Sanke Keg Washer build

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marcb

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I've been thinking about this for awhile and recently divested my corny collection in favor of 1/6th BBL Sankes. Now I need to wash them and pulling the snap ring and spear every time in order to clean them is a pain in the you know what. I decided to do this in an inexpensive fashion and set a budget of $500 for the job, then proceeded to ignore the budget and spent lots more $$$ than I should have but here I will document my build! The basic gist is two 10 gallon kettles with lots of TC ports from ebay, a march nano pump, some three way valves, lots of TC fittings, high temp/high pressure tubing, more three way valves that will break into air and CO2 fittings and a drainage bucket and a micromatic sanke D type cleaning and filling coupling.... oh and then about 40 linear feet of stainless tubing to keep it interesting : )

The basic process will be:
0.Fill reservoir0 with CIP solution (Acid based), Fill reservoir1 with low foam sanitizer
1.Place keg inverted on the stand and hook up the micromatic head.
2. Open drain valve to bucket and compressed air valve to drain the old crap from the keg - then close when emptied
3. Open reservoir0 supply valve to pump, open drainage valve to return to reservoir0, engage pump - cleaning cycle. Complete, turn off pump - close valves
4. Open reservoir1 supply valve to pump, open drainage valve to return to reservoir1, engage pump - sanitizing cycle. Complete, turn off pump - close valves
5. Open drainage valve to bucket, Open CO2 valve, purge vessel. close all valves
6. remove keg, repeat as necessary
 
Initial components getting fitted

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You must really hate washing kegs :rockin: I'm a stainless junkie and that set up is like dope..look forward to the outcome.
 
Here's a diagram of what I am thinking about, enjoy... sorry it's not in any cad program, I'm a PPT guy : )

kegwasher_diagram.jpg
 
MaxOut said:
I think you nailed your budget in small hardware alone :)

Indeed, actually a little over with the premium I had to pay to source 1/2" stainless t type ball valves : (

I will post a BOM once I have everything nailed out this week. The original design had automated ball valves and a controller.... We'll see where I end up once I build the controller, panel and wire it all up (pump control and single element on the CIP tank)

Manual single station keg washers are about 5k and automated are over 12k easy.... So I still think this has legs but probably a little intense for the typical homebrewer budget.
 
Thank you for sharing your process and build.

I have to say very nice and you used my favorite color, "Stainless".

I am currently monkeying around with a similar issue using 2 Igloo Cube coolers and 2 sump pumps, from Home Depot (1 PBW, 1 Starsan), garden hose and a C02 Tank. Shocked once and I get soaked every time I wash Kegs.

I cannot wait to see how your build turns out.

/s Tufftoad
 
Why "T" type valves?

With respect to the valve on the inlet to the pump, won't this allow mixing of the CIP and sanitizer solutions?
 
Why "T" type valves?

With respect to the valve on the inlet to the pump, won't this allow mixing of the CIP and sanitizer solutions?

Those are three-way valves. They align two-ports at a time so it can be aligned from the left vessel to the pump or from the right vessel to the pump.:rockin:
 
marcb said:
Here's a diagram of what I am thinking about, enjoy... sorry it's not in any cad program, I'm a PPT guy : )


I noticed you do not have a pressure relief or gauge, might be a good idea since your heating caustic. What pressure are the kettles rated for?
 
MaxOut said:
I noticed you do not have a pressure relief or gauge, might be a good idea since your heating caustic. What pressure are the kettles rated for?

Not planning on heating this round although you may have noticed the heating element in the pic. I just finished my tankless water heater cart that outputs 3gpm so I was thinking of just putting hot water in to dilute the CIP solution and not directly heating. Even when I do there is no lid clamp and I will have a controller to keep it at a reasonable 150 or less, do you think it is still necessary? The kids aren't clamped
 
marcb said:
Not planning on heating this round although you may have noticed the heating element in the pic. I just finished my tankless water heater cart that outputs 3gpm so I was thinking of just putting hot water in to dilute the CIP solution and not directly heating. Even when I do there is no lid clamp and I will have a controller to keep it at a reasonable 150 or less, do you think it is still necessary? The kids aren't clamped

You should be ok. I thought your lids were clamped. I use a Rinnai commercial tankless heater and was the single best investment I have made for brewing.
 
