Complete chest freezer newbie questions

[Garyius]

Complete chest freezer newbie here. My wife and I have redone our back room as a beer room, installed a laminate floor (click type is a two man job and still sucks BTW) repaint, et al.

We have our manual defrost chest freezer, 41 inches long, 21 wide.

I have it set up with a johnson thermostat, and am running it with a picnic tap for now as I finish up. This rocks and I should have done it 5 years ago.

I have three newbie questions:

1. Manual defrost. Is there some better way other than wiping the inside back wall off with a wash cloth every few days?

2. I am going to build a replacement lid. My plans right now are for 1/2 ply top and bottom with 3/4 red oak wide wrapping and a single 3/4 ply running off center lengthwise and two 3/4 ply cross members, and insulation and edge gasket. What am I doing wrong with this design?

3. I am going to place the draft tower dead center, and overfeed the beer tubing with copper flex tube for a foot. Other than padding the inside end of the copper tube like mad, will this work for cooling and what else do I need to know?

[BDawg]

Ever thought of a collar? That way, you can put as many faucets on as you want, there's no need for fancy towers or cooling, and you won't need to replace the top, just "lift" it up.

Here's one I just googled:
http://www.mikebeer.net/chestfreezer.htm

Damp Rid works wonders to keep the condensation down, too.

HTH-

[Garyius]

I thought about one of those but we like the look of the tower and I do not need the extra height.

Thanks for the damp rid tip.

Anyone else have hard won advice for me?

[manwithbeers]

I don't see the point to replacing the lid. Why not build on top of the lid instead and keep the insulation value.

The downside of a tower is that you won't be able to put the freezer against a wall and still open the lid. You will need wheels underneath to swing the freezer out away from the wall once there are a couple kegs in there.

I guess you could come up with a way to fold the tower down when lifting the lid as well. I am told the best and most effective cooling is still a liquid or air cooled set-up for the tower. A simple pond pump in a pail of glycol recirculating into the tower would work great.

Here is some pics of my Keezer build. http://s390.photobucket.com/albums/oo34 ... rs/Keezer/

[Garyius]

I am cool with the wall, we already put those fancy telfon sliders on the bottom. In fact, it moves like it is on ice and I put masking tape under the front two to slow it down some.

[atomicpunk]

Here is some pics of my Keezer build. http://s390.photobucket.com/albums/oo34 ... rs/Keezer/

That thing is a work of art. Seen it before and wondering how the chest is performing since completion with the "skin". Have you had any problems with heat dissipation?

[manwithbeers]

Here is some pics of my Keezer build. http://s390.photobucket.com/albums/oo34 ... rs/Keezer/

That thing is a work of art. Seen it before and wondering how the chest is performing since completion with the "skin". Have you had any problems with heat dissipation?

No problems cooling or over heating. I am getting a lot of moisture inside though. I'm going to add a vapor barrier in the Irish coffin and find something like Damp Rid to add inside to absorb moisture from condensation.

Otherwise having a great time with it and showing it off!