My little keezer baby

[Valicious]

I just finished a little project I've been working on, and I figured I'd post it here since I have a few progress pictures.

I spent a few weeks scouring craifslist every day, and I ended up finding a great deal for a HUGE 6' chest freezer for $120.

I took the measurements and had them cut a sheet of MDF into the pieces I needed down at Home Depot. (MDF was the cheapest, $20 for a 4'x8' board)
The board measures 60'x15' and I drilled 7/8" holes with a holesaw with 3" between them.


I also picked up some Minwax stain (Mahogany color) and prestain. I laid the boards on some Sankey kegs I have and ended up doing two coats with about 8 hours drying time for each.
You can see me starting to put the boards together here. At first I was going to use Liquid Nails to stick it to the top of the freezer, but then I decided on using a bunch of L-brackets.



I ended up using the 7/8" bi-metal hole saw to cut through the metal part of the freezer, and then I used a stepbit to drill through the foam and plastic underneath.

I really like how nicely the wood stain came out.




Here'sx a picture of the aftermath of an entire corny of German Pilsner draining into the bottom, mmhmmm...beer slushies. ALWAYS TIGHTEN YOUR HOSE CLAMPS!

[DannyW]

Wow, you really made that MDF look great with the stain!

How do you swap kegs in and out of this thing? Does the coffin box come off so you can lift the lid, or do you just pivot the whole thing up with the lid?

[Valicious]

Wow, you really made that MDF look great with the stain!

How do you swap kegs in and out of this thing? Does the coffin box come off so you can lift the lid, or do you just pivot the whole thing up with the lid?

The box is attached to the freezer lid, that puppy ain't moving. There's hinges on the back of the box, so the lid can swing up and back.
When I open the freezer, the box just stayed solidly connected.

You're the second person to refer to it as a 'coffin box'. Heh.

I think Studio B might need one of these...right next to the stripper pole

[BrewBum]

Did you skin the MDF with a veneer because the MDF I use doesn't have a wood grain on it?

Also, do you have foam issues with the temp being warmer in the coffin box? BTW, coffin box is the common term for what you built.

[Valicious]

Did you skin the MDF with a veneer because the MDF I use doesn't have a wood grain on it?

Also, do you have foam issues with the temp being warmer in the coffin box? BTW, coffin box is the common term for what you built.

I've never had any foaming issues that I can tell.

And I just put on prestain. I just made it look like wood grain by doing shorter strokes.

[bcmaui]

MDF is really heavy stuff and creates a mountain of dust when you cut it - that was smart to have them cut it at Home Depot. A 4x8 sheet of 3/4" MDF is over 100lbs.

By having the box on the back half of the lid, you move the center of gravity closer to the hinge which is also a smart thing to do - if you had it all the way up front it would be much heavier to lift and keep open. You also create a nice counter top area for a drip tray, or just to have the glasses rest.

With the short section of tubing that sticks out, the beer in there will get warm - that is why they are asking about the foaming. If you don't use the tap for a while the first part may foam up on you as that small amount of beer is not being cooled - I wondering if covering that small section of tubing with some pipe insulation would help - it all depends on the ambient temp of the room you have it in - for those of us with the keezer in the garage we might have bigger temperature swings and foaming problems than those that keep these inside the house. You could also maybe just lay in a piece of rigid foam on an angle (touching the back top of the freezer top and back top above the taps) to enclose that area in a simple manner without adding much more weight - but if you have no foaming problems, your fine.

Beautiful job on the staining and with 10 taps you have a lot of brewing to do!

[Valicious]

I'm having the problem of not enough taps! I started brewing all-grain back in November, and I've finished 20 batches since then.
I have all but one keg full and hooked up, and I'm having to resort to bottling some now.

[andy77]

Holy crap, Val. Bringin' it strong!