CIP with air compressor?

[Ridenour64]

I have always thought about how it would be nice to be able to CIP my unitank. I don’t own a home brew pump though, and from I’ve read, most home brew pumps don’t cut it anyways.

To clean my draft lines, I fill a keg with hot water, oxy clean and maybe some TSP. I then use a pancake air compressor to force the liquid through my lines to clean them.

Today I thought about whether or not I could use the same technique, but use a little more PSI and make the connection to the CIP ball for cleaning my unitank and other items.

The only downside I can think of might be that the keg would drain 5 gallons way too fast. I’m not sure how quickly the cleaner would flow through the CIP, but I would be happy with 5-10 minutes. I could always reload the keg and do a second run too.

What do you guys think?

 

[day_trippr]

A Skeptical Cat is Skeptical meme would be appropriate but there's too many to choose just one

Still, it doesn't seem like it'd take much investment to give it a try. And as long as PRVs aren't disabled nobody should actually die, so what the heck, go for it and report back. But drain the yuckiness out of your compressor tank first

Cheers!

 

[Bobby_M]

I think it's a workable idea. You're right, homebrew pumps putting out 6-7psi are always disappointing on most spray balls. However, I don't think you're going to get enough flow out of a 5 gallon corny keg. I think something like a quarter or half barrel keg would be better. All the flow components are significantly larger.

 

[Ridenour64]

Hmmm, I didn’t think of flow as it relates to the size of the dip tubes and connections. That’s a good point. I don’t have a CIP or I would make the connections and give it a shot.

anyone on here have the necessary equipment that can/ wants to give this a shot?

 

[day_trippr]

Given the PRV on a cornelius style keg it supposed to blow around 65 psi - which is actually lower than many domestic water supply lines - and whatever volume gets moved goes through 1/4" ID plumbing as Bobby_M alluded, I'm skeptical it would be an improvement over using a garden hose supply.

Plus it's a one-pass deal, right? Better to find a recirculation method I think...

Cheers!

 

[Ridenour64]

I’m sure a garden hose would spin it just fine, but assuming you hook it to a cold water line, it’s cold water, and doesn’t have the cleaning chemicals in it. The benefit of the keg is having hot water with chemicals mixed.

The flow is what I’m wondering about.
1. As Bobby mentioned, is the flow great enough to provide sufficient CIP
2. If sufficient, how long will it take to drain the keg.
If it is sufficient, and lasts 5-10 minutes, I think that’s a win. Plus, it can be loaded for a second run, or directed to a bucket for soaking other parts.

I’m pretty set on not buying a home brew pump.

 

[Bobby_M]

I would CIP with PBW at 150F so that's not something my water supply would give me but it occurs to me that you could feed your 120F hot water tap supply into the gas port of a sanke coupler to push out hot PBW that is already in the keg. It's true that you'd start out concentrated and hotter and slowly lose it, but that doesn't even need air. It is rather wasteful given that you get one pass.

 

[augiedoggy]

Or you could maybe just buy a utility pump like one of these? I know the max temp varies by pump but the point is for under $100 you would have something that would say you a lot of time and effort as well as possibly money vs the one pass approach.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1000W-Electric-Water-Booster-Pump-Stainless-Steel-Garden-Sprinkler-Pump-Pool/383479239492?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225086%26meid%3D64857699ff9a4108b839bb42ec1c3cb4%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D233499052459%26itm%3D383479239492%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV2bDemotion&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-2-HP-Por...179328&hash=item591dc6ec6a:g:BrEAAOSwPXFcTLyF
Portable Cast Iron Electric Utility Transfer Water Pump Includes Strainer | eBay

 

[IslandLizard]

Portable Cast Iron Electric Utility Transfer Water Pump Includes Strainer | eBay

If it indeed delivers 25 gal/minute it surely is a beast!
I should have taken that old 1.5 HP pool pump with me... you could not block the two 1.5" returns at the same time by putting hands over them. We tried!