Ss Spray Ball For Washing

[pokolbinguy]

G'day folks,

So I'm hoping that if I have enough time today that I will give my brew rig a good clean and (fingers crossed) be able to do my 1st AG. Anyway I have been thinking the last few days how it would be nice to be able to set up a re-circulating cleaning system on my vessels. We use this to wash the tanks in wineries and the best bit is you can leave it to do its thing while going and doing other things (e.g. reading AHB).

Now considering I already have a march pump, outlets in the bottom of the vessels and hoses the only thing needed is a spray ball to "spray" the liquid around the vessel.

I have found these (these are the same kind we use in the winery)



Sprayball link

They are available with a 1/2" bsp thread which would be perfect to go with the rest of my setup....so what I am thinking is to get a pot lid (the same as the size of the openings of my vessels and drill a hole in the top and mount the spray ball to it, put an elbow of the top and then a male cam-lock fitting on to suit my hoses.

So the idea is that you put in some warm/hot liquid with cleaning product (e.g. nappy cleaner powder), connect the march pump from the bottom outlet of the vessel to the spray ball setup that is in the lid of the vessel and turn it on. The volume in the bottom of the vessel is enugh to keep the pump running without going dry, and the cleaning solution gets sprayed around the inside walls of the vessel giving it a nice clean. Perfect for removing more fine dirt and stuff rather than large solids as these would potenitally clog the drain and spray head.

Has anyone done this before? Any quams?

And yes I realise there are people who will just say "don't worry about it", "why?"," you dont needed it".....but its bling...and we all know how much we like that stuff

Does anyone know where I can buy these sprayballs (maybe in the Newcastle area)? Being easter however I won't be able to go and get one till next week

My other thought was to maybe just use a garden sprinkler of some description and see how that goes and if it works ok then buy the spray ball...might be a good test run. And might even have the gear at home to give it a whirl.

Anyway food for thought,

Cheers, Pok

 

[Sammus]

Could be good, I'm not sure if the march pump will push hard enough to make it spray very much though...

 

[pokolbinguy]

Could be good, I'm not sure if the march pump will push hard enough to make it spray very much though...

That is the only concern I had. I guess maybe a "sprinkler" head might be a better option as it might be a bit more forceful...can always test with one of those 1st as they are cheap and then swap if need be,

Pok

 

[Sammus]

What are those spray balls worth?

would be sweet if it works. I've got a couple old pond pumps hanging out unused that have high flow and high head. Could be good - just not with like a boiling caustic solution or something.

 

[MHB]

Pock
If you look in the Technical Info, the smallest spray ball they make needs over 40 L/m, at a couple of Bar, this is several orders of magnitude more then any March Pump will deliver.

You have to have a trolley pump or two kicking around the winery, one of them should do the job.

Some very nice stuff in the catalogue, added to my favourites thanks
MHB

 

[[email protected]]

I was lucky enough to "find" some spray balls in my travels and they work great. I have a separate tank that I keep my hot cleaning fluid in and recirc it through my brewhouse from there. I picked up a food grade SS pressure pump of ebay for about $120 and it has more than enough pumpin power. So far so good.

Booz

 

[Screwtop]

Used to recirc hot weak caustic solution through the gear for clean up while doing other things. Now use a warm Starsan solution wich removes much more gunk. Don't think you would het enough pressure from a March to be able to use the ball, sure looks nice though, have seen one in use in a micro. Use the simple wort return manifold here that is used for continuous sparging. Just a length of 1/2in copper with a flap on the end to fan out the liquid.

Screwy

 

[Franko]

Hey Pok where did you get them mate and how much were they

Franko

 

[pokolbinguy]

Hey Pok where did you get them mate and how much were they

Franko

If you are talking about the spray balls I haven't bought any yet. Only searched for them this morning and that was the first google result.

I will have a think about it and see what i can come up with. The info MHB came across is a good point on the amount of grunt needed...I wil have a think and see what works...might only need a small sprinkler setup instead. Just a peice of the small garden hose used to fit sprinklyer heads with one or two heads on it...could give a good result.

Anyway I'm off to get this brewery clean...I want to do my AG got dammit.

Pok

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Could be good, I'm not sure if the march pump will push hard enough to make it spray very much though...

