Building a Keezer. Any tips??

So much great stuff here already. I will say this, don't get the 4" shanks, get 2.5" ones. Once you add the tail piece and tubing it gets in the way of pulling the kegs out. @ryane has a nice set up, but think of this, upright means you have to move kegs out of the way (in front) to get to empty kegs (behind) which stirs up yeast or hop sediment making you have to wait for re-clearing (had a Vienna Lager never clear due to that exact issue). Also, if possible, mount your distributors or additional regulators to the underside of the lid so they are out of the way when moving kegs in and out. Big collars do make for some heavy lifting, but I've got a 10" collar and 6 kegs, and I make it work. I used JB Weld to mount my drip tray, but it will eventually give way.

 

Sounds like you need a lagering fridge to hold your beers in until the sediment forms, then purge with a party tap

 

I did a 6" pine inner collar with an 8" red oak outer collar. The extra 2" overlaps the top of the keezer. Nice mitred corners are a must.

I installed a 65 CFM computer fan at the top pointing down to recirculate cold air. The bottom of the keezer was dead on temp, but the top can get 4-8 degrees warmer as there are no cooling coils up there. And that's where beer is sitting in the beer lines. In case anyone is having odd issues with foam- this may be the culprit.

I insulated the collar with 1.5" foam insulation cut to fit around all the equipment. R15 value I believe.

I don't have issues getting kegs in and out- but my wife uses a step ladder and it helps her a lot when changing a keg.

I got a rechargeable dehumidifier Instead of those refillable ones that can spill.

I hung the drip trays with slotted metal strips hanging from the backside of the collar above and strong ass rare earth magnets to hold them steady below.

Doing it this way I didn't have to modify the freezer chest with drilling or glueing so if I ever need to I can uninstall the collar and it is just a regular old freezer chest again. This helps if you have problems and need to go the warranty route or if it dies it's easy to retrofit to another chest.

I built my own temp controller and installed it into the side of the collar.

I have 6 Co2 and 2 Nitro taps. I have room to add a few more if needed.

There is a good write up over at homebrew academy with videos and turtorials if you need help it's a great resource- one of the best I've found in the interwebs.

 

Wait.
What?

 

Yep. The wife brews with me, drinks with me and even changes a keg now and again. We do everything together.

She is learning how to formulate her own recipes right now also- so she can do a brew day of her own along side me.

 

Quite a makeover. What's HBC?

 

Looks great, did you make those tap handles? I would assume so just wondering what you tapped the inside diameter at to thread onto the existing shanks

 

Nice thanks much, I'm a finish carpenter/custom kitchen installer so I have contemplated making my own tap handles but first want to build the bar and integrated keezer before I dig too deep into the finishing touches. Right now I just have a stand up fridge with 2 taps.....sufficient for the time being I suppose

 

Nice job

Your wife must be awesome to let you put that in the living room, my wife would have pretended like she did not hear me if I had asked. And she would have killed me if I didn't ask