$35 Everything Cleaner

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BeardedBrews

BeardedBrews

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OK... let's get right to the point:

This 880gpm pump is $25 on prime and the outlet is a standard 1/2" thread.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CGAD986/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Everything else in this post is just a simplified version of the work other people on hbt have done. I just took the easiest from all the other posts.

I spent $8 at Lowe's for a 4' stick of 1/2 pvc, a 1/2 male thread to slip, a slip tee, a 1/2 cap, two 1/2 slip to female 1/2 thread, and two 1/2 male thread to 1/4 hose barb.

I also included 10' of 3/16 id vinyl that I had in the garage and a set of ball lock connectors. I had a carboy drying plastic thing and some pieces of wood. These add cost, you should have them already, if not, +$15.

But can it shoot???

Yes. With the ball lock lines off (worst case for pressure) it shoots 5-6' up and 12-14' out.

Complete coverage in a carboy. Almost more flow than can drain.

It has way more flow/pressure than would be needed to drive my MalFet bottle washer. Probably 3x.

It ships with a hose barb that you can poke into 1/2 ID silicone tubing, which also fits over your taps. Automatic beer line cleaner.

"But Bro! Does it even work with cam locks??" YES.

How do I make it?

Pics attached.

No Glue??

Nope.

Enjoy.

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That pump is almost identical to the one I bought for my carboy cleaner, I'll have to look at putting other things together for it as I add more stuff to my setup.
 
I used a 600 something GPH pump for mine and paid about the same as you at Harbor Freight. With the QDs connected to a keg it shoots about 4 ft. more than enough for a keg or carboy. I've only cleaned one keg but it was a keg hopped DIPA and it was nasty. A little PBW and 45 minutes later and it was clean as the proverbial whistle. I think these 1200 GPH pumps are overkill. The only thing that concerns me is it's rated to 77ºF. Good thing I don't believe everything I read. :)
 
My biggest fear is that we're taking on faith that the keg dip tubes are being washed as well.
Obviously we can "see" a carboy being cleaned, any idea how we "prove" that the keg dip tubes are also being cleaned?
 
BigFloppy said:
My biggest fear is that we're taking on faith that the keg dip tubes are being washed as well.
Obviously we can "see" a carboy being cleaned, any idea how we "prove" that the keg dip tubes are also being cleaned?
Click to expand...

I pull the tubes and look down them (straight ones) or push a brush through them (curved ones) every now and again.

They have always been clean for me.
 
I ended up buying a spray ball for this build... I didn't like the need to rotate the keg or carboy a few times to get a thorough wash, plus I just thought it would be cool.

Plastic drum wash nozzle from McMaster, works great, but it isn't cheap. https://www.mcmaster.com/#71445t84/=15v76h9

I also bought a $3 water heater thing from Amazon which does a nice job keeping the water warm.

20161229_130949.jpg


View attachment IMG_0024.MOV
 
The_Bishop said:
Which sprayball did you go with?
Click to expand...

I was wrong, it was from McMaster. https://www.mcmaster.com/#71445t84/=15v76h9

The price sucks, but I hadn't spent any brewing hardware money lately so I decided to treat myself. The nozzle is a tight fit in one of my two 6 gallon carboys, but it's pretty fun to watch.

I will probably buy a new STC-1000 and build a small box now that this project has grown a bit.
 
passedpawn said:
You guys have me thinking about building one of these. I made the mistake of wasting $100 on a Mark II carboy washer. Poorly designed in every way, not getting into it here, it's gathering dust, I went back to washing kegs and carboys by hand.
Click to expand...

I'd have a hard time justifying the build if I wasn't using it for more than one thing. If all you're doing is cleaning one carboy a month, it's not worth the hassle to set it up. Easier to just use a soak and brush. Even with kegs, if you're doing one or two a month it's probably faster to use the carboy brush and do it by hand.

I wanted/needed a better way to clean my beer lines in the kegerator. This thing rocks for BLC recirculation. It means I can pump BLC long enough to wash the plastic taste out of the cheaper vinyl tubing, which is great. It's also good at taking care of dried on crusty crap in a keg.

Plus, I think it's cool, so I guess there's value in that too...
 
I actually just ordered the pump (It's about $21 now) with the idea of using it to build a better keezer line cleaner. The one I have can do 1 line at a time, I want to expand that to 3 at a time so I can do all my lines at once.

I'be got a very similar keg washer, but I'm using a sump pump for power and a 1/2" SS rotating sprayball, along with disconnects for the poppets. It has a metric crapload of flow and force. With hot water and 1 oz/gallon of PBW my kegs are spotless in 5 minutes. I tear down occasionally to ensure cleanliness and haven't found anything dirty after a run through this yet. It's a huge time saver!
 
