Bottle Washer - question

[jeph00]

Good day folks.
recently made this beer bottle washer. I used red pens from the dollar store because they were the cheapest. Would any of you be worried about the dye coming off the pens when I put a cleaner (like PBW) through them?
Thanks in advance for replies.

 

[hotbeer]

Would any of you be worried about the dye coming off the pens when I put a cleaner

Nope. No worry what so ever.

The dyes are pretty well fixed in the plastic anyhow. And if some minute amount can be shown to leech out and get in the water, then once the bottles drain and are filled with beer, the volume of beer to that supposed minute amount will be many times more minute.

Are you also planning to run sanitizer through that or are you considering PBW your sanitizer?

 

[jeph00]

Nope. No worry what so ever.

The dyes are pretty well fixed in the plastic anyhow. And if some minute amount can be shown to leech out and get in the water, then once the bottles drain and are filled with beer, the volume of beer to that supposed minute amount will be many times more minute.

Are you also planning to run sanitizer through that or are you considering PBW your sanitizer?

Okay good to know. Nope I’ll probably rinse them with starsan to make sure.

 

[hottpeper13]

By the size of those pens and pipe ,you're gonna need one hell of a pump!

 

[IslandLizard]

Very nifty!
Is this rack going to be inside a (highwalled) bin, with a submersible pump?

Okay good to know. Nope I’ll probably rinse them with starsan to make sure.

I would add a plain water rinse cycle between the (homemade) PBW (or Oxiclean) and the Starsan.

And yes, you're gonna need a decent powerful pump. A 1.5 HP sump pump perhaps?
Mind, most of those have a max temp rating of 90-95F.

 

[hotbeer]

1.5 Horse Power for the pump? That'll probably deliver about 1.25 gallons of water per second! That'll probably blow the hole thing apart.

 

[jeph00]

I got a 1/4 hp pump of Amazon. That should work okay according to my calculations.

 

[troxerX]

Awesome build, but just a quick question, do you have a dishwasher?, I’ve been bottling all my beers for about 10 years now and I put my bottles inside the dishwasher (bottom rack only) and set the dishwasher to run a hot water cycle with a tiny tiny amount of cascade.. the cycle also has multiple final hot water rinses and a drying step so all the bottles come out residue free and in the worst cases just a little surface condensate. I will slightly open the door to allow faster cooling (after the drying step) and I do all my bottling setup on the counter top above the dishwasher. Once ready, I will lower the door to make it my working/bottling surface. Once I’m done and all the spilling is over, I close the door and run a cycle to clean all the mess. Never had any issues with this approach. I used to soak my bottles in StarSan before bottling but was having oxidation problems as the bottles were too wet at the time of bottling.

 

[troxerX]

Difficult to picture here but I also spray/flush with CO2 the bottling bucket before and after transferring the beer and all bottles before filling to prevent oxidation, won’t deny it is a difficult and tedious process but the outcome is worth it if you prefer bottling, primarily for NEIPAs which are sensitive to oxygen..

 

[jeph00]

Very nifty!
Is this rack going to be inside a (highwalled) bin, with a submersible pump?


I would add a plain water rinse cycle between the (homemade) PBW (or Oxiclean) and the Starsan.

And yes, you're gonna need a decent powerful pump. A 1.5 HP sump pump perhaps?
Mind, most of those have a max temp rating of 90-95F.

Yes thats correct, but I don't think I will need that big of a pump. I guess I will try and find out.

 

[jeph00]

Awesome build, but just a quick question, do you have a dishwasher?, I’ve been bottling all my beers for about 10 years now and I put my bottles inside the dishwasher (bottom rack only) and set the dishwasher to run a hot water cycle with a tiny tiny amount of cascade.. the cycle also has multiple final hot water rinses and a drying step so all the bottles come out residue free and in the worst cases just a little surface condensate. I will slightly open the door to allow faster cooling (after the drying step) and I do all my bottling setup on the counter top above the dishwasher. Once ready, I will lower the door to make it my working/bottling surface. Once I’m done and all the spilling is over, I close the door and run a cycle to clean all the mess. Never had any issues with this approach. I used to soak my bottles in StarSan before bottling but was having oxidation problems as the bottles were too wet at the time of bottling.

That would be a pretty good idea except I do not have a dishwasher in my brewing room. But thanks for the idea, will keep in mind for future updates!

 

[IslandLizard]

I do not have a dishwasher in my brewing room.

I always doubt dishwashers for getting enough water/detergent all the way inside the inverted bottles to wash and remove any clinging crud. IMO, the bottles will have to be pre-scrubbed beforehand with a bottle brush.

Your washing rack with the individual spray pipes will guarantee each bottle gets thoroughly cleaned, rinsed, and even sanitized.

BTW, did you get your idea from Fastrack/FastBrewing?

 

[jeph00]

I always doubt dishwashers for getting enough water/detergent all the way inside the inverted bottles to wash and remove any clinging crud. IMO, the bottles will have to be pre-scrubbed beforehand with a bottle brush.

Your washing rack with the individual spray pipes will guarantee each bottle gets thoroughly cleaned, rinsed, and even sanitized.

BTW, did you get your idea from Fastrack/FastBrewing?

Actually no, never heard of them. I saw a guy on youTube building a similar unit, so went kinda off that. Have yet to try it and make sure it works