Happy with my diy bottle washer!

[Stormcrow]

Many thanks to malfet (especially) and all the other brewers who have posted their builds. I finally got around to making mine, using inspiration from several.

The manifold is comprised of 3/4" cpvc with tees that are 2x3/4" straight through x1/2" teeing off. Those tees were perfect for this.

The risers are 1/2" cpvc with 1/2" copper end caps. As has been noted elsewhere, cpvc caps won't fit in bottle openings, but the copper will, and can be glued to the cpvc. I drilled 1/8" holes in each cap.

The washer was made to be used with a 24 bottle fastrack, with the risers cut to be compatible with both regular height bottles and the more stubby Sierra Nevada/Founders bottles. It should be noted though that my flip top bottles will not slide over the risers. Warsteiner bottles won't either, and I'm sure there are others. Any bottle that does fit drains surprisingly well while the washer is in action.

The pump is a Superior 1/3 hp submersible. I made the washer so that water is pushed into two different entry points just in case the extra volume post pump and pre washer helped things. (It does a little bit, i noticed when i closed the valve to one inlet. )

The valve was included for some versatility. I could either have fresh water from another hose go to that port for rinsing when the wash is done, or can have a hose coming out from it with a spray nozzle to soap the outside of the bottles if im ever inclined. (Probably won't be. )

 

[Stormcrow]

I also like the way i set it up for use. One five gallon bucket gets filled with oxi and water. Another is just filled with clean water.

A large plastic tote is placed on top of the buckets. It has several big holes drilled on the bottom of one end to drain back into the bucket being used. An old oven rack fits nicely on top of this tote to hold the washer. When the wash cycle is done, i just move the pump to the rinse water bucket and turn the tote around. I plan on using a large utility sink someday, but this system worked surprisingly well for now. I wish i had pictures of what happened when i ran Starsan though. Imagine a cartoonish amount of white foam over several square feet of my basement floor. (Which reminds me, please don't tell my wife i posted a picture showing how messy our basement looks right now. We're doing some remodeling. )

 

[rushpapers]

Nice build. Any chance you can post a link to a video of it in action?

 

[Stormcrow]

Nice build. Any chance you can post a link to a video of it in action?

All I've got is one video on my phone, not on youtube or anything. Not sure how to share it on here. If anyone knows how, I'd be happy to give it a try.

 

[Stormcrow]

I will say for anyone wondering about the pressure that the water shoots up over three feet without any bottles on it. Could probably do better with a more rigid feed line. The stuff i got tries to kink easily.

 

[day_trippr]

Get yourself a youtube account, push your video up there then post the shareable link here...

Cheers!

 

[TheBluePhantom]

Looks nice, I bought the Fastrack washer for wine bottes. Disappointed. Seems underpowered for wine bottles and the nozzles are not straight, so a lot of the bottle doesn't get washed. I went back to Mark's kegwasher with attachment. It only does 8, and the nozzles are a little skewed, but it washes the bottles. I mostly do wine bottles, I keg the beer.

 

[Stormcrow]

Don't know if this will work. Account is private, but I'll accept my friends from HBT if anyone is interested.

 

[kydan47]

Here’s my version - learned a few things. Would not glue again as tubes are off center and not needed, added a bucket lid on the non-pump bucket to improve drainage, cut the hole in the bottom Of tub on pump end.

 

[madscientist451]

I've been brewing for longer than I'd like to admit, and have never thought about needing a "bottle washer", am I missing something?

 

[kydan47]

Don’t think so. With COVID I wasn’t sharing as much with kegs, and some friends don’t have room to keep a keg cold, so I started bottling so as to give bottles, but they don’t always clean or take a while to return, so a washer should be an improvement for me.

 

[Stormcrow]

I've been brewing for longer than I'd like to admit, and have never thought about needing a "bottle washer", am I missing something?

I wouldn't say I "needed" a bottlewasher, but I love to tinker, and it's really satisfying to fire it up and watch it go. It's a much for the DIY enjoyment as anything. That said though, I can prepare more bottles than I need in a ridiculously short amount of time.

 

[Stormcrow]

Here’s my version - learned a few things. Would not glue again as tubes are off center and not needed, added a bucket lid on the non-pump bucket to improve drainage, cut the hole in the bottom Of tub on pump end.
View attachment 735653

I think I was really blessed putting mine together. Believe it or not, I can slip a fastrack on the washer with bottles already in it with just a little wiggling. I wasnt expecting that, and only tried it in an attempt to impress my wife. Don't know if I could build another one that precise.

 

[bkboiler]

Nice job this is very well done!

 

[kydan47]

Had the parts so I made an improved model which seems to work better for me & cheaper To make. I only did a 12 pack for ease.

 

[Stormcrow]

Looks really good!