Industrial Corny Keg Cleaner?

[Ashevillain]

I have been looking into various DIY projects for keg cleaners for a while now. This is a thread to discuss the interest in a seriously powerful and time effective keg cleaning, rinsing, and sanitizing build.

The best I've seen for powerful cleaning is a bucket build with a strong submersible pump and a heat stick.

The heat stick and pressure seems key to having consistent reliable results in a short amount of time when having to clean more than 5 kegs, you don't want the water to get cold and you need the pressure to clean without worrying about scrubbing.

Since I ferment in kegs this is something I am very interested in. I want to make a 3 part setup to set in my tub. Part 1 cleans kegs entirely without disassembly in 2 minutes or less, then I will rotate it to the rinser which drains into tub, then to the sanitizer using a weak pump. All will run through disconnects except for maybe an additional small wand to directly spray the krausen line on the keg.

I want to have 10 kegs confidently beer ready in 1 hr flat. And I want to avoid using 50 gallons of hot water/solution and extended soaks.

Are there any commercial options that can be modified for this? If not all suggestions are welcome. I believe I have explored most options but with DIY i find everyone puts their own twist on it, I'd love to hear some success stories!

 

[augiedoggy]

I have been looking into various DIY projects for keg cleaners for a while now. This is a thread to discuss the interest in a seriously powerful and time effective keg cleaning, rinsing, and sanitizing build.

The best I've seen for powerful cleaning is a bucket build with a strong submersible pump and a heat stick.

The heat stick and pressure seems key to having consistent reliable results in a short amount of time when having to clean more than 5 kegs, you don't want the water to get cold and you need the pressure to clean without worrying about scrubbing.

Since I ferment in kegs this is something I am very interested in. I want to make a 3 part setup to set in my tub. Part 1 cleans kegs entirely without disassembly in 2 minutes or less, then I will rotate it to the rinser which drains into tub, then to the sanitizer using a weak pump. All will run through disconnects except for maybe an additional small wand to directly spray the krausen line on the keg.

I want to have 10 kegs confidently beer ready in 1 hr flat.

Are there any commercial options that can be modified for this? If not all suggestions are welcome. I believe I have explored most options but with DIY i find everyone puts their own twist on it, I'd love to hear some success stories!

There are lots of DIY sump pump options but most commercial keg cleaners I have seen are for sanke style kegs normally used in commercial environments.. corny kegs are normally for home brewery use when it comes to beer so there may not be an industrial commercial cleaner. But if there is it might be an older one from the old soda industry days that corny was commercially intended for.

We briefly looked at using some of the cornies I have including 5 10 gallon ones for the nano im helping to start but quickly realized that sanke kegs make more sense for us. Ironically for sanitary reasons as well maintenance and reliability.

 

[Ashevillain]

I have looked alot into the DIY sanke rigs for ideas as well, as many pros make DIY sanke cleaners due to their upfront cost! I would think there would be a decent market for some powerful corny cleaners, maybe Spike or SS will recognize that one day! As I would be looking to purchase a powerful automated cleaner before thinking about conicals etc.

You have some solid experience with heating elements, any experience using these to heat/clean? A bucket might not be the easiest space to implement an element, most that I see are stuck in through the top of the bucket. I'm considering the logistics of a build inside my kettle which has a triclover for an element in the bottom. I want to build something clean, safe, simple, and repeatable!

I could make a custom lid for my kettle maybe, have the element inside, use an exterior recirc pump that runs to the wand/disconnects up top.

 

[augiedoggy]

I have looked alot into the DIY sanke rigs for ideas as well, as many pros make DIY sanke cleaners due to their upfront cost! I would think there would be a decent market for some powerful corny cleaners, maybe Spike or SS will recognize that one day! As I would be looking to purchase a powerful automated cleaner before thinking about conicals etc.

You have some solid experience with heating elements, any experience using these to heat/clean? A bucket might not be the easiest space to implement an element, most that I see are stuck in through the top of the bucket. I'm considering the logistics of a build inside my kettle which has a triclover for an element in the bottom. I want to build something clean, safe, simple, and repeatable!

I could make a custom lid for my kettle maybe, have the element inside, use an exterior recirc pump that runs to the wand/disconnects up top.

The thing is theres very little legitimate need for them... especially since in the US, a "homebrewer" can only legally brew 100 gallons a year per adult in the household.. you want a home brewing keg cleaner machine that will clean that many cornies in an hr? you must have a big adult family under one roof

Honestly I just open mine up right when I clean them and dump and rinse followed by pouring a gallon or 2 of starsan solution in the keg and shaking it up and pushing the solution out of both poppets after pressurizing... if there is a krausen ring inside I wipe it clean with a non abrasive white scotch brite pad... since I only use them to clean one or two at a time I have never seen the need for a machine to do it. I never had an infection form this , ever. just my environment and use though.. if I were brewing 50 gallons or more at a time like you I would be looking for another solution too. From what I read a simple sump pump with a pipe and cip ball works great for many diyers..

 

[Ashevillain]

Haha that is a fun fact right there, wasn't aware!

Keep in mind I have to clean 2 for every 5Gal since i ferment in them!

 

[Ashevillain]

I previously followed a very similar method of quick rinse/sani run. I am going to give this a shot again for the serving kegs. But during a busy month I ended up with a batch that was putting off some intense Isovaleric or Butyric. Could have been the hops because they weren't commonly used strains at the LHBS, but I also couldn't put 100% confidence on the clean since i was handling them quickly and often not using heated cleaning solution. Since that batch I've been scrubbing krausen, heating up 1.5 gallon batches of cleaning solution, and running through a cheap aquarium pump. This method is a pain and consistency is still up to scrubbing/inspection. We all know we hate cleaning! I'm just ready to put some money and time into a permanent, fail proof solution.

I also believe that if I get this DIY set up properly, there won't be any need to worry about isolating vessels used for wild fermentations.

 

[Bobby_M]

All of these solutions have one fatal flaw. The cleaner has to be cleaned. I can turn my electric BIAB pot into a keg or carboy cleaner easily as I've made a drop in platform with a stainless tubing "U" that the vessels get positioned over. The tube has a jet at the top and many holes drilled around. It's only worth setting this up if I have half a dozen or more vessels to clean in one shot because I spend about 20 minutes cleaning up the pot and drop in assembly when it's all over. I use a 1/8th HP pump to power this thing and it's just barely enough. You really want a big ass 1/2 HP pump to generate the presssure.

 

[Ashevillain]

I like the sound of that setup! But it does seem like a downside to cleaning in the kettle. If I kept it a bucket build it would be fairly easy to rinse the bucket quickly in the tub as I'll have a hose pulled from my washer dryer hookup for the rinsing cycle for the kegs. Looks like a simple version of this this is about the closest I can get without creating too much work.

 

[Ashevillain]

I liked the idea of keeping the pump away from the element thats what got me thinking about the kettle because the pump would have dual purpose since i dont currently recirc, this would also get me close to set me up for 120v ebiab, though I probably wont use it for that without a controller and it can only handle 5gal. But thinking on the bucket idea, there should be plenty of room in the bucket. Might try a T straight to disconnects without a wand at all at first see if pressure and heat through the diptubes will be enough. I will generally be washing 4-8 at a time at a time and this occurs enough to be worth it for me.

I might even test it out with the pump first and a much higher volume of hot cleaning solution(~5.5gal) if the heat lasts long enough, the simpler the better.