# Advice On Dishwasher To Bottle Washer Conversion



## brettule (24/8/08)

I have a spare dishwasher which I was thinking about converting into a bottle washer. I was thinking of removing the lower rotating spray arm and replacing it with a network of those garden stem spray things. Bottle goes on upside down and the clean the inside. I suspect that the hot water which the dishwasher produces will nuke the garden intended nozzles. Can anyone advise or direct me to some dishwasher conversion to botttle washer projects?


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## alexbrand (24/8/08)

I saw some pics on the web. Have a look here: klick


































Pics are taken from German and Dutch forums. So the text will not bee very interesting for you, I guess. 

Cheers,

Alex


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## Andyd (26/8/08)

That's Brilliant!

Andy


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## brettule (26/8/08)

Are they just crimping the end of each copper stem to create the pressure needed to spray out? I'm assuming if all the pipes are left open ended the dishwasher pump would end up just bubbling water out of all the stems at once.


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## Andyd (27/8/08)

brettule said:


> Are they just crimping the end of each copper stem to create the pressure needed to spray out? I'm assuming if all the pipes are left open ended the dishwasher pump would end up just bubbling water out of all the stems at once.



Looks to me like they've braized on some stop ends, and then probably drilled a number of 1 mm holes in it.

I would probably run a hole in the center, then a few around the outer edge of the end stop, then spiral some down the side...

But I haven't tried it, so I don't actually know 

Andy


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## braufrau (27/8/08)

That looks like its their kitchen dishwasher .. not a spare .. so do they replace the arm with that thing when they need it?


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## TidalPete (27/8/08)

brettule said:


> Are they just crimping the end of each copper stem to create the pressure needed to spray out? I'm assuming if all the pipes are left open ended the dishwasher pump would end up just bubbling water out of all the stems at once.



That's a great idea what a shame I keg these days.
I reckon drilling one hole in the centre of your copper caps the same size at your garden sprayer heads would do it & ensuring that the bottles stay as close to the vertical as possible by having a thicker copper base on the uprights of those 'T' joiners would ensure a more even spray.

TP :beer:


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## brettule (27/8/08)

My plumber mate says it should be easy enough for us to put together but the price of copper has skyrocketed so it will be expensive.


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## ausdb (27/8/08)

brettule said:


> My plumber mate says it should be easy enough for us to put together but the price of copper has skyrocketed so it will be expensive.


Its a fantastic idea and just tell your plumber mate that you will be raiding his scrap bin, plumbers and fridge mechanics always have a bin/bucket somewhere that all the short pieces go into for the end of year beer fund, just brew a simple lager or kolsch in return!!
The biggest cost will be all the T's and elbows, if you are a real tightar$e then you could just drill the uprights into the bottom manifold and solder them in place. I will try and post a pic tonight of something I knocked up out of scrap a while back that fits into a laundry trough and works off a washing machine pump (which doesnt have enough pressure)

EDIT: Looking at the link Alexbrand posted above they have just drilled into the sides of the main tubing as I was suggesting

The first one just looks like they have crimped the ends of the tubes, the second one has stop ends and holes, I would just go with the first style as the cost of the caps will add up.


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## alexbrand (27/8/08)

Hi mates,




Andyd said:


> Looks to me like they've braized on some stop ends, and then probably drilled a number of 1 mm holes in it.



Tip: count and measure the holes in the original spray arm. So you get the total dear opening. This is what you should reproduce (a bit less) on the "stag's antlers". Smaller holes but more of them should make an acceptable water pressure. Remember, that cleaning in the dish washer is more a chemical than a mechanical cleaning process.




braufrau said:


> That looks like its their kitchen dishwasher .. not a spare .. so do they replace the arm with that thing when they need it?


Yes, it's the wife's dishwasher. It can be restored very easy... 

I use a drilled an capped copper tube to make a sprayer, but I use tap water with tap water pressure: Pic 1, Pic 2.

Cheers,

Alex

EDIT: The antlers on the two first pictures have three holes per bottle.


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## ausdb (27/8/08)

alexbrand said:


> I saw some pics on the web. Have a look here: klick
> 
> Pics are taken from German and Dutch forums. So the text will not bee very interesting for you, I guess.
> 
> ...



