Keg Cleaning
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Keg Cleaning
I forget where I was browsing the other day but I saw someone had fashioned a keg cleaner from a submersible pump hooked up to some keg QD's. Since I already had the pump I figured this would be cheap and easy so I gave it a try today. On the first trial it seems like it worked pretty well. It was certainly easy to build and use. The keg I cleaned wasn't particularly nasty since it had only been empty a week or two, so that probably helped.
Here are some photos I took while I was testing it:
http://www.brewcommune.com/coppermine/t ... p?album=52
Has anyone else tried something like this? Do you have any suggestions to improve it? I'm not sure what temperatures that pump can handle, but I think it would clean better with hot pbw.
Brent
Here are some photos I took while I was testing it:
http://www.brewcommune.com/coppermine/t ... p?album=52
Has anyone else tried something like this? Do you have any suggestions to improve it? I'm not sure what temperatures that pump can handle, but I think it would clean better with hot pbw.
Brent
- backyard brewer
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Re: Keg Cleaning
We didn't drink that much that day. That was mine.
I need a more powerful pump and some way to keep the cleaning fluid hot. The first keg i clean cleans ok, but once the PBW cools off, that's all she wrote. I think a dishwasher pump is the way to go, they develop a lot of pressure.
I need a more powerful pump and some way to keep the cleaning fluid hot. The first keg i clean cleans ok, but once the PBW cools off, that's all she wrote. I think a dishwasher pump is the way to go, they develop a lot of pressure.
Re: Keg Cleaning
I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I'm loving the blue masking tape and sharpie label
Jon
- maltbarley
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Re: Keg Cleaning
The current issue of Zymurgy has plans for a keg washer: complete with heating element. Those elements are relatively cheap.
Re: Keg Cleaning
It's probably better to post it in the correct thread. I'm curious, why post in this thread and not the one about labels?JonGoku wrote:I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I'm loving the blue masking tape and sharpie label
Re: Keg Cleaning
Because Brahn posted the picture of the label (or at least a link to the picture) in this thread, I assumed it was not taboo to comment on it here. Sorry if I offended anyone.jward wrote:It's probably better to post it in the correct thread. I'm curious, why post in this thread and not the one about labels?JonGoku wrote:I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I'm loving the blue masking tape and sharpie label
Jon
Re: Keg Cleaning
No worries Jon, I knew what you meant. (and that's by far my favorite way to label things these days)
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Re: Keg Cleaning
Don't worry about it. JWard probabaly didn't look at the pictures and thought you were commenting on the label thread.
Re: Keg Cleaning
Jon:
I think your comment was relevant to this thread ... after all, It was a comment about one of this thread's pics. If it really took the "conversation" in a different direction, then one of our admins would've split it off anyway.
Derrin: How is your keg cleaner project ... are you looking for a DW pump? Do you think a washing machine pump would work?
Dan
I think your comment was relevant to this thread ... after all, It was a comment about one of this thread's pics. If it really took the "conversation" in a different direction, then one of our admins would've split it off anyway.
Derrin: How is your keg cleaner project ... are you looking for a DW pump? Do you think a washing machine pump would work?
Dan
Re: Keg Cleaning
If you are interested in building this, I would check out the brewing network gadget show http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The- ... adget-Show.
Doc talks about his Carboy & Keg cleaner. If you use the little giant pump that he talks about, you won't need the heating element, as the pump action heats the water enough after 20-30 minutes.
You can also find an alternative design on wortomatic.com. http://www.wortomatic.com/articles/Heat ... oy-Cleaner
I haven't finished it yet, but I purchased a used little giant 1/6 HP pump on e-bay for $30.00.
Doc talks about his Carboy & Keg cleaner. If you use the little giant pump that he talks about, you won't need the heating element, as the pump action heats the water enough after 20-30 minutes.
You can also find an alternative design on wortomatic.com. http://www.wortomatic.com/articles/Heat ... oy-Cleaner
I haven't finished it yet, but I purchased a used little giant 1/6 HP pump on e-bay for $30.00.
Donnie
Re: Keg Cleaning
I'm not offended and didn't mean to bust your chops. I just thought you figured you were hijacking but didn't mean to. I don't understand hijacking and thought I might understand it better. Of course, now I'm hijacking the thread.JonGoku wrote:Because Brahn posted the picture of the label (or at least a link to the picture) in this thread, I assumed it was not taboo to comment on it here. Sorry if I offended anyone.
Re: Keg Cleaning
Welcome gromitdj. I like that design on wortomatic ... nice find.gromitdj wrote:You can also find an alternative design on wortomatic.com. http://www.wortomatic.com/articles/Heat ... oy-Cleaner
Hope to see you here contributing often.
Dan
Re: Keg Cleaning
Thanks for the welcome,
I joined quite a while ago and have only posted a few times. I imagine I will have quite a few questions once I "officially" start brewing. So far I have only brewed a few Mr. Beer batches. You can guess how well they turned out. It was enough to get me hooked though. Now all I do in my spare time is research brewing beer. I will contribute what little I can, but will probably absorb a lot more information than I contribute. The wort-o-matic website belongs to Push Eject from the Brewing Network forums and has a lot of cool gadget builds. It's worth checking out. I'm also going to build the 38DD mother of fermentation chamber on the site.
I joined quite a while ago and have only posted a few times. I imagine I will have quite a few questions once I "officially" start brewing. So far I have only brewed a few Mr. Beer batches. You can guess how well they turned out. It was enough to get me hooked though. Now all I do in my spare time is research brewing beer. I will contribute what little I can, but will probably absorb a lot more information than I contribute. The wort-o-matic website belongs to Push Eject from the Brewing Network forums and has a lot of cool gadget builds. It's worth checking out. I'm also going to build the 38DD mother of fermentation chamber on the site.
Donnie
Re: Keg Cleaning
The wort-o-matic cleaner is interesting and fairly similar to the one in the latest Zymurgy but with the addition of the hookups for the keg posts. I didn't want to be bothered with drilling 72+ holes (from the Zymurgy article) in a pipe to get the spray head working if I didn't have to. So far in my one test the keg seemed to get clean just by pushing the solution through the dip tubes alone. Since I have no interest in cleaning carboys, I'm not sure the spray head would be necessary.
I do need to test in a nastier keg to see if it's still effective (Derrin, do you need a keg cleaned? ) I also want to test with hot water, but I'll admit that I'm a bit paranoid about building my own heat stick. I'll probably just heat it up on the stove and let it cool off as it cleans.
I do need to test in a nastier keg to see if it's still effective (Derrin, do you need a keg cleaned? ) I also want to test with hot water, but I'll admit that I'm a bit paranoid about building my own heat stick. I'll probably just heat it up on the stove and let it cool off as it cleans.
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Re: Keg Cleaning
One big plus to the zymurgy plans was the temp control and a timer: nice additions for those of us with less-than-perfect short term memory.