As the title says. Don’t want to but has to be done. what’s the easiest way. All need a full pbw clean but not looking to make up 35 gallons Of the stuff. I have tried transferring in the past but pbw gets too cool too fast. Find me a better way!
Find me a better way!
It's called shake-it-baby. Put the gallon in with lid on and shake it baby. Push out and into next one. Rinse the first and repeat.
fwiw, there are a few home-brewed "keg washer" builds here on HBT, and then there's the Mark II commercial version. All are based on submersible pumps, though the best ones use sump pumps, likely due to their enhanced power vs typical "pond pumps". Combined with a bucket and some sort of armature to steady the keg and/or carboy they can take a gallon or so of hot PBW and practically re-use it...
Cheers!
I'm on the page with @Brewdog80. I make up a gallon of pbw and hot water pour it in a well pre rinsed keg or carboy, lay it on its side and roll it back and forth a few times, let sit for a few minutes the dump it into the next vessel. If it takes more effort than that then a little brush work does the trick. Been doing it this way for 30+ yrs. Of course I have come across some former soda cornies that had dried soft drink residue in them that required some serious scrubbing but I wouldn't trust any of the water pressure cleaners to properly clean one in that condition anyway.
How do you clean the inside of the dip tubes, posts, etc?
I run solution from my Mark II through the posts. [...]
I've been using the Bucket Blaster to clean out kegs for a while now. Works really well for that task. I put 3 gallons of hot PBW mix into the bucket, run the cleaning cycle through all kegs, then do the rinse and then sanitize tasks (rinse with the blaster to the posts and dip tubes rinsed). The thing lets me use far less PBW mix to do the job. In the past I've also hooked it up to my plate chiller to run hot PBW solution through that in both directions.
If you want to make one of your own, make SURE you get a pump rated for use with HOT water. Otherwise you'll kill the pump. I've done that with a different pump where it was in hot water long enough that it was being killed.
I've used it with my single handle (2.5 and 3 gallon) corny kegs as well as the Torpedo kegs I have without much effort. Just a matter of getting things lined up so they work. IME, you don't need to have the keg perfectly vertical (relative to the base). I did change out the reduced port cap for a NPT CIP ball to make it better for cleaning.I bought a bucket blaster but was not happy with trying to balance kegs on the stand. I did like very much the included pump and EVA line/post cleaning system so I just moved all that to my Mark II which uses even less cleaning solution than the BB needed.
With a long stemmed 1/4 inch brush. I have collected an assortment of long (30 inch) brushes over the years. Some came from automotive tool suppliers. I use them for what ever needs cleaning, dip tubes, hard lines and such.How do you clean the inside of the dip tubes, posts, etc?
I usually use a couple of ounces with a gallon of hot or at least warm water. That is a bit strong but I use it over and over for about a month or so.How many Tbsp PBW per gallon do you use?
With a long stemmed 1/4 inch brush. I have collected an assortment of long (30 inch) brushes over the years. Some came from automotive tool suppliers. I use them for what ever needs cleaning, dip tubes, hard lines and such.
Yepper, and so on and so on. But the toys are also a big part of the brewing hobby.Good answer!
Obviously that was a leading question in response to your post using just a gallon of cleanser and rolling the keg around. Clearly, that's going to do zip wrt cleaning the Out dip tube
This hobby does tend to lead to an accumulation of specific-use brushes. I have a long 1/4" piping brush for dip tubes, a long 1/2" piping brush for my silicone brew rig hoses, a big carboy brush, a corny keg brush, and an e-flask brush...
Cheers! ( I'm a brush industry supporter! )
Yea I’ve done that, but my experience is PBW needs a little time to do it’s magic. Maybe I just need to build a keg shaker! Ooo, on to something here. Like those paint shakers at the paint store.
Y'all over thinking this. PBW works fine when its not hot, and can be re-used many times. Sure, it works better with hot water so if you want to dump it in your kettle and re-heat, then go for it. Rinse out your fermenters with plain water, then fill with PBW solution and let sit overnight. Dump the PBW to the next fermenter (crud will settle on the fermenter bottom so dump it carefully) and then use the same stuff for the kegs, although kegs don't really get that dirty and are easy to brush out compared to a carboy.I have tried transferring in the past but pbw gets too cool too fast. Find me a better way!
@Golddiggie Can you share a link for the CIP ball you use?I did change out the reduced port cap for a NPT CIP ball to make it better for cleaning.
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