MaxOut said:
You should be ok. I thought your lids were clamped. I use a Rinnai commercial tankless heater and was the single best investment I have made for brewing.

Obviously my kids aren't clamped, either are my lids.... Damn auto correct.
 
I think you need to post up a video of that bad boy in action!

Cheers
Jay

I definitely will! BTW, I recommend your false bottoms to everyone! Simply the best that I have ever used. I was actually talking about them with some guys while brewing yesterday!
 
Cart plans are solidified, Basically 13" deep, 36" long and 28" tall (plus caster height). I wanted a relatively small footprint and am staging the keg rests on top to accommodate anything from 1/6BBL to 1/2BBL kegs. Stainless tubing and diagram are at the welders shop and should have more pics up later this week.
 
I definitely will! BTW, I recommend your false bottoms to everyone! Simply the best that I have ever used. I was actually talking about them with some guys while brewing yesterday!

NICE!! Can't thank you enough for the recommendations!

Man I love the keg washer! I will be hitting you up for a little more 411 once we get the brewery installed in the store. Great build!!

Cheers
Jay
 
marcb said:
Cart plans are solidified, Basically 13" deep, 36" long and 28" tall (plus caster height). I wanted a relatively small footprint and am staging the keg rests on top to accommodate anything from 1/6BBL to 1/2BBL kegs. Stainless tubing and diagram are at the welders shop and should have more pics up later this week.

Coming along nicely, missing the casters and some hardware but should be able to test this out this weekend hopefully.

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Yes, coming together nicely. Need to figure a way to get my other valve assembly mounted as well as where to put the control box.

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Brewmech said:
Don't you need a rinse cycle between the clean and sanitize?

I'm going to be using an acid based CIP solution as opposed to PBW which would require a rinse
 
I'm going to be using an acid based CIP solution as opposed to PBW which would require a rinse

So long as the clean cycle switch over doesn't contaminate the sanitation cycle I guess you are fine.
 
Brewmech said:
So long as the clean cycle switch over doesn't contaminate the sanitation cycle I guess you are fine.

I checked out a couple commercial two station keg washers and they both used a common bus and single pump so I think I will be fine. If not I'll isolate the tanks and plumbing but that will be even more ludicrous than this set up ; )
 
First thoughts in slow motion in my head..... "Whaaaat THE F@##$$$%%"

There have only been a few things I have seen in homebrewing that make me do this and that is at the top of my list. Kudos my man
 
Markd27 said:
Very impressive! Post some video...

Will do, once I get it all sorted out, still working out the air/co2 connections. Today was just a mockup run with water and a dirty keg. On the bright side it seems there is enough of a co2 charge on freshly emptied kegs to blast out most of the old beer when inverted on the stand and connected so I may append my workflow to a slightly different process for initial purge.
 
A little busy in the pics but got the air/co2 hooked up today. Should be able to run through a test cycle with hot PBW and Star San tomorrow.

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Ran through a purge/clean cycle on 4 1/6BBL kegs using 160 Degree PBW today. Worked well, need to document valve/lever positions and operational steps so that this can be delegated to my brewery staff (oldest son!)

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This thing rocks, buying some T's to be able to do two kegs at once. Today went through a rinse and sanitize cycle finishing with a co2 purge. Couldn't get much easier than this!

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marcb said:
This thing rocks, buying some T's to be able to do two kegs at once. Today went through a rinse and sanitize cycle finishing with a co2 purge. Couldn't get much easier than this!

So badass! Nice work Marc.
 
Chamuco said:
So badass! Nice work Marc.

Thanks Chad, we'll have to get you over for a brew day soon. I'm doing another batch of Tripel and a dba batch soon.
 
Jaybird said:
So what do you think you got in it marc? That is a thing of beauty!!!

Cheers
Jay

Hi Jay, all told probably around $1400
$250 for the kettles
$250 for the pump
$150 for 1x1 .065 stainless tube 40 linear feet
$100 for welding
$450 tri clamp fittings, valves and small HW
$200 for the filling/cleaning heads

I will post a more thorough write up once I get the controls on. I'm guessing you could build a more modest version of this for about $500
 
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