor and blow it out under the unit. There's a sketch of what I want to do on HBT, I'll have to go copy and paste it in here.

PepTalk, I think your right only if the tanks are inside the freezer. When they're kept cold that way I know they read as having less gas though they really do. The way I'm planning on shelling them is at a 30 to 45 degree angle outside the freezer. The gauges will also be outside and the gas will enter the freezer from the gauges.
 
Lots of remnant pieces left behind cutting fifteen houses/day worth of stone, just let me know if you go that route, and I can look for a piece from a nicer one ... maybe a piece of Black Marinace, or Comet, or Volga Blue, or like Delicatus ... depends what color you stain it, probably ...

Anyways, no big deal ...
 
i tried blowing cold air into the beer tower, and it will not work properly without a significant amount of insulation.

my beer tower was not thick enough to accommodate enough insulation to really matter unfortunately.

with fridges and freezers, keep in mind you are working with EXCEPTIONALLY low capacity systems.
in your average fridge, just running an old style 100w light bulb inside will completely negate the cooling capacity of the fridge.

the only reasonable way to cool the faucets IMHO, is with an on demand type system, meaning a system that only attempts to chill the faucets when you engage a switch or sensor of some sort.
your fridge will in all likelihood not be able to keep the faucets cool 247 while maintaining the desired temp inside the freezer.

ive seen folks try work a solution by placing reservoirs of glycol water directly in contact with the evaporator... thereby chilling below the air temps. this chilled water is then periodically pumped up to the insulated tower and circulated around the shank of the faucet. This setup should work well enough as long as the volume of tubing is small with respect to the volume of the chilled reservoir, and you do not try and chill the faucets 247.
also its worth noting that you could build some sort of cover for the faucets that would reduce the heat exchange... something like an outdoor hose bib cover would well, though look awful.

id suggest buying something with the highest BTUH per cubic foot possible...
 
queequeg152 said:
what say you folks about chilling the faucets?

i had to resort to using just the plastic picnic faucets coiled ontop of the kegs themselves...

first beer was always too foamy and dissapointing.
Click to expand...
 
 
 
RocketMan said:
Grant, thanks for the offer I might just need that for the upper coffin. I'm still debating whether I want to make the table top some kind of stone or tile it just keep it wood. Really thinking wood right now.

Bumper, exactly, the freezer is a 7 cu. ft., I was hopping to find a 9, but I figure I could probably hold 3 or 4 C kegs in the deep area and put 2 3 gallon kegs of wine/cider on the hump.

qeequeg152, there will be a fan blowing up into that area, im actually thinking about using some PVC to channel the air up to and over the shanks which will chill the faucets. There will also be duct work under the base unit that the wheels are attached to that will draw the hot air away from the skin of the freezer and compressor and blow it out under the unit. There's a sketch of what I want to do on HBT, I'll have to go copy and paste it in here.

PepTalk, I think your right only if the tanks are inside the freezer. When they're kept cold that way I know they read as having less gas though they really do. The way I'm planning on shelling them is at a 30 to 45 degree angle outside the freezer. The gauges will also be outside and the gas will enter the freezer from the gauges.
Click to expand...
 
 
queequeg152 said:
i tried blowing cold air into the beer tower, and it will not work properly without a significant amount of insulation.

my beer tower was not thick enough to accommodate enough insulation to really matter unfortunately.

with fridges and freezers, keep in mind you are working with EXCEPTIONALLY low capacity systems.
in your average fridge, just running an old style 100w light bulb inside will completely negate the cooling capacity of the fridge.

the only reasonable way to cool the faucets IMHO, is with an on demand type system, meaning a system that only attempts to chill the faucets when you engage a switch or sensor of some sort.
your fridge will in all likelihood not be able to keep the faucets cool 247 while maintaining the desired temp inside the freezer.

ive seen folks try work a solution by placing reservoirs of glycol water directly in contact with the evaporator... thereby chilling below the air temps. this chilled water is then periodically pumped up to the insulated tower and circulated around the shank of the faucet. This setup should work well enough as long as the volume of tubing is small with respect to the volume of the chilled reservoir, and you do not try and chill the faucets 247.
also its worth noting that you could build some sort of cover for the faucets that would reduce the heat exchange... something like an outdoor hose bib cover would well, though look awful.

id suggest buying something with the highest BTUH per cubic foot possible...
Click to expand...
 
