Effective Keg and Carboy Cleaner on the cheap

[singlephile]

I recently started fermenting in Sanke kegs and needed to find an effective way to clean and sanitize them. I started by buying the keg size cleaner from http://www.carboycleaner.com but soon realized that without being able to see inside the keg it was almost a crap shoot if the arms on the cleaner fell away from each other and if they didn't the thing would flail around in there and almost pull your arm off even with the stopper in place. After two cleanings I was ready to try something else. Next I thought I'd go with a Mark's Keg Washer http://www.kegwasher.com/, but for $100 I wasn't sure I was willing to experiment and find out it wasn't powerful enough to clean out Sanke kegs sufficiently, so I opted to build my own with a CIP Spray Ball from http://www.brewershardware.com/CIP-Spray-Balls/ figuring with enough pressure this baby would do exactly what it's supposed to do in much larger vessels. Here's my build and parts:

1 CIP Spray Ball 1/2" Female FPT Connection - $29
1 Pacific Hydrostar 1/6 HP Submirsible Pump from Harbor Freight - $55 (on sale) http://www.harborfreight.com/16-horsepower-submersible-utility-pump-68422.html
1 1/2" x 18" threaded PVC pipe from Home Depot - $2
1 1" to 1/2" threaded PVC coupler from Home Depot - $1
1 18 x 24" HDPE cutting board from local restaurant supply store - $20
1 Bucket/pot/kettle as basing for cleaning/sanitizing solution (I use a kettle so that I can heat up the cleaning solution to the proper temps)

Total aprox $105 :rockin:

Parts

Find the center of the board and draw out a 6" diameter circle around it (to support cleaning corny kegs with larger openings. Use a drill to add a hole near the edge and wide enough for your jigsaw blade (they recommend using a 14TPI blade for this type of plastic).

Cut the hole out using a jigsaw. You may want to follow along with water as you're cutting as sometimes the heat of the cutting will weld the plastic back to itself. I didn't have that experience fwiw.

Assemble the pump, coupler, pipe and spray ball and position the assembly such that the pipe is coming up in the approximate center of your vessel for stability. Fill the vessel with the appropriate amount of cleaning or sanitizing solution.

Place the cutting board over the assembly and pull the pump cord thru the hole (note: i may notch out the board so the cord can lay over the basin lip without having to pull it thru the hole).

Turn the Sanke keg over and insert the pipe and CIP spray ball into the hole and rest the keg on the cutting board.

Turn on the pump and let it clean away!! I was very pleased with the results. I'd tested the pump and ball earlier and that thing sprays some water!

Besides notching out the cutting board for the cord I'd also like to add a diversion in the pipe to clean out the tubes inside the corny kegs.

Here are some additional pictures.

 

[FoCobrewguy]

Hey singlephile got a few questions.. how effectively does the water go back into the kettle to recirculate or are not recirculating the solution back down and up again? Do you have any issues running out of the solution if you are not? Also are you heating the water up on a normal burner than just taking it off before you start this process? Also got to ask are you in Fort Collins? How did you get those nb kegs I have asked at least a dozen times and always get denied. Im looking to ferment my 10 gallon batches in kegs like these which I am assuming is what you do.

kf

 

[RScottyL]

Since you say you heat up the water to use it at the proper cleaning temperature, I looked on the specs to see if it listed any operating temperatures.

I didn't see anything until I got to the troubleshooting section of the owners manual.

It mentions that if the temperature is over 77 degrees F, it may cause the pump to start and stop too often!

I have attached a screen shot!

 

[singlephile]

KF,
1. It recirculates just fine. The pump will actually pump water into the sanke keg faster than it can drain naturally, but as more water gets pumped in the pressure inside builds and pushes the water out at the same rate.

2. You'll want a good amount of solution to start. This is a 10 gallon kettle and I think I used 4 gal of water.

3. Yes. I fill with hot water off the tap and then bring it up a bit further with the same burner I use for my boil.

4. Not in Ft Collins. Wish I were. I got the keg off craigslist. I live in a state where we can't buy kegs and this guy wasn't heading back to where he got it from anytime soon so I paid his deposit. Still has the tag on it. I pulled the spear and left the tag on and am keeping my eyes open for a beater keg so one day I can return this baby to its rightful owner (and get a fresh keg of beer while I'm at it). I'm guessing it's tough to find used kegs where you are, but I hear if you ask the distributors they may have ones they can no longer refill.

RScottyL
Ya, I'd read that this unit wasn't rated for the higher temps, but others that were using it said they hadn't had any issues...yet. Anyway, I figured for $55 it was worth the risk since the ones that were rated for higher temps are like 4 times the price. If it blows I'll report it, but so far so good.

 

[FoCobrewguy]

Thanks for the info I am definitely saving this one for the summer list of projects.

kf