Homemade spray ball

I ferment in sanke kegs but feel its wasteful to just soak them in PBW overnight. SoI made a cip spray head with some scrap tubing.

That's pretty cool. Looks like you are getting good pressure even though it's a march pump. A cleaner way of funneling the water back into the lower keg would be good.

That was a test with my hlt still need a better way to support a keg right down the middle. I have the connection to the pump running through the handled of the bottom keg

I find that soaking the kegs with about 2 gallons of hot PBW solution, inverted, for a few days typically gets everything off of them.

I am, now, going to check out the CIP balls at Brewer's Hardware and see if I can go from my sump pump (got it to clean kegs out) to one of those. There are two listed that should fit through the valve opening in the sanke keg fermenters I have. So, really, it's just a matter of adapting the pump outlet to that fitting size (1/2" NPT on one). Although, I do make sure I have enough time between when I empty a fermenter and go to fill it again, to fully clean it out.

sanke kegs are designed to be CIP with the spear. I think if you invert the keg and spray the center of the bottom the cleaning solution will be evenly distributed on all areas of the keg interior.

BTW I also ferment in sanke kegs

maida7 said:

sanke kegs are designed to be CIP with the spear. I think if you invert the keg and spray the center of the bottom the cleaning solution will be evenly distributed on all areas of the keg interior.

BTW I also ferment in sanke kegs

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Hmmm, this makes a lot of sense. I wonder how powerful the jet of liquid is coming out of the keg washer? I rigged up a DIY sprayer with a 360 degree sprinkler head from HD. It works pretty well.

pickles said:

Hmmm, this makes a lot of sense. I wonder how powerful the jet of liquid is coming out of the keg washer? I rigged up a DIY sprayer with a 360 degree sprinkler head from HD. It works pretty well.

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Strong enough to get the liquid to disperse all over the inside. I'm guessing most pumps can do this. My feeling is that if you use the cleaner at the proper temp and concentration, it will provide good results. PBW recomends between 150 and 180F. Most people are using it much cooler. I'm guessing that at the hotter temps it works fairly quickly (Under 30 mins). But I'm no expert just a home brewer like the rest of you. Don't forget to rinse everything with hot water when your finished.

I work at a cidery where I sometimes run the kegline, and I have a bit of insight into the cleaning process on them. The kegs are fed into the machine upside down, and I believe that the kegger empties any remaining liquids out with sterilized air, then pumps cleaning chemicals in, then fills it with cider/beer. All of this is done through the spear. All in all, it's a hell of a lot faster than when I fill my sanke at home by removing the spring clip and spear

I use my CIP system on sankes, cornies, and carboys. I'm not sure what's happening in any of them except the carboy. In the carboy the water very clearly shoots against the bottom and deflects in a pattern that leaves "triangles" untouched. I use a very powerful Iwaki pump for my CIP system (1/3hp or 1/2hp , can't remember off hand). I have gotten into a habit of giving the vessel a 1/4 turn every so often to ensure full coverage. I'd like to see a cross section of a sanke CIP system in action. Perhaps they've designed each piece to work as a system to ensure a completely cleaned interior.

Since I've removed the spears from all my sanke kegs long ago, cleaning with them would be more trouble than it's worth. If I set up with the CIP ball from Brewer's Hardware, I could pump PBW solution through them to clean. Just need to make sure I don't exceed the pump's temperature tolerance in the process. Or I'll just keep soaking them in PBW solution like I have been and not worry about it. I can rinse them out pretty easily right now. Will be even easier once I get the utility sink in the basement.

pickles said:

I use my CIP system on sankes, cornies, and carboys. I'm not sure what's happening in any of them except the carboy. In the carboy the water very clearly shoots against the bottom and deflects in a pattern that leaves "triangles" untouched. I use a very powerful Iwaki pump for my CIP system (1/3hp or 1/2hp , can't remember off hand). I have gotten into a habit of giving the vessel a 1/4 turn every so often to ensure full coverage. I'd like to see a cross section of a sanke CIP system in action. Perhaps they've designed each piece to work as a system to ensure a completely cleaned interior.

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I'm guessing that the shape of the bottom is crucial. The keg bottom is dished while the carboy bottom has a bit of a hump.