11 replies to this topic

[3rd party JKor]

What's your process for washing the kegs, I mean. What cleaner do you use? what temp water? How much water and sanitizer do you add? How long do you recirc? Do you heat the water during the recirc? Do you replace the sanitizer between kegs? Etc. etc. etc.

[djinkc]

A lot of guys in the LBG (Lawrence, KS) that I respect have done just this. I've tossed the idea around for quite a while I have a sump pump that could do double duty. I don't see doing it anytime soon. My routine is to tear down the keg completely every time. Several rinses with 140df water, then hand clean the posts, poppets etc. Scrub down the keg with a scrubby, I can feel if there is some beer stone from experience (yeah, skinny arms are nice). Rinse repeatedly from there. Then spray everything with StarSan. That routine takes me anywhere from 10 - 15 minutes per keg since I started using the scrubby. That's right, water, elbow grease and StarSan. I had a mild problem with beerstone before I started scrubbing every time - not anymore. It works here and local water chemistry may make a big difference.Just one way to do it. If I had 10 kegs to clean at a time I would probably be rethinking this. Maybe I'm lucky with no real infection problems. That 140df out of the tap probably helps but the kids are gone and K and I know how hot it is..............eta, this is for serving cornies. If I was fermenting in unmodified Sankes the keg washer would be a must.

Edited by dj in kc, 22 July 2010 - 07:56 PM.

[gnef]

This is what I have been thinking about doing, to go the inexpensive route: get another submersible pump, make fittings like I've seen in the guides, use water from the hot side, add a scoop of pbw, and let it go until I clean all the kegs I want in that sitting. This washer would be a must if I decide to start fermenting in sanke kegs.A club member has a very nice setup, which would be expensive if I were to try to copy it: half height 1/4 barrel with the top cut out and fittings welded in - one at the bottom and two in the side (maybe a third for the temperature probe), one for the heating element, the other for the intake to the pump. PBW is added as the detergent.The heating element is hooked up to a temperature controller to keep the temp at 140F, and the march pump takes in water from the side, and then pumps it through the bottom fitting and through a straight copper tube that goes into the keg. The kegs are resting on a modified plastic soda carrier.It is definitely a nice system, and I have brought over my unconditioned kegs (probably over 40 in total in the last couple years) to wash out the inside from any soda that might've been in them before. I do this before I even replace the gaskets. The lids are left in the hot pbw solution while the kegs are changed out every 5-10 minutes.That system is pretty expensive, and since I don't foresee myself getting a boatload more kegs at this time, I'm just not sure if a nice fancy setup is worth it for me right now.I have been giving serious consideration to sanke fermenters, and that is the primary reason I would build this washer. Hopefully I will get around to doing this soon enough. I still need to get the stainless end caps and tri-clamps to convert the sanke into a fermenter though.

[HVB]

My keg washer is pretty simple. I just have a sump pump with a copper wand. I do not have it set up at the present time with jumpers for the in and out posts. I just take those off and clean them the old fashion way. I built mine first off for carboys but also use it for kegs and sankes. I will use oxyclean or PBW and heat it up to 145ish and then just recirculate that. For me it saves time because I can walk away and do something else, come back take off the vessel throw a new one on and rinse off the other one and be done.

[siouxbrewer]

Sump pump with copper spray wand. Have it T'd for gas and liquid fittings. I use it to wash cornies, carboys, buckets, hoses, growlers and my sanke fermenters. Before washing anything, I spray out any crud with hot water before it goes on the washer, mostly to stretch out the cleaner as far as possible. I use hot water out of the tap and use a pretty strong mix of oxyclean/tsp90. Always try to wash as many things in one session as possible, saves on time/pbw. I also use it for sanitizing. I just spray off the sump pump and run clean water through it for a bit before putting it in a barrel of starsan. Been using mine for over a year and I'm loving it.

[BlKtRe]

I love mine too. Just wish it wasn't so BIG!My protocol is the same as SB.Others in LBG do what Gnef does. Cant believe I brewed all those years with out one.

