Almost Automated Bottle Sanitizer with pics and video

[AirRageous]

OK, It seems there are only two options when it came to sanitizing bottles. One was to fill a bucket or tub or sink with sanitizer solution and force each bottle under until all the bubbles stopped then drain the bottle. Or purchase a Vinator and pump sanitizer into each bottle individually. Yeah, yeah .... I know, I could keg my beer but I don't. I like to use bottles.

So, I built a bottle sanitizer that will pump sanitizer up into an inverted bottle and run back out. My final design will alternate only two bottles but that seems to work out really well. I tried using four spouts to do four bottles at a time but my pump was not powerful enough. I cut it back to two and I think that in the time it takes to remove and place the next bottle, the first one has been exposed to the sanitizer adequately enough.

The first real test was last weekend when we bottled 5 gallons. There were three of us so we made an assembly line. One worked the sanitizer pump, one filled the bottles with beer and one capped them. It worked great. But one person could use this also and just have something like a bottle tree to hold the sanitized bottles before filling.

Here is the finished product:

And here is a video of the AABS in action. It will accomodate all sizes of bottles from 12oz, 22 oz, Grolsch, or 1 liter PETs. I will use it in a Homer bucket which will only require about 2 gallons of sanitizer solution. This video is in a clear tub for a better view. I use Iodophor and I don't know if the foam from StarSan will be a problem or not.

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[AirRageous]

Here are the parts. I used CPVC 1/2" pipe and fittings and found that a 5/8"OD tubing fit snuggly into the pipe tee of the manifold. The finished size fits into a 5 gal. bucket.

This the pump I used from Harbor Freight for about $25.

 

[AirRageous]

Here it is in a Homer bucket. You only need to mix about 2 gallons of sanitizer solution. Just enough to come up over the pump and the neck of the bottles to sanitize the outside lip.

 

[illin8]

Sweet man....lovin it! Would be interesting to see how StarSan would work with that.

 

[lebshiff21]

Like it! Doesn't iodophor require 3mins of contact time though?

 

[AirRageous]

My understanding is that Iodophor in an "on contact" sanitizer. Even if you are using a Vinator, you are only getting a few seconds of contact. Then the bottle is inverted on something to drain. Definitely not 3 minutes anyway.

 

[vcm1613]

Simple and effective. I have been using the "batch dunk bucket" method for sanatizing for a long time. $30 and i'm automated. My 4th of July project.

Cheers to you!

-J

 

[Nwcw2001]

The way we did it at the brewery I worked at was to fill a keg with sanitizer and pressurize it. attach a hose to the keg tap and the other end to a bottle rinser just like you have attached to your sink at home and then your sanitizer is under pressure! Pop the bottle down and couple of squirts and you are in business!

John

PS I love this system as well!

 

[AirRageous]

The way we did it at the brewery I worked at was to fill a keg with sanitizer and pressurize it. attach a hose to the keg tap and the other end to a bottle rinser just like you have attached to your sink at home and then your sanitizer is under pressure! Pop the bottle down and couple of squirts and you are in business!

I was trying to figure out a system like that also but did not have a good way to pressurize a vessel. I thought about hooking the pump to a bottle rinser but figured that a continuous flow back into the bucket would work just as well. I do use a bottle rinser hooked to a faucett for rinsing after washing and before sanitizing. I am still trying to engineer an Almost Automated Bottle Washer also.

 

[Revvy]

This is great!!!!!!!!!



Though with starsan all that action may make for blinding foam. With my vinator I have to keep dumping the foam out of the top...I can't wait to see what happens with yours...I have a picture in my head of those old washing machine gags with too much soap added, and it filling up a house.

 

[TommyBoy]

Very cool.

4 would be nice. Maybe have 1/2" to 1/4" step downs on the ends to keep them squirting well and then you could do two on, two off at a time.

 

[Bobby_M]

An improvement would be to put bottle filler style tips on so that it only flows when the bottle is pressed on. That way you wouldn't make too much of a mess. Maybe something like a schrader valve with a bit of the top tube trimmed to make the center pin exposed.

 

[Arkador]

won't starsan foam up with this system running?

 

[Catt22]

I use my vinator with Star San regularly without problems. I don't remember having to dump foam out of it or anything like that at all. One good squirt does it and then I dunk the neck into a small bucket of Star San to sanitize the lip and outside portion of the neck. After that, they drain on the bottle tree until bottling time.

