Keg Washer.

[LeeH]

Has anybody built one using a submersible pump and CIP ball in a bucket?

 

[Yamye]

Hi LeeH,
I recently built one using a 3500L/h pond pump and 1/2 CIP rotary ball and it works great. I used 15mm copper pipe and fittings from pump to spray ball to keep it simple. The pump was only powerful enough for the cip ball so I used a separate pump for the posts to be cleaned.

 

[LeeH]

Interesting!

Any pictures?

I’ve been looking for a submersible with a top outlet so the pipe can go dead center of the bucket with minimal fuss but it seems all the budget pumps are side outlet.

 

[connor7932]

i turn kegs upside down and stick steam pipe off wallpaper stripper in it,--as clean as a hippo.

 

[Yamye]

I'm at work at the moment but I can put some up later. I wanted to use a 400w submersible dirty water pump like other people I have seen making a keg washer, but all the stories of oil leaking and the tight pH range would mean you can't use chemicals in the water. That's why I went with the pond pump.

 

[LeeH]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/253323347053

 

[Yamye]

i turn kegs upside down and stick steam pipe off wallpaper stripper in it,--as clean as a hippo.

Cleaning and sanitised in one this is genius lol. Does all the gunk drip out the keg then?

 

[connor7932]

yes,i put spare disconnects on first and steam the tubes,then the inside.it gets so hot you cannot touch them.do,nt take long when you got steam up.do two at a time.

 

[Yamye]

Has anyone had any luck with one of the dirty water style submersible pumps such as the one LeeH posted a link for on ebay? I'm interested what kind of seals these use and if they are suitable.

 

[LeeH]

I’m reasonably confident any oxy cleaner will be OK.

 

[Druncan]

This is my next project. I now have 10 x cornies to deep clean,,,
Found this; https://beer.thegremlyn.com/2017/03/15/i-built-a-keg-washer-you-should-too/
and it does the posts!
However, I still run hot caustic soda,,, Would the pump seals survive?

 

[Yamye]

This is my next project. I now have 10 x cornies to deep clean,,,
Found this; https://beer.thegremlyn.com/2017/03/15/i-built-a-keg-washer-you-should-too/
and it does the posts!
However, I still run hot caustic soda,,, Would the pump seals survive?

Did you get the 10 cornies all in one go? I think if you can find a submerisible pump that says in the technical data a wide pH range go for it. All the submerisible pumps I looked at said basically the pH of water and not to use it with acids or caustic unfortunately.

 

[Druncan]

Hi, @Yamye, No, they all had to be individually justified on performance of my fledgling pico brewery.
It's trying to get a pump that is certified for hot caustic and nitric acid that is the big problem,,,,

 

[TheGremlyn]

This is my next project. I now have 10 x cornies to deep clean,,,
Found this; https://beer.thegremlyn.com/2017/03/15/i-built-a-keg-washer-you-should-too/
and it does the posts!
However, I still run hot caustic soda,,, Would the pump seals survive?

Hey, I'm the author of the linked post! Came here just to let you know that I have run hot caustic (3-4% NaOH, ~55C) through my pump and so far it's held up, though I don't do it regularly. More often I'm running strong PBW instead of caustic. Sounds like you might be looking for something a little more geared toward a professional operation, so you're right to be concerned. You could use a non-submersible pump that can handle hot caustic, and position the pump under your bucket of choice and plumb it back into the bucket. Some TC fittings would probably do the trick there to make it cleanable.

 

[LeeH]

Ok then, made one today with what I had in the garage.

The only purchase was a customer return pump from amazon warehouse. 4500L/h for 30 quids.

 

[LeeH]