[HVB]

Oh and I forgot it works great to clean a conical too. I just have a short peiece of hose that goes from the pump to the wand. I thin put hte wand through the top of the conical and let her go for a while. Quick scrub with a brush and ready to sanitize.

[3rd party JKor]

The reason I ask is that I've been using the one that I built for about 6 months now and I don't find it taking all that much less time. Five Star recommends a 30 minutes CIP time and I'm generally cleaning at least four kegs at a time, so that's two hours, plus a half hour for each additional keg. I'm thinking about modifying my rig to do 4 at the same time. Also, my cleaning solution cools off pretty fast. I remember before I built it people were talking about how the pump runs hot enough to keep the solution warm, well my pump doesn't run hot at all. The solution probably drops from 150 to around 100 during the first keg. I bought a 1000W element to heat the solution, haven't installed it yet though. I'm considering just doing an all out system that will have 3 separate recirculating reservoirs, one for PBW cleaning (that will handle 4 kegs), one for hot water rinse and one for sanitizer rinse. I don't know where I'd find time to make it, but that's what I want to do eventually.

[HVB]

The reason I ask is that I've been using the one that I built for about 6 months now and I don't find it taking all that much less time. Five Star recommends a 30 minutes CIP time and I'm generally cleaning at least four kegs at a time, so that's two hours, plus a half hour for each additional keg. I'm thinking about modifying my rig to do 4 at the same time. Also, my cleaning solution cools off pretty fast. I remember before I built it people were talking about how the pump runs hot enough to keep the solution warm, well my pump doesn't run hot at all. The solution probably drops from 150 to around 100 during the first keg. I bought a 1000W element to heat the solution, haven't installed it yet though. I'm considering just doing an all out system that will have 3 separate recirculating reservoirs, one for PBW cleaning (that will handle 4 kegs), one for hot water rinse and one for sanitizer rinse. I don't know where I'd find time to make it, but that's what I want to do eventually.

I have some projects you can do with all your free time!I have thought about taking some spare parts and building a cleaner that has a built in heater. I have the spare controllers and elements are cheap it is just time that is not there.I am not sure I run my fir 30 minutes. I would think 15 is as long as I go.

[BlKtRe]

After a good rinse to get the majority of the hard organics rinsed, I hardly ever run a keg thru more than 5 min. using hot tap water. Works for me and I'm happy with the results

[Jimvy]

My routine is to tear down the keg completely every time. Several rinses with 140df water, then hand clean the posts, poppets etc. Scrub down the keg with a scrubby, I can feel if there is some beer stone from experience (yeah, skinny arms are nice). Rinse repeatedly from there. Then spray everything with StarSan. That routine takes me anywhere from 10 - 15 minutes per keg since I started using the scrubby. That's right, water, elbow grease and StarSan.

Let me know when you are in town again. If I went thru that much work, I'd probably stop brewing! Last keg cleaning I had 22 kegs cleaned. Luckily, I had a keg cleaner and a couple of teenagers that work cheap. I basically do 5 minutes per keg with PBW, then rinse, Star San for 5 mins, then purge with CO2. From a temp perspective, the pump really heats up the water, so I don't do anything more than warm water to start. These days, I'm really only breaking down kegs and replacing o-rings if I've had problems with it or had something sour/funky in it.

[djinkc]

Let me know when you are in town again. If I went thru that much work, I'd probably stop brewing! Last keg cleaning I had 22 kegs cleaned. Luckily, I had a keg cleaner and a couple of teenagers that work cheap. I basically do 5 minutes per keg with PBW, then rinse, Star San for 5 mins, then purge with CO2. From a temp perspective, the pump really heats up the water, so I don't do anything more than warm water to start. These days, I'm really only breaking down kegs and replacing o-rings if I've had problems with it or had something sour/funky in it.

I'll let you know next time and will bring dirty kegs too! Sounds like we are spending about the same time per keg though. It's a pretty simple routine I usually do when I'm bored or during the brew day. All my cheap labor moved out............22 kegs at time? I would absolutely do that once and build the washer the next day.........