+1 as well. Also work in the wine industry and IMHO you would not get enough flow rate to effectively use it.

I use a march pump for everyday brewing.


BYB

 

[enoch]

I was thinking of using an old pump I salvaged from an old dishwasher as a pressure pump for cleaning.
Has anyone had a crack with one of these?

 

[Jye]

When I found the joy of PBW I tried a sprinkler built into my kettle lid because my pump doesnt have the pressure for a spray ball. Anyway the amount of gunk PBW cleans up was enough to clog it

With any system you go with the limiting factor will be the pumps pressure.

 

[LethalCorpse]

When I found the joy of PBW I tried a sprinkler built into my kettle lid because my pump doesnt have the pressure for a spray ball. Anyway the amount of gunk PBW cleans up was enough to clog it

With any system you go with the limiting factor will be the pumps pressure.

Which means you need a filter of some sort in the system.

I've seriously considered this myself, though the spray ball available at geordi is prohibitive. Sprinkler heads were going to be my cheap alternative, since it can be rigged to be isolated from the vessels. I don't know that you'll get enough flow rate out of the valve at the bottom of the kettle, so what I was thinking was to have the ball on a stand tube and invert the keg over it in a bucket, with the pump picking up from the bucket. RE pressure, is there any reason a cheap pressure washer from bunnings et al wouldn't work (so long as you don't try and pump boiling liquid with it)?

 

[Thirsty Boy]

sprinkler heads should be sufficient for homebrew vessels - spray balls are needed in brewery and wine industry vessels because they are "closed" so you have to clean top bottom and sides. Most homebrewing vessels you would only be looking at sides and bottom, so you dont need the same spray pattern to clean all the surfaces.

But you might have trouble with clogging the sprinkler head and a filter would be needed.

You really will need a pump capable of hot liquids - almost none of the cleaning solutions is going to be effective enough to remove fouling unless its hot - but really high pressure isn't needed, its the heat and chemical action that does the job. Spray balls don't really clean with pressure - they are more about effective distribution of a chemical cleaning agent, but without having to fill the entire vessel. As long as you can get the liquid to actually hit all the surfaces you want cleaned - thats going to be good enough.

 

[Carbonator]

If you go to Bunnings, you can buy for about $2, the mini garden sprinklers. One per keg would be fine and I'm sure a March pump would be able to supply the required pressure to "blow" the arse out of the head, so a T-piece to provide pressure relief or a couple more working at once would do the job.

 

[MHB]

TB is quite right; its a flooding action, where the chemicals and the flowing water do the work, there are still physical constraints that must be observed if you dont want to do a half assed job.
Instead of guessing I had a look in Kunze

For this about 30hL of cleaning liquid per hour per meter of tank periphery is circulated Kunze 3rd International edition p426

So for a tank that looks remarkably like one of the taller skinnier of the two common commercial kegs on the market.

C = 1.1150 meters
30 hL/hour is 50L/m multiplied by C gives 55.75 L/m

From the March pump Performance Curve, you would be lucky to get 10 L/m out of a March pump at 1 meter of head.

So no chance!

MHB

 

[warrenlw63]

Talk about reinventing the wheel. What's wrong with elbow grease? Particularly on a HB level. All you need with that is a remote control to switch it on and off.

Warren -

 

[MHB]

Reading Kunze, you see something interesting so you follow the thread and read the bits around what you were looking for, just for fun.

Page 721

"In small breweries and plants brushes and scrubbers still reign supreme. This will not change in the future."

I don't think I would bother with CIP in a small brewhouse, except for the fact that I love stuffing around with gadgets.

MHB

 

[pokolbinguy]

I don't think I would bother with CIP in a small brewhouse, except for the fact that I love stuffing around with gadgets.

My point exactly!!

 

[pokolbinguy]

Got a price back from "Technical Projects" - $173.90 + gst

That blows this idea out of the water for me ...seems rather exorbenent. The fellow who replied to my inquiry asked me what I wanted to use it for (seemed interested why I wanted one in 1/2")....I replied telling him about the home brew idea...you never know he might turn around with a better price (e.g under $50)....but I think might just go to the local pig flying competitions tomorrow instead.