Kegerator Build - Part 2

The internet is full of information, and in the case of building a kegerator there was lots of material to reference.  I was looking for a configuration that is:

• Big enough to store and distribute beer from multiple kegs 
• Cold enough to prevent foam issues
• Easy to setup 
• Bonus: energy efficient 

After examining different models and reading about various experiences, I settled upon the chest freezer kegerator.  At a very high level, you take a standard chest freezer, unhook the hinges from the back, remove the lid, build a wooden collar that sits on the top of the freezer, reattach the hinges and lid, and drill holes into the wood for taps.  This configuration would not have a beer tower so the entire beer line would remain cool.  The chest freezer would be wide enough to hold the kegs.  The wooden collar allows you to attach the tap handles (use the existing holes) without having to drill into the freezer and risk hitting one of the refrigerant lines.  The entire setup would be pretty straightforward.

It is important to note that I choose a freezer instead of a refrigerator.  While a fridge would keep beer cold, it would constantly be running at its coldest setting to maintain this temperature.  A freezer is designed to be very cold, so warming it up to the 38-degrees should lessen the strain on the compressor and allow for overall better performance.  It gives you a better variety of temperature.

• 14.9 cubic foot Frigidaire chest freezer - energy star rated

So the first part of the project was to build the kegerator collar.  I removed the hinges from the back of the freezer (careful... they are spring loaded) and took off the lid.
  
After measuring the freezer and calculating the dimensions of the wood, here is the list of materials used:

• Two 8ft douglas fir 2x8 boards - One 14ft 2x8 redwood board - cut to dimensions of the chest freezer
• Stainless steel bolts and screws
• Steel corner braces 
• Steel mending plates
• Silicon caulking
• Rubber weatherstripping 
• Polyurethane wood finish

I figured 2x8 boards would be tall enough for the tap handles and the wood would be a good insulator to keep everything cold.

Our first attempt at building the wooden collar proved that cheap wood wasn't the best option.  The douglas fir wood purchased at Lowes was actually pretty poor quality with gaps and splits in the edges.  It probably didn't help that we built the collar on the garage floor which isn't a level surface.  Using screws for the corners and the corner braces, we attached everything together.  We filled in the gaps with spray foam sealer and covered all of the edges and corners with silicon caulking.  Three 1-inch holes were drilled in the front for the shanks.

After applying a coat of paint, we put it on top of the freezer and found it to be significantly uneven.
  


We removed the collar and began to sand the edges hopefully reducing the gap.
  

I think we figured that eventually adding the weatherstripping along with the weight from the freezer lid would help to level everything, but in general things just didn't sit right.

After a bit of frustration, we decided to scrap the cheap wood collar and start over.  We headed to a local lumber yard who helped us pick out a quality piece of wood.  Redwood is a better quality wood anyway, and we thought that the natural color of the wood would look nicer.


So this time we used the polyurethane wood finish instead of paint.  Attaching the pieces together we decided to forgo the corner braces and instead used longer and sturdier screws.  And this time, we built the collar on top of the freezer, ensuring it would sit level.
  

After placing the collar flush onto the freezer and making sure it fit snug, we added some weatherstripping along the outer edge to ensure a tight air seal.  The weatherstripping has a sticky backside which attaches to the wood.  Silicon caulking was applied to all of the seams of the wood as well.
 

With the weatherstripping in place, the next step was to attach the hinges to the collar.  Using the existing holes on the back of the freezer, we attached steel mending plates to the base of the wooden collar.  This secures the wood to the freezer.  Next was to drill a hole into the lower bottom of the hinge bracket that would line up with a hole on the steel mending plate.  A second screw would attach the hinge bracket through the metal plate and into the wood.  Finally, a screw went into the wood through the top hole of the hinge bracket.
  



The hinges work great - the spring action makes the lid really easy to open.


Some of the designs will suggest building an outer collar, but we found this not to be necessary.  With the steel mending plates, the wooden collar is securely attached to the freezer and everything feels to be really solid.

For added functionality, we attached a metal wall-mount bottle opener to the side.  The kegerator will function as a refrigerator which makes it a perfect place to store bottles of beer not on tap.


Next up... the inside plumbing.