As I am getting ready to pull the trigger on my keezer build, I am at a bit of a fork in the road in the design process. Do I:
1: mount the faucets on the collar as such:
or 2: Mount dual two tap draft towers as such:
I am planning on incorporating my keezer into my basement bar as part of the back bar - probably as the centerpiece of the back bar. I like ease of installation of the on the collar method and can make a sharp keezer, I think (as seen in the example). However, as part of the bar area, I like the draft towers. I think I would be happier with the serving height too. Price is pretty much a wash. Beverage Factory has double Perlick towers for $160, which is what it would pretty much cost me to do two on the collar. I’m thinking drilling a hole in the lid, or removing the lid and installing an insulated wood one.
I agree but don’t know what your basement looks like. I will be doing the collar method to build the height up and give it a little more of a customized look. For me that gives it a little extra, and towers on top sound like a PITA.
Another consideration is how to cool the tower. If the lines in the tower stay warmer than the keg your first pours will always be quite foamy sue to the temp gradient. This is more easily managed on the collar. Either way I suggest a fan to circular the cold air but IME its easier done without the tower
You both hit my main reservation for the towers. I like the look, but they might suck. How long until I get sick of pulling the freezer out to open it? Better yet - how long until I bash a two Perlick tower into the wall?! You know - in all those pictures if the keezers with the super cool coffins on top, you hardly ever see one open! Probably a reason for that. I am definitely leaning towards a collar. Cheers!
If you want towers and don’t mind some extra work, you could build the towers into your bar. Then place the keezer nearby and connect it to the tower with beer lines run through flexible, insulated tubing. You’ll need to rig a fan to keep cold air flowing through that tubing. Then you have the best of both options.
You could also build the keezer door as a sort of horizontal Dutch door, like two half-doors. Mount the towers on one side and use the other side to access the kegs. In fact only the “non-tower” side would actually need to swing open.
I have thought about doing that as the wall behind my bar will be in my unfinished space. I have thought about taking the lines through the wall into towers on the back bar. Besides the pain of engineering all that, I don’t really have a wall yet! I’m wanting to go ahead and get the keezer built - sick of bottling :P Then, I will finish the bar around it. I’m not really a fan of all these plans that fully encase the chest freezer. I know they say they maintain enough airflow around it, but I’m not convinced. I looked into buying an under-counter unit, but you are looking at $1600 or so, and three taps is the best you can do.
I found this keezer plan yesterday. I’m kind of crushing on it a little. As I slowly buy parts, I’m not super committed to anything until I buy shanks, I guess. I am liking that four tap tower… ;D
Im crushing on it to. found the build and was suprised to see that its PVC. I really dig the up and over Vs a standard tower. It makes the drip tray look at home too.
That is a pretty sweet build.
you could probably put a fan to circulate air across the lines. you may end up dealling with condensation on the stainless though.
We had the exact same dilemma… what to do… collar and front mount taps or top mount tower taps… we chose the top mount system because of our basement pub area layout.
If there were some way to mount the towers on a hinged plate so you could tilt them forward when you opened the top, that would be the bomb. That would work with any type of tower. I also like the up-and-over horizontal mount. It would be easy to blow cold air through.
I started mine with towers, I basically built a box on the lid. I installed a fan to circulate the air from the freezer through the box. It worked pretty well, but moving the whole freezer away from the wall was a monstrous chore(6 cornies and at least 50 bottles inside). I redesigned mine with a collar and have loved it.
Thanks! Yeah, if you need the keezer to be up against a wall the long way it is tough with top mounted towers. Our setup required a side arrangement so we are able to open the top with no issues.
Mine is sitting on a stand on heavy duty casters. Rolls back and forth like a charm. Takes nothing to roll it out from the wall, change kegs etc and roll it back. I really prefer the tower look personally although there are some really nice collar ones too. Towers just look more professional to me.
Thanks to everyone for the great pics on this thread. It looks like my new keezer will be allowed in the house per SWMBO. Just placed an order for two dual stainless perlick towers to avoid sticks and dress it up a bit, hope they last… It is the largest investment I have made to date, but can’t wait… I did a platform with coasters and co2 tank space on mine to help move it around.
I know you already bought the towers but I think the biggest reason I’m going with the collar for mine is the fact that if something goes wrong with the freezer, you can literally swap out the collar onto the new freezer with a minimal amount of work and the old freezer isn’t damaged in any way.
The thought of cutting holes into the top of an insulated freezer lid gives me the willies, it can’t be undone and you will have to do the same amount of work again if you need to replace the lid. Plus, try explaining those holes to the warranty company.