Weird that the fan blowing refrigerated air into your tower didn't work.  I have an el cheapy from Keg King, http://kegking.com.au/heating-cooling-equipment/font-fan-kit.htmland even in our 37-38c hotter days in summer, the tower is cool and beading with condensation.  Never had to pour the first beer of the evening out, it keeps the lines chilly all the way to the top.  Now doing this for a 6-9 tap set up is a different ball game, this one does 3, I reckon something from the local hydro store is in order to get a big multi tap font chilled.  
 
Glycol seems an expensive route to me when a fan using the cool air you have already paid for will do the job. 
 
I have to confess, in addition to the kegerator, I have another bar fridge in my study which I use to do longer cold conditioning, or waiting for a beer to tap.  That fits another three, or usually has 2 plus wines and random craft beers you pick up on the way home to mix things up a bit, and so you don't have to get off your ass to have a beer while typing responses on THP.com    :party:
 
Ohhh can't wait to see the progress of this.


Man, I wish i could do wood working stuff, I'd love to try something like this. I am so not wood savvy I have been putting off adding a simple collar to my freezer for the last year :/
 
Bumper said:
Weird that the fan blowing refrigerated air into your tower didn't work.  I have an el cheapy from Keg King, http://kegking.com.au/heating-cooling-equipment/font-fan-kit.htmland even in our 37-38c hotter days in summer, the tower is cool and beading with condensation.  Never had to pour the first beer of the evening out, it keeps the lines chilly all the way to the top.  Now doing this for a 6-9 tap set up is a different ball game, this one does 3, I reckon something from the local hydro store is in order to get a big multi tap font chilled.  
 
Glycol seems an expensive route to me when a fan using the cool air you have already paid for will do the job. 
 
I have to confess, in addition to the kegerator, I have another bar fridge in my study which I use to do longer cold conditioning, or waiting for a beer to tap.  That fits another three, or usually has 2 plus wines and random craft beers you pick up on the way home to mix things up a bit, and so you don't have to get off your ass to have a beer while typing responses on THP.com    :party:
Click to expand...
no it was not that bad, it was just like... an extra 3 fingers of foam. i dont think i would throw away home brew even if it was all foam anyway.

what size was your tower?

mine was extreemly shender... i want to say 2.5"? but i think it must have been smaller becasue it required the very short shanks with the 90 degree elbow on the back.

i used half inch pvc to duct the air up there, but alas without room for insulation AND return air flow, i was getting very poor air flow. the faucet got to maby 50-55 degrees f with the frige running, but since i had the fridge on a thermocouple taped onto the corny kegs... the fridge cycled very infrequently, so the tower was rarely at that temp.

this was also with a very poor plate evaporator fridge. i understand that the perlik and other commercial under coutner fridges are absolutly beastly... and make far and away the best kegerators.
HigherThisHeat said:
Ohhh can't wait to see the progress of this.


Man, I wish i could do wood working stuff, I'd love to try something like this. I am so not wood savvy I have been putting off adding a simple collar to my freezer for the last year :/
Click to expand...
wood working is one of those areas where you can easily pay for the tools you invest in quite quickly... if you own a home at least.

a good place to start is a decent 10" non sliding miter saw and a good circular saw + some guides and jigs.
 
So far as cooling the shanks and faucets, I looked at several builds on Home Brew Talk and really like this idea. The hoses come in from one side and a fan is connected to the other so the air has an entrance, an exit and on returning will help to circulate the cold air around the freezer box.
 
ChillPipe_zpsr5poanej.jpg

 
IMG00179_zpsxtuo1uwb.jpg

 
IMG00183_zps3s2hewjk.jpg

 
According to the original builder the wrap around the tube is R3 and can easily be doubled to give R6.
 
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