Building the Keezer

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

The Keezer

We knew we wanted to keg our beer eventually and to do that we knew we would a) need kegging equipment, and b) need a kegerator (something to house the kegs and keep them cold). Not much we can really build on our own for option (a) (other than putting it all together), so I found a kit online that included three 5 gallon kegs (kegs are old soda kegs, "Corny kegs"), a 5 lb CO2 tank (not pictured), a regulator, a distributor, and the taps, shanks, and tubing needed to connect everything. Also, the kit was 90% assembled out of the box - a big bonus. A place here in town named Praxair does CO2 tank exchange similar to the way stores exchange propane tanks for grills, making it really easy to get a filled CO2 tank as they have to ship empty by law. We found online that a 5 lb tank will carbonate and dispense about 6 of the 5 gallon kegs.

 For part (b), we could have bought something professionally done and specifically made for what we needed, but it probably would have cost a ton of money. Instead, we did some research online and decided to convert a chest freezer into a keezer; we found a video from Northern Brewer that explained the steps. Using a chest freezer instead of a fridge has the advantage of being really well insulated (to help cut energy costs) and being much cheaper, even brand new.

Fortunately for us, we have really great friends in Shelley and Daniel who bought us a chest freezer as a house warming gift (pictured below). I know I already posted the pictures of it, but I wanted to show the progression from the chest freezer to the finished keezer, and I also wanted to thank Shelley and Daniel again for their very generous gift.

The keezer has to have taps to actually function as a kegerator. Instead of drilling holes into the actual chest freezer the solution we found online was to install a wood collar using 2x4s; the collar will also provide some more room for the lines and connections inside the keezer. 

First step was to remove the lid from the chest freezer, measure the width and length. and cut the 2x4s to the appropriate dimensions. 

We decided to stain the wood a darker chestnut type color to try to give it a nice finish that would look good with the black chalk board paint. We also needed to seal the wood to protect it from moisture, so a 2 in 1 polyurethane stain/sealant did the trick nicely.

We also drilled three 1" holes into the front piece that will house the taps and shanks and allow us to dispense the beer from the kegs inside (can faintly see the holes in the long piece on top). 

After everything dried we connected the wood pieces together using 4" wood screws, 2 in each corner. Then we set the collar on top of the chest freezer to inspect the fit and get a preview of what the finished product would look like.

We knew we wanted to paint the chest freezer with chalk board paint (like the fermentation fridge we made) so we could write on the outside and keep track of what is inside. We also used a magnetic primer so we could put magnets on it as well (same as the fridge). Waited to do the trim later once it was finished and in place and so Nicole could do it, who would do it much more precisely than I would.

Now that the chest freezer was painted and the wood was stained, we set the collar on top of the freezer and then set the lid on top of the collar to see how it would look and how the lid fit. We noticed that the lid didn't quite fit into the collar due to a part on the inside of the lid that extended down into the freezer. Luckily my neighbor John was helping out and had the tools needed to cut a bevel into the collar to allow the lid to fit better into it. After the adjustment it was a much better fit.

After we made sure everything fit right and looked the way we wanted it we glued the collar to the fridge; we still haven't reattached the lid yet to the collar. Again, my neighbor John suggested we use some rubber-like tape that was sticky on one side to put the tape on the freezer and then glue the collar directly to that; the tape was used to help ensure a good seal between the collar and the chest freezer. We then filled two tubs up with water and put them on top of the lid of the chest freezer to push the collar down onto the freezer. Originally when just the collar was placed on the chest freezer the opposite corners were slightly raised off the chest freezer and we hope the weight would essentially bend the wood a little bit and put everything down flush with the chest freezer. The tubs are in the very top of the picture.

We let it sit for a couple days and I moved the tubs around to opposite corners for a full 24 hours in each spot (again, to help "bend" the collar). After the 2-3 days I took the tubs off and removed the lid to inspect the collar and the seal. The wood bent nicely and there was a very nice smooth seal all the way around the collar and the chest freezer. Using the rubber tape proved to be a great idea to make a good seal.

Next step was to install the taps and then reattach the lid to the collar. 

In order for the keezer to work as a keezer and not a freezer we had to purchase a thermostat that would take over the freezer so it would run at the temperature we needed (around 40 degrees). This thermostat is an analog thermostat that allows us to set our "optimal" temperature; the unit has a built in differential of +/- 3.5 degrees. 

This differs from the digital thermostat (shout out to Shawn and Katie who bought us the digital thermostat - thanks again!) in that with the digital thermostat you can set both your temperature and your differential; the digital thermostat also shows you that actual temperature whereas the analog version does not. We used the digital thermostat for the fermentation fridge where precise temperature control is more important; a +/- 3.5 degree change for beer that is already done doesn't make too much of a difference.

To install the analog thermostat we drilled a hole into the back of the collar that we could fit the probe through; we then filled that hole in with silocone sealant to ensure no loss of air. The thermostat is set at 40 degrees and hangs on the wall behind the keezer.

We next filled one of our new kegs (after cleaning and sanitizing) with our last beer that was fermenting - the Girls Gone Mild (also our first all grain batch - fitting that our first all grain batch is also our first kegged batch). After connecting the CO2 tank to the regulator and connected the distributor to the keg, the beer began to carbonate and will take up to 7 days to fully carbonate. The wood block on the right side of the picture is being glued to the inside so that we can attach the distributor to it (as opposed to drilling/nailing directly into the freezer). The distributor distributes CO2 to three different kegs from a single CO2 tank.

The keezer was put right next to the fridge. Below is our completed brewing center - a fermentation fridge, a keezer, and a boom-box on top of the frigde to play soothing music to keep Hain and I from killing each other during this process. Was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun and very rewarding to see our hard work turn out looking good and actually working the way it is supposed to.

Thanks to Hain for all the help and to my neighbor John. Also couldn't have done it without the generous gifts from the Spradley's and the Andersons. Thank you to Nicole for her patience, support, supervisory skills, always kind words of encouragement, and help throughout the entire process.

I think we are now done building the equipment we need for SCBC. We definitely had fun problem solving and building everything, and I know we saved a lot of money. 

Now that we are done building and have everything we need we can get back to brewing so we can fill the kegs and keezer with beer. Just in time for football season!