 

[AirRageous]

An improvement would be to put bottle filler style tips on so that it only flows when the bottle is pressed on. That way you wouldn't make too much of a mess. Maybe something like a schrader valve with a bit of the top tube trimmed to make the center pin exposed.

Good idea. That would also make the spout a smaller diameter for more pressure like TommyBoy's suggestion.

 

[Bobby_M]

I use my vinator with Star San regularly without problems. I don't remember having to dump foam out of it or anything like that at all. One good squirt does it and then I dunk the neck into a small bucket of Star San to sanitize the lip and outside portion of the neck. After that, they drain on the bottle tree until bottling time.

If you fill the vinator just a little more, pressing the bottle down in the pumping motion puts the rim under sanitizer anyway doesn't it?

 

[Catt22]

If you fill the vinator just a little more, pressing the bottle down in the pumping motion puts the rim under sanitizer anyway doesn't it?

It probably would. Thanks, I'll try that next time. I don't know why that didn't occur to me earlier.

 

[penged]

I swipe the tops of the bottles in the foam as an added effort to sanatise around the outside of the opening. It might be overkill but it dosent take any extra time.

 

[pilotdane]

Ok, who will be the first to post pictures with a conveyor carrying the bottles to the sanitizing area? Does anyone have a spare robot lying around that could pick up the bottles and put them on the nozzle?

 

[AirRageous]

Ok, who will be the first to post pictures with a conveyor carrying the bottles to the sanitizing area? Does anyone have a spare robot lying around that could pick up the bottles and put them on the nozzle?

That is why my project is named ALMOST Automated Bottle Sanitizer. I ain't got no robot. But my SWMBO wants everyone to know that it is her hand in the video handling the bottles.

So, if you can convince someone else to place the bottles in the nozzles, then you don't need no steeeeking robot.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

This is pretty darn cool!! I was sceptical when I first read it, but having seen the video I can see haw this can be an easy set up. I'm now thinking of a bucket set up. Nice and compact, easily carried and put away.

You could easily get back to four fountains simply by drilling a few holes in end caps fitted over the spouts. This would restrict the flow enough to get those other two spouts back online. The holes could be drilled at an angle that might just achieve all over coverage.

Nice one!!

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

That is why my project is named ALMOST Automated Bottle Sanitizer. I ain't got no robot. But my SWMBO wants everyone to know that it is her hand in the video handling the bottles.

So, if you can convince someone else to place the bottles in the nozzles, then you don't need no steeeeking robot.

Ah, OK....That explains why I got a little turned on when I saw your hand. I was a bit worried about myself for a moment! :cross:

 

[AirRageous]

Ah, OK....That explains why I got a little turned on when I saw your hand. I was a bit worried about myself for a moment! :cross:

SWMBO thanks you for the compliment. Now .... Down Boy!!!

 

[Buffman]

Thanks for the project! I just constructed one myself. If anyone else is going to make one of these, a few dimensions of the base: the long piece is 6-1/4" and each stub (the pipe between the elbows and the Ts) is 2-5/8". With these lengths, it makes a square that fits snugly in the bottom of a Home Depot bucket.

Also, I found a 350 GPH fountain pump on Amazon for about the same price as AirRageous. I'm going to see if the extra pressure lets me install a third upright.

 

[AirRageous]

Cool, I'm glad someone got one built. Sorry about not posting the deminsions but Buffman took care of that. Let us know how the bigger pump works.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Ah, OK....That explains why I got a little turned on when I saw your hand. I was a bit worried about myself for a moment! :cross:

Don't worry LGI, We've all been a bit worried about you for several moments



Interested to hear how this works with the foaming powers of starsan. Either of you try it yet?

 

[craven_morhead]

I suppose a dishwasher with a sanitize setting is similarly semi-automated. Fully automated if you can talk someone into loading it for you.

 

[dataz722]

This is pretty cool but how is this better than a vinator?

 

[AirRageous]

This is pretty cool but how is this better than a vinator?

The AABS does not require one to pump each bottle one at a time onto the spout to send the sanitizer up into the bottle. Just place a bottle over one spout and let it sit while you remove a bottle and place another on the other spout. Therefore it is "Almost Automated".

If I already had a vinator, then I would probably just use it and not have built an AABS. But I don't have a vinator and I now have an AABS, so I think I will use that. The choice is up to the user. YMMV.

 

[knarfks]

I'm definitely thinking starsan would be foaming like Hell out of a pump. I'm all about automation, but not seeing this save time. Vinator and a couple pumps and onto the bottling tree and I think it would be quicker.

Use the pump for ice water chiller?