keg and bottle cleaner

[Ferg]

Had a crack at making a bottle washer this weekend.
Extremely simple build considering the bill of materials was listed by Lael originally.
I went with a dirty water pump from Masters, I'll be using it elsewhere too so happy with the outlay.
I have the dirty water pump inside the storage box with the pipework above it, the water / cleaning solution would then be recirculated so only about 40lts or so would be required.
I think this thread should be renamed to why the f**k did I wait so long to build this!

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Keg wash builder-ers... how do you clean inside the dip tube? To me that is the most critical part to clean. I make sure I run all my cleaning water that soaks the inside walls of the keg out through the dip tube (also clean pluto guns or my taps at the same time). Be interesting to see ideas for recircing through both liquid and gas disconnects to cover this.

 

[Kingy]

Carbonation caps are good for cleaning through the dip tube and posts and lines.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

If you're going to the trouble of building a pumped recirculating washer it seems silly to then need to fiddle with carb caps etc to clean. How do carb caps make cleaning any easier then regular liquid lines to Pluto guns or fridge taps?

 

[Kingy]

I used to use lots of gas and starsan when using kegs to clean lines and taps. With a carb cap I only use a litre or 2 with **** all gas.
I can't see the point in building a washer as I rinse my bottles straight after use and soak the kegs with sod perc and as the pressure builds up I release it through the liquid post. Beer lines are cleaned with a small bottle and carb cap. Each to there own I suppose. Whatever works and your happy with run with it.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

So the pressure build in the carb cap allows you to push 1-2L out and down the dip tube line of the keg, then you can swish around to clean inside the keg is that your process?

AFAIK the pressure building from the perc is the breakdown to oxygen, which is part of the cleaners effectiveness, so you want it at the location you're cleaning to be effective, so you may find it cleans better if you use gas to push it into the dip tube and keg whilst this breakdown to oxygen occurs.

I like the idea recirculating cleaning, just would want it to clean the entire keg like my manual procedure does, otherwise it seems a waste of effort if you still need to gas or use carb caps to flush the dip tube with cleaner, rinse and sanitize anyway.

 

[klangers]

I built a bottle washer using the old irrigation fitting method.

It worked ok, but still the time taken to move bottles around all that crap just gave me the ***** so now I'm in the process of moving to kegging.

If it helps, commercial kegging operations flip the kegs upside down and pump steam through the kegs.

I plan to sanitise my kegs (these are not cornies) by reciculating hot CIP fluid through them when they're upside down. I will reverse the check valves in one coupler (this will be my filling/cleaning coupler) and pump into the beer port, and out of the gas port. This will act as a poor man's spray ball and also clean the dip tube.

 

[Kingy]

AFAIK the pressure building from the perc is the breakdown to oxygen, which is part of the cleaners effectiveness, so you want it at the location you're cleaning to be effective, so you may find it cleans better if you use gas to push it into the dip tube and keg whilst this breakdown to oxygen occurs.

I like the idea recirculating cleaning, just would want it to clean the entire keg like my manual procedure does, otherwise it seems a waste of effort if you still need to gas or use carb caps to flush the dip tube with cleaner, rinse and sanitize anyway.

I use hot water when soaking kegs with perc and the pressure builds up immediately from the steam and I push the post in with a screwdriver or something so it squirts out a little then leave to soak.
When using starsan I swirl in the keg then send some down the dip tube with the carb cap bottle.
I clean and sanitize beer line/taps with the carb cap and bottle.
Seems to work for me and I see no need for a washer that's all and I'm happy.
Could even build a washer like in the above posts with an element.