The_Bishop said:
I actually just ordered the pump (It's about $21 now) with the idea of using it to build a better keezer line cleaner. The one I have can do 1 line at a time, I want to expand that to 3 at a time so I can do all my lines at once.

I'be got a very similar keg washer, but I'm using a sump pump for power and a 1/2" SS rotating sprayball, along with disconnects for the poppets. It has a metric crapload of flow and force. With hot water and 1 oz/gallon of PBW my kegs are spotless in 5 minutes. I tear down occasionally to ensure cleanliness and haven't found anything dirty after a run through this yet. It's a huge time saver!
Click to expand...

I wanted to use the SS ball, but since it didn't fit in the carboy I never pulled the trigger. Also, the little plastic wand seems to spin fairly well with the lower pressure pump.

I will be interested to see how many taps you can daisy chain together. I have done ~15' of line including the restriction from disconnects and faucets. I am sure I could do more, I just haven't ordered the little ball lock daisy chain things from Bobby yet.
 
What I'm thinking about is running tubing off the pump into 2 tee fittings and a 90, to create a manifold of sorts. Off the tees and the 90 I'll have a short length of tubing and one of those carb caps with a barb on it, so 3 of them. Then I can just snap on the ball lock disconnects, use some tubing on the faucets and have all three faucets drain into the bucket with the pump in it. Should be quicker and neater than my current process of removing the disconnects, and screwing the MFL into the flare on the cleaner line which usually results in a bit of spilt beer and requires the disassembly of the disconnect.
 
I had never thought of the manifold approach...

I think I'll test it out tonight with some 1/2" plastic hose T's and put the manifold on the faucet side. I have been running the BLC backwards in my loop thinking that it might help dislodge hops or stuff that got hung up on the perl or the o-ring. I just pull the liquid line out of the freezer and unscrew the pin and spring from the top of the liquid disconnect.
 
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I've got that one. It needs a good amount of pressure and flow, hence me powering it with a sump pump.
 
I built a keg washer a few years ago and I didn't use this pump so I can't comment on that but I did make it so I could wash kegs, buckets and hook it to my wort chiller and cycle ice water through it. I bought all the fittings to also clean my beer lines too but haven't done that yet, it's on my to do list.
 
Well, turns out I didn't have the hose barb tees that I thought were in my parts bucket. Lunch trip to Lowes and I should be able to test the manifold approach tonight.

pricelessbrewing said:
Anyone else using that pump? Any idea how long it'll hold up? I've seen cheap pumps that have some oil inside of it that leaks out and coats everything if something breaks, any issues with that?
Click to expand...

I've seen that oil residue from other pumps, so far I can only say that I haven't seen signs of it from the pump I have. I haven't attempted to disassemble and inspect the seals though.
 
Looks awesome! Got my parts (T fittings and ball lock connectors) in today, pump should show up tomorrow.

I figured a manifold would work a bit better than trying to push cleaner through all the lines in series.
 
For those of you using or considering using the system to clean keg lines. Bobby at BrewHardware.com came up w/ a piece that connects two liquid-out QDs together. With some 1/2" silicone hose, you can daisy-chain all the faucets (up to some point--I've done four, I believe I can do five), and clean them all at once instead of one at a time.

Here's the part: https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/ball_lock_jumperpost.htm

Here's a pic or two showing the setup. As long as you can get your pump to feed the first liquid-out QD, this is a piece of cake.

beerline1.jpg

beerline2.jpg
 
mongoose33 said:
As long as you can get your pump to feed the first liquid-out QD, this is a piece of cake.
Click to expand...

No need to jump through hoops to connect the pump to the QD. All you need to do is connect the pump directly to the faucet by slipping the hose over the faucet just as you did with the hose jumper. Then use the ball lock connector Bobby sells to connect to the next QD, then hose jumper between the next two faucets, etc.

One QD jumper will allow you to clean three faucets, and with two you can clean 5, three cleans 7, and so on.
 
The_Bishop said:
I figured a manifold would work a bit better than trying to push cleaner through all the lines in series.
Click to expand...

The only draw back to a manifold would be lower velocities. I'm no line cleaning expert, but I thought I remembered reading somewhere that you need a minimum velocity in order to effectively clean beer lines with stuff like BLC.
 
TexasWine said:
The only draw back to a manifold would be lower velocities. I'm no line cleaning expert, but I thought I remembered reading somewhere that you need a minimum velocity in order to effectively clean beer lines with stuff like BLC.
Click to expand...

This is the million dollar question I think.

