Keezer build.

If I had to build another collar, it wouldn't be of 1'' oak. It's too thin. a modern 2x4 is more like a 1-1/2" x 3-1/2" While your sandwich idea is creative, I wonder how much you'd gain for the effort. A 2x4 or 2x8, depending on how tall you want your keezer, should do well if it will sit on the lip. @billandsuz turned me onto: http://www.lowes.com/pd_13617-236-2..._clickID=cca119b2-0c62-4ee9-8083-6fda9ea5573e and it solved most of my condensation/mold problems. You can layer it on the inside as thick as you want. Just be careful no to let the stuff dry above the level of your collar where the lid needs to shut. You'll want 2 or 3 cans for a 10' freezer. Here is where I mention that I don't give a crap about what the inside of my keezer looks like. I gave up after multiple threads about trying to organize the damn gas lines. Forgetaboutit.

I hope to see many more ideas for you to sift through.

 

My understanding that wood acts as a decent insulator (pine 2x4 has an R value = 4.4 from what I can tell) so extra insulation is not really needed. You loose a lot more just opening the lid on occasion.

With that said, I used some stryofoam pieces around the whole collar when I built my keezer.

I think doing a sandwich like you are talking about would be a lot of work for little payoff.

 

You lost me with all the dowels in between. If you go with the sandwiched insulation, just buy a sheet of the 1/2" Styrofoam and cut it to fit in the middle. It won't flex or move, just use a little wood glue.

 

Protection from moisture or dings from moving the kegs around?

 

Just use solid 2 x 6s for the collar and be done with it.

 

I like the sandwich panel idea. I think the 1/2" spacers would do well and filling around them with the expanding foam insulation mentioned by @inchrisin. If you are worried about the flex and the force of closing and opening the lid being resisted by glue on each side of the spacer only you could oversize the spacer and actually add dowels through the birch-spacer-oak panel so the force is shared by both the birch and oak layers. It sounds like you are pretty handy and could probably make this work. You may want to beef up the back panel with a 2x where the hinges attach.

 

To the people using 2x only, do you not get condensation on the outside of the 2x? That's a pretty low R value for a temperature differential that is very steady and predictable. I'm in the southeast so we deal with some high humidity levels in the summer.

 

I currently have just 1X10 Poplar all around mine. I did 3 layers of clear polyurethane coating all over mine, even the mitered edges, before assembling to seal it.

 

I have a very rigged up collar that is just 2x4 and I don't get condensation on the outside, tons on the inside though since my freezer is ancient. Note I do live in the frozen tundra that is New England.

 

what material are you using that is R-20 at 1/2" thick?

 

I check on this guy every time I swap a keg. It seems to help. http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1366933&KPID=1109158&pla=pla_1109158

 

I have the same one.

 

I liquidnailed a 2x4 collar down to the freezer. Silconed 1" thick foam backer board to the inside and then took foil tape to every square inch of this. Works great! No temp loss, no condensation, easy to drill thru.

 

My keezer is 2x6's with a thin layer of styrofoam on the inside. It lives in my garage and I have never noticed condensation on the wood, even in the middle of summer in KY.

 

Great Stuff expanding foam insulation. We use it around door and window framing at the factory-built housing company I work at.

 

I used 1x4s to build the collar and like other comments before, used styrofoam to insulate the entire lid…she's just about to celebrate her fifth birthday and it works great for me. Maybe not the prettiest on the inside, but I care a lot more about the exterior than the interior.