AirRageous
Well-Known Member
OK, It seems there are only two options when it came to sanitizing bottles. One was to fill a bucket or tub or sink with sanitizer solution and force each bottle under until all the bubbles stopped then drain the bottle. Or purchase a Vinator and pump sanitizer into each bottle individually. Yeah, yeah .... I know, I could keg my beer but I don't. I like to use bottles.
So, I built a bottle sanitizer that will pump sanitizer up into an inverted bottle and run back out. My final design will alternate only two bottles but that seems to work out really well. I tried using four spouts to do four bottles at a time but my pump was not powerful enough. I cut it back to two and I think that in the time it takes to remove and place the next bottle, the first one has been exposed to the sanitizer adequately enough.
The first real test was last weekend when we bottled 5 gallons. There were three of us so we made an assembly line. One worked the sanitizer pump, one filled the bottles with beer and one capped them. It worked great. But one person could use this also and just have something like a bottle tree to hold the sanitized bottles before filling.
Here is the finished product:
And here is a video of the AABS in action. It will accomodate all sizes of bottles from 12oz, 22 oz, Grolsch, or 1 liter PETs. I will use it in a Homer bucket which will only require about 2 gallons of sanitizer solution. This video is in a clear tub for a better view. I use Iodophor and I don't know if the foam from StarSan will be a problem or not.
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So, I built a bottle sanitizer that will pump sanitizer up into an inverted bottle and run back out. My final design will alternate only two bottles but that seems to work out really well. I tried using four spouts to do four bottles at a time but my pump was not powerful enough. I cut it back to two and I think that in the time it takes to remove and place the next bottle, the first one has been exposed to the sanitizer adequately enough.
The first real test was last weekend when we bottled 5 gallons. There were three of us so we made an assembly line. One worked the sanitizer pump, one filled the bottles with beer and one capped them. It worked great. But one person could use this also and just have something like a bottle tree to hold the sanitized bottles before filling.
Here is the finished product:
And here is a video of the AABS in action. It will accomodate all sizes of bottles from 12oz, 22 oz, Grolsch, or 1 liter PETs. I will use it in a Homer bucket which will only require about 2 gallons of sanitizer solution. This video is in a clear tub for a better view. I use Iodophor and I don't know if the foam from StarSan will be a problem or not.
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