Building a Keezer. Any tips??

That upright with 8 taps is a thing of beauty...one thing I like about a chest with a collar...I have my 20# CO2 tank outside the keezer 6 ft around the corner...I added a 4 regulator system inside which was well worth the money...

 

P.S. The Great Stuff worked great. Thanks for the tip. I went through a can and a half of the stuff. It's been a few months and no noticeable mold/mildew on the outside of the collar.

 

Open it! Open it!

 

I was thinking about this from another angle, which lead me to a different question First, the angle: if they are spaced close together, you might be able to get a single drip tray underneath, but not if they are spaced apart.

Now, the question: I never made a keezer collar myself, but am thinking about it. (Currently I just use picnic tap lines on kegs in the a temp controlled freezer). When I look at pictures on line, most don't have drip trays. Why is that? Are those Perlick taps so good that you don't need them?

 

I use Perlicks (two different models) and I wouldn't go without a drip tray. Though as I think about it, it really serves more as a foam-over tray than as a faucet drip tray.

 

Perlicks are good but they aren't that good. Attachment is the problem here. A couple of L brackets would provide ideal support, but that requires drilling into the keezer. There are pressurized lines for the coolant throughout the sides. You can normally feel the heat from the condenser coils, but the lines to/from operate in the stealth mode. Drill through any of these lines and you have lifetime membership in the "DOH" Club. There are some work arounds, but it's a minefield.

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My solution was a shelf on which the drip tray sits. Here's the back of it. Those are rare earth magnets epoxied into routed pockets in the shelf's "standard." That strip visible on top is the back edge of the shelf itself.



In action:

 

I would never drill into the freezer. My handyman skills are better than Homer's only because I recognize some of limitations. One of them is that I am rarely lucky. My approach to attachment would be to build out the support for the trays by drilling into the collar. Attach wooden arms that extend down from the collar, on either side of the taps. The arms would in turn support the horizontal shelf that holds the drip tray. At least, that's how I visualize the general plan.

Edit: Or something like Vikeman shows, above. I'm not clever enough to think of rare earth magnets on my own.

 

24" 30$
http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?item=131578390479&hash=item1ea2aee7cf:g:bL8AAOSw~gRVzVwH&_ssn=fryscooper888&_pgn=3&_skc=100&rt=nc

30" 50$
http://www.ebay.com/itm/drip-tray-s...390479?hash=item1ea2aee7cf:g:bL8AAOSw~gRVzVwH

the holders are SS decorative handrail brackets from HD that are attached with rare earth magnets to the fridge and some velco to hold the drip tray on it

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-Stainless-Steel-Decorative-Handrail-Bracket-13538/202950154

On a side note this seller has some pretty nice SS coils that work great for HERMS

 

Perlick faucets are great, and are worth every penny that I spent on them - but I think the reason so many people don't have drip trays is because they're seemingly very expensive for what they are. In my case, with the original fridge, I would have needed either 7 individual small trays OR one long one (4 ft, give or take). The former seemed kind of clunky to me, and the latter doesn't exist anywhere I could find (outside of custom, or a diy project involving PVC or rain gutter or some other rig). So, I got by for many years without one because the fridge is in my garage and small spills aren't a big deal. I just kept a bucket nearby for growler overflow etc.

When I did finally buy the stainless tray with drain, it was almost $300 iirc (after shipping). I'm guessing that's more than most people want to drop on something that's a 'nice to have' but not a necessity.

Old fridge: https://flic.kr/p/BNuVaQ

New one with side-mounted faucets and shank-mounted tray: https://flic.kr/p/CcvNXe

 

I had no idea. If I ever go through with my collar build, I definitely will come up with a plan that does not involve $300 for a drip tray.

 

The magnets I used are not strong enough for that. But it's a drip tray, not a bar top!
But I imagine a bigger standard with more magnets could support a pint.

 

It's a luxury, for sure. But I've been doing this long enough that I figured it was time to do it right (since the old freezer dying kinda forced my hand w/ the rebuild.)

Added pics to my other post. In the end, I'm glad I bought it.

 

4ft (sans backsplash) 107$ shipped
http://www.ebay.com/itm/drip-tray-super-heavy-48-x5-x-75-5004253-/131091866808

 

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply *nothing* of that length existed - but then there's the issue of mounting it, and can't tell if it has a drain or not. I didn't want to put screws into the side of my freezer, and the magnet solution is clean but sketchy with regard to supporting full glasses or mugs. Shank-mount, while pricy is nice & clean and can support as many glasses as I can pour at any given time.

 

My next upgrade will be a keezer when a free/cheap freezer presents itself. I've seen this setup where the wood that the drip tray attaches to is an extension of collar. This allows for attachments that don't require screwing into the freezer and risk hitting lines. Move that idea to the freezer side and you can still do the double hinge idea, which is awesome.

 

Advice: get an exercycle...you'll need it with a kegerator

As for the drip tray, mine has 3 mounting holes for screws. Drill through the outer door (no lines in the door, so don't worry).

 

Conceptually, this is what I meant, although what I had in mind was not this elegant. And it would feature the Steelers. Or maybe the Packers, if I were going to bring home guests.