Alex can you please post the urls to the forum discussions?
Whilst I cannot speak german I have managed to understand the text with the help of google and a german-english dictionary as I have learnt a lot about my scheppach woodworking machines that way


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## alexbrand (27/8/08)

ausdb said:


> Alex can you please post the urls to the forum discussions?
> Whilst I cannot speak german I have managed to understand the text with the help of google and a german-english dictionary as I have learnt a lot about my scheppach woodworking machines that way



Of course I can! 

Link to the bottle washer discussion in the German Forums

Link to the Dutch discussion​
Have fun translating! I case of confusionI probably could help out. :icon_chickcheers: 

Alex

PS: Look here, too.


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## Jazzafish (27/8/08)

alexbrand said:


> Of course I can!
> 
> Link to the bottle washer discussion in the German Forums
> 
> ...


I have used caustic and a dish washer to clean my fermenters, and always thought of doing the same for bottles. This is pure nobel prize material! You rock!!!

Now I have a use for my copper coil immersion chiller! Building one of these! Just have to talk SWMBO into it


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## Darren (27/8/08)

Alex,

That looks good. Can you increase the number of bottles washed at any one time? Maybe remove the top shelf and make a two tiered set-up.

cheers

Darren


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## alexbrand (27/8/08)

@ Jazzafish, Darren and all the others:

It's not me who 'invented' or even ever used this washer. I just pointed - because of the first post in this thread - into this direction.
Feel free to find out, what's working best and what's favourablest to your familiy 

But I think now the technicians here have an idea to make something out of it...


Cheers,

Alex


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## jogybear (29/8/08)

Hi,

I'm new to this forum. Please excuse my english. I live in Switzerland and my native language is German. I'm a homebrewer since 2000 and moved just recently to a new home with a big room (former cheese dairy) to install my brewery.
I saw a lot of referrals from aussiehomebrewer.com to my site (mettlebier.ch). So I was curious where they came from.
I have to say a few words concerning my bottle washer. It is not strong enough to wash the deposit out of the bottles. I have to soak the bottles first for some hours, then rinse with a high pressure rinser and then wash them in the dishwasher. After this procedure, the bottles are clean inside and outside and I do not need to sterilize them. The washing takes nearly one hour (and a lot of energy) for 30 bottles. Some weeks ago I bought a used professional dishwasher that should do the job in 2 minutes. The conversion of the copper tubing to a cage for the new dishwasher is not yet done.

Cheers,
Juerg


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## alexbrand (30/8/08)

Brewer55 said:


> I saw a lot of referrals from aussiehomebrewer.com to my site (mettlebier.ch).



Really? How could this happen?  

Hey Jrg (aka ale-addict),

welcome! 

Alex


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## jogybear (30/8/08)

Hi Alex,



alexbrand said:


> Really? How could this happen?


The first two pictures you posted are on my website. If you click on "full size" they are loaded from there. Because the link is on aussiehomebrewer.com, this URL shows up as referring domain in my site statistics.

@all
We moved, as I wrote, to a new home. Unfortunately the dishwasher here is not the same make as on our former flat. So the construction does not fit. I really have to build it in a cage that can be used in the professional dishwasher.

Juerg


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## brettule (1/9/08)

Brewer55 said:


> The first two pictures you posted are on my website. If you click on "full size" they are loaded from there. Because the link is on aussiehomebrewer.com, this URL shows up as referring domain in my site statistics.


How cool! Thanks for making the effort to locate and join us. I've got a Puch moped manual I need translating next 



ausdb said:


> Its a fantastic idea and just tell your plumber mate that you will be raiding his scrap bin, plumbers and fridge mechanics always have a bin/bucket somewhere that all the short pieces go into for the end of year beer fund, just brew a simple lager or kolsch in return!!


 I saw his scrap pile the other day, he said exactly what you said! He also said that it's all old rubbish copper and that I wouldn't want to use it for cleaning. I'll keep working on him. He suspected it would set him back a couple of hundred dollars in new copper bits.


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## ausdb (2/9/08)

brettule said:


> I saw his scrap pile the other day, he said exactly what you said! He also said that it's all old rubbish copper and that I wouldn't want to use it for cleaning. I'll keep working on him. He suspected it would set him back a couple of hundred dollars in new copper bits.


Old copper new copper if its from a plumber then it would not really matter as once its had a bit of going over with some caustic and maybe acid it will be as good and shiny as new. I am a fridge mechanic and would not recommend using old refrigeration piping that has had oil and refrigerant in it but most companies that do installations always have the short bits left over, I used to save them for those special "weekend jobs"


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