Keezer build (live-ish, feel free to chip in)

[Spoon]

Having been made redundant I've now got a lot of time on my hands but no money, so here's an attempt to build the cheapest keezer possible.

1) proline chest freezer off eBay, stinks of rotten milk so it's got a bag of charcoal in the bottom hopefully abosrbing it. Bleach did nothing.

2) Some floorboards from B&Q, the cheapest planed square wood they do, I wanted the 280mm stuff but they didn't have any in stock so this will have to do.

I could do it with 1x 144mm board as a collar but that would only leave room for 3x kegs, 3x more would fit on the shelf and the lid should close, but it would be tight and leave no room for the regulator board or anything else. So it's going to be 2x boards meaning the bar will be quite high, but that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Dutto]

Keep us posted on progress.

You might like to read this before you start ...

https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/how-to-remove-the-odor-of-sour-milk-from-your-car

... where they recommend the use of a steam cleaner to get rid of the "old milk" smell. :thumb:

 

[Spoon]

4x 288mm posts to make the corners.

The idea is that the collar is going to be resting on top (so the posts will be moved in by the thickness of the planks when finished) , I'll then glue it to the top.

Carefully when removing the hinges as some are sprung to take the weight of the lid, mine weren't but bigger and heavier ones sometimes are.

 

[Spoon]

Yea, I've tried most of those ideas, I think the smell is absorbed into the insulation so probably no hope of getting it out. I can live with it, it's not so bad when it's chilled, and can only be smelly when it's open. 2 weeks or charcoal has gone some way to absorbing it anyway so long term I might just leave a bag of briquettes in the bottom.

 

[Spoon]

Getting there with the collar.

The initial plan was to make the collar slightly larger than the freezer so it overhang, but then realised the seal of the lid is about 2 cm shorter than that so it needs to be smalxer. Dimensions are :

Top of freezer 'box' 81x60 cm
Seal (to outside) 79x58cm

But then I found this in the shed, a bit of old worktop that was leftover from the utility area in the conservatory. Which will make a great (cheap) bar top!

So I'll finish off this build, but I'm already planning the next one with a lower countertop and that worktop.

 

[Spoon]

Change of plan number 3, to locate the collar I've added a few bits of scrap wood to the back and inside. There was no way grip fill would have held the added weight of the worktop and someone leaning against it. And by as much luck as judgement the inside of the corner uprights lines up with the inside of the freezer (I did originally intend for that, but it should have been all the way round, then I had to shrink the collar, then found the worktop so could have done it properly anyway).

 

[Fil]

where are u i have some 2" (50mm) kingspan offcuts that could fill that collar nicely if wanted??

lookin good so far....

 

[Spoon]

I'm in Reading (well Three Mile Cross) if you're nearby that would be great. I was thinking of asking on free cycle if anyone had any.

My alternative was going to be a few layers of corrugated plastic, I found that B&Q sell it in 2400x1200 sheets as floor protection .

 

[Spoon]

Getting there, 2 coats of paint on the freezer and 2 coats of stain on the wood and it's looking good.

Things to do still:
More coats of paint / stain
Wire up STC1000
Insulate the wood
Install gas board
Find some £££ to buy taps, disconnects, etc
Brew beer and drink!

 

[Mickeywheelspin]

Looking good.

I was in Wickes (Bracknell) earlier picking up bits for my collar. I've decided to make it from Celotex and plastic facia board and just sit the lid on top as I wont be putting taps in it, just fermenting and keeping kegs cool. Celotex wont be strong enough for the hinges but actually, a removable lid could be handy.

Anyway, point is that I noticed that they had sheets of 50mm polystyrene for a tenner which could be trimmed down to make a good insulation layer - Here

 

[Spoon]

Excellent, that's tomorrow morning's to do list sorted.

I've ordered some £16 Perl type faucets and shanks, from china. If they turn up and are stainless then it's a bargain! Opted for inline flow restrictor rather than on the taps, cost workd out about the same as the fancier taps but I think I'd rather have the simpler taps and I'm unlikely to want to change beers that often.

Still to do:
Add hinges and insulation
Add a fan
Wait for stuff to arrive
Buy more beer line
Buy a tank of CO2
Brew beer

 

[Dutto]

I'm enjoying this Thread and looking forward to seeing the finished article. :thumb:

Be patient with anything from the Far East though.

After ordering some tiny magnets from Hong Kong I realised that magnets are very often listed as a "prohibited item" on aircraft and sure enough it took nearly six weeks before they popped through my letterbox having come all the way by sea freight!

They are the two little silver bits holding the stirrer on the Stirrer Plate!

 

[Spoon]

Yea, I buy a lot of cycling stuff from Aliexress and eBay, most of the time it's good quality, or at least acceptable for the price, then once in a while something is utterly woeful! And delivery is pot luck as you say, sometimes 48hours, others take months!

 

[Spoon]

[double posted]

 

[Spoon]

Righty, we're I'm almost there!

Taps arrived this morning which is pretty speedy, 8 days from ordering, 5 from shipping.

Obviously I've not had chance to use them yet but they're pretty good quality as far as I can tell. The faucet and ball/lever are stainless, as I think are some of the nuts, but I'm pretty sure the shank is chrome plate and the barb certainly is. On the whole though, for £16 each I think they're a bargain.

Link to the taps:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/311610094800

I've installed the taps slightly off centre, because the plan is to add a further 3 kegs an taps in the spaces when funds are a little less tight.

Faucets are plumbed with 8mm line to flow restrictors, then with 3/8 line to the corny's (disconnects still in the post).

Gas is going to be from a fire extinguisher, because it's dirt cheap. I'll probably drill a hole an put the extinguisher outside, for two reasons:
1) It will allow me to fit 6 kegs (although I suspect a small extinguisher might jam in between them)
2) Extinguishers have dip tube so they release liquid CO2 which vaporises in the valve/horn. If this were to happen in the regulator then it wouldn't be good! A meter or so of hose and mounting the extinguisher upside down will solve this.
Once it's empty (in a million years or so) I'll have the tube removed when it's re-filled.

Main regulator and low pressure regulators are a Coke-Cola management board (s/h from ebay again), this gives 4x low pressure ('syrup'), 1 intermediate ('diet') and 1 higher ('carbonation'), or in my case ale, larger, cider/heffe/belgian.

STC-1000 wired up. I've opted not to bother with a heater, unlike a fermentation it's going to be almost always below room temperature.

2x PC case fans, 250mA each, powered by a 12V/1.0A adaptor I liberated from the WEE pile of an office clearance I was helping with. They're always on, an the STC probe is in the airflow.

I might see how it goes an maybe wire them upto the heater side of the STC. I do have a 36W PC fan, which with a power supply would kick out almost as much power (an therefore heat) as a greenhouse heater, so another option is to use that, and put the probe in the bottom of the freezer so if either the air stratifies with a cold layer at the bottom or the whole thing is too cold then it should do it's job.

Total budget:

Freezer £25
Wood £32
Paint £15
STC £10
Restrictors £24
Line £10
Disconnects £15
Corny's £100
Taps £53
Fire extinguisher £10
Gas board £50

Total spent: £344

More than I had intended to spend, but it was bought over several months, and I'm happy with the result. It's going in the back opening of the garage facing out so will be perfect for BBQ's.

 

[cheapbrew]

Nice job Spoon, great pics and info.:thumb:

 

[Dutto]

An absolutely brilliant bit of work. Well done!

Also, the photographs and explanations are so good that they will probably encourage others to do the same. :thumb: :thumb:

Here's hoping that the warm weather stays with us for a few more weeks so that you can enjoy the finished product! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: