Mobile Keezer Build

Kevin59 · Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 3:48 am Post subject: Mobile Keezer Build

So I finally took our new 25 cu ft freezer out of the box this weekend, and today marked the first day of progress on the new mobile keezer build. The picture's not great but it'll give you an idea of what I'm doing. The casters are 8" and the platform sits 12" about the ground. That takes the top of the freezer up to 47". After I put a 10" collar on the keezer will be 57" tall! Loading full kegs should be fun! Wink

I plan two have 5 taps on CO2 and 2 on a nitro mix (1 to start).

This thing is a beast for sure. With no gas bottles inside it will hold 14 kegs on the floor and 2 on the hump (3 if I put a support at the edge) for a total of 16 (or 17) kegs! That gives me plenty of room for conditioning, and I can doing more 10 gallon batches. And I'll probably put my gas bottles inside to keep things neat - 14 kegs should be plenty. Mr. Green

More pics to follow as things progress...

**kal** · Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 1:15 pm Post subject:

That's huge! Mine holds 8 and I thought that was massive!

Make sure the wheels are rated for all the weight too... 14 kegs (14 x 5 gallons) of beer weighs 584 lbs. Add on the weight of the keezer and incidentals and you're probably around 700 lbs.

So why do you want it to mobile?

Kal

huaco · Joined: 05 Apr 2012 Posts: 1506 Location: Burleson Texas

Wow... Going to be an interesting build.

Mobile Party?

Are you planning on wheeling that thing up on a trailer and taking it to parties? If you do, I imagine you will have to empty it to ramp it onto a trailer though.

Kevin59 · Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 3:09 pm Post subject:

Well the first reason for mobility was to be able to move it around the garage for my semi-annual hose out the crud efforts. Moving it that way I can leave the kegs in place and not worry about sloshing things around.

Beyond that we have two other "needs" for mobility - rolling it out to our backyard for parties, and rolling it down the street for a guy's annual Big Green Egg cookout and possibly other block parties. Both of those would likely require removing the kegs if only to prevent foaming them up and putting the sediment back in solution. The casters are rated for 500lb each, so they could handle the mobile load down the block and with that being all-pavement it shouldn't be too bad with the kegs in. But going to the backyard will require keg removal.

Honestly it's turned into pimp my keezer I guess. When I took SWMBO out to the garage to see it last night she couldn't stop laughing at how huge this thing is. And the picture doesn't do it justice as it is a big mo fo. But I like the height where the taps will be. I have a 5-tap drip tray for my kegerator that will move to the keezer for the CO2 faucets, and I'll add a 2-faucet drip tray for the nitro faucets. I got them from kegconnection.com.

I'm actually contemplating a pulley on the ceiling on a rail for putting full kegs in this monster. It would also serve double duty as a weigh station since I plan to use a hanging scale to track how much beer is left in a given keg. I know, I know, over the top...

Anyway next step is an apron around the caster platform to a) keep the freezer from sliding off the deal, and b) hide the ugly plywood and 2x6 platform build.

huaco · Joined: 05 Apr 2012 Posts: 1506 Location: Burleson Texas

For a non-invasive way to track how much is in a keg, why not do something like this with an arduino?

http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,18768.0.html

I have ZERO experience with arduino but I know there are guys out there making some REALLY cool projects with them. If you could find some sort of load cell pad that is about 9" or 10" square, you could have one under each keg and Tare out the cell with an empty keg. Once you get close to "Zero" on the scale, you will know you are in the danger zone for that tap. Heck, you could even have a small digital read-out beside each tap... Now, THAT would be awesome!

Kevin59 · Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 3:55 pm Post subject:

I might have to save that one for later! Much later! But it would be awesome!!!

(If you knew me you'd know that you have now caused me to start thinking about it... Damn... Must, say, no!)

Kevin59 · Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 2:01 am Post subject:

Finally some progress... I hope to have 'er up and running this weekend!

Kevin59 · Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 3:15 pm Post subject: It's Done!

Finally! OK so I do need to attach a drain pan at the bottom, but I'll be hosting beer for folks from work this Friday! And I'm waiting on another SS stout faucet before I spend $$ on nitro tank and regulator, so for now the stout faucet can serve CO2 product with the restrictor plate removed.

Definitely not a fine woodworking project, but it's gotten the job done! Mr. Green