My concern was the increased line resistance running in serial might overwhelm the head pressure of the pump, especially when you factor the resistance at the ball-lock disconnects. Since I don't have the little connectors I can't test myself, I'd be interested to hear other's results.
 
I just got my pump in this morning, so I put together my 'manifold' of 3/8" tubing with 1/4" reducing tees. Two tees, one elbow actually. A quick test/cleaning of the pump in PBW showed a *lot* of flow and velocity with 3/8" silicone tubing. With the 'manifold' attached, the three tubes that would have the barbed carb caps on them had enough pressure and velocity that I had to hold the hose in place or it would start moving around.

Will try to remember to post a video next time I clean lines. Given that I can hit all 3 with relative ease now, it will be a simpler process to do this regularly.
 
BeardedBrews said:
This is the million dollar question I think.

My concern was the increased line resistance running in serial might overwhelm the head pressure of the pump, especially when you factor the resistance at the ball-lock disconnects. Since I don't have the little connectors I can't test myself, I'd be interested to hear other's results.
Click to expand...

You could always remove the guts from the ball locks. Takes all of 10 seconds and should reduce the pressure drop.

If I were you, I'd approximate the velocity with the manifold approach and see if it's enough. I'm sure with some solid Google-fu skills you could find the recommended velocity.

Edit: looks like 2 GPM according to this link.
http://www.glacier-design.com/resource-library/draught-beer-line-cleaning-standards/
 
According to this, the recommended flow is at least 2 gallons per minute. I tested my pump in a 2 gallon pail, and it emptied it out through the manifold and the three 1/4" tubes in well under a minute. I don't think flow will be an issue with the pump listed in this thread.
 
TexasWine said:
Edit: looks like 2 GPM according to this link.
Click to expand...

The_Bishop said:
The recommended flow is at least 2 gallons per minute.
Click to expand...

Well, they're saying 15 minutes at 2 gallons per minute, or 20 minutes at 0 gallons per minute. I'll run at whatever rate I get for 20 minutes and call it better than required. Any guesses if StarSan is adequate for the "acid wash" that they suggest?

Here's another instruction manual for anyone interested:
http://www.reddingdistributing.com/docs/DRAFT INFO/LINE CLEANING.PDF
 
I usually run a slightly 'hotter' mix of star san as an acid clean... 8ml in 1 gallon of RO water. So far, so good. I think the lack of minerals in the RO water helps dissolve whatever beerstone may be built up in the draft system. It must be doing something, as I've never found any after teardown.
 
BeardedBrews said:
This is the million dollar question I think.

My concern was the increased line resistance running in serial might overwhelm the head pressure of the pump, especially when you factor the resistance at the ball-lock disconnects. Since I don't have the little connectors I can't test myself, I'd be interested to hear other's results.
Click to expand...

One of the things I discovered with my approach above is that line velocity was much lower the greater the "head" or the height the pump had to push the liquid. I solved that in part by putting the bucket on a crate, and I may raise it more when I add my fifth tap.

I have a video somewhere online showing the velocity of the fluid through the lines, if I can locate it I'll post it.
 
For anyone who thinks that PBW/Oxyclean free is enough:

I used to do this religiously after a keg kicked, 15 mins of PBW in warm water.

I finally bought BLC. Used it *after* a PBW recirc. The BLC came out of the lines looking like weak iced tea. Use BLC! It makes a difference.
 
pricelessbrewing said:
Picking my parts up for this tomorrow.

Any thoughts on a bucket sprayer wand, or would you use the same one?
Click to expand...

You might try the PVC pipe with drilled holes approach and see how you like it first. Otherwise, the plastic nozzle I linked is the only one I've found that fits in a glass carboy.
 
how would you connect this to a pin lock keg?

mongoose33 said:
For those of you using or considering using the system to clean keg lines. Bobby at BrewHardware.com came up w/ a piece that connects two liquid-out QDs together. With some 1/2" silicone hose, you can daisy-chain all the faucets (up to some point--I've done four, I believe I can do five), and clean them all at once instead of one at a time.

Here's the part: https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/ball_lock_jumperpost.htm

Here's a pic or two showing the setup. As long as you can get your pump to feed the first liquid-out QD, this is a piece of cake.

View attachment 384365

View attachment 384366
Click to expand...
 
wyowolf said:
how would you connect this to a pin lock keg?
Click to expand...

I don't think there is a pin lock jumper.

What I did is take two MFL to barb fittings, and attach each on either end of a piece of tubing. So I can connect it directly to either line and pump it through.

Ideally, you want to pump it through the lines backwards to maximize cleaning but this will do for now.
 

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