How to add a chalkboard top to your keezer.
A Look at My Finished Chalkboard Top Keezer
This is the first in a series of upcoming DIY homebrew project posts I plan to add to the blog. The project today is adding a chalkboard top to your keezer. This is an easy project that will cost you about $15 dollars and take a few days to complete. It’s a great way to showcase your beer list and help visitors pick their next beer. Let’s start with the supplies you’ll need.
Supplies needed for your chalkboard top project
- Rust-oleum Chalkboard Paint- $9.99 at Home Depot
- High Density Foam roller (thx rjparjay)- $2.99 at Home Depot
- Mini rolling pan- $0.99 at Home Depot
- Sandpaper- $1.99 at Home Depot
Optional-
- Chalk- $1.00 at Dollar Store
- Painter’s Tape (If you won’t be covering the entire top)- $2.50
With your supplies in hand go ahead and clean off the top of your keezer. The directions on the paint say to lightly sand the top of the surface to help with adhesion, I find it necessary to get some smoothness on the finished surface. If you won’t be covering the entire top, tape off the area you don’t want painted, press the edges firmly.
Chalkboard Keezer Taped Off
Pour out the paint and lay down the first coat and let it dry overnight. From this step forward you’ll want to roll from edge to edge, if you start your roll in the middle of the keezer, it’ll leave a smudge in the final coat. Roll from one end all the way through and off the other edge.
Chalkboard Keezer First Coat
You’ll want to do at least 5 coats, I did 5 and might end up doing another to get a little smoother surface. The reason is that the top of my keezer is not smooth, even after sanding, so I ended up with little dimples and grooves on the finished product that makes erasing a little difficult. You can see them in the first coat picture to the right here.
Wait 72 hours after your last coat before doing any writing. Some people will “condition” their chalkboards, rubbing a coating of chalk across the entire board and then erasing it. It is thought to improve the ability to erase in the future, I found it only made the entire board white.
Chalkboard Keezer Final Coat
Every month or so you may need to use a damp sponge or cloth to wipe the slate clean. Allow the surface to dry before using the chalk again. Other solutions to the problem of unidentified taps are getting your own custom tap handles, using dry erase markers on the top of the keezer, or hanging little tags on the handles. Do you have any other ideas for letting your visitors know what’s on tap? What solutions did you come up with?
Thank you for the tip on painting edge-to-edge, I’m about to start this project as well! The paint can says to wait a few hours between coats (I too bought the Rustoleum brand). After waiting overnight for your first coat, how long did you wait between coats 2-5?
The overnight thing was mostly born out of necessity since I did the first coat at 11PM. The next coats were dry after as little as an hour. It was quite dry and cold in the garage when I did the project. It’s easy to tell by eye when it’s ready, the wet paint is black and the dry paint is more of a dark grey. You could probably get 5 coats on in a day if you started early. Good luck on your project.