Keg/Carboy Washer

[rshosted]

I was thing of building one of these and was thinking, after reading this forum, does it matter if the pipe is rated for the right heat? One would be post-rinsing these anyway and doing a simple sanitizer after PBW or oxyclean.

Also I found this very cheap 1000gph pump for 25 bucks. Wy buy a more expensive pump of this? I understand durability but might just try this today unless someone can point out a good reason not to try it. Unless I get lazy and just buy the more beer one.

On further review I see the above mentioned pump is a 12 v dc so it. Would likely be a pain....
Thanks, ryan

 

[Mpavlik22]

So I made on of these today. I got a 325gph pump first and it didn't have enough balls so I went n got a 550gph and the thing works awesome. Great for carboys. I added a gas and liquid ball lock for kegs. I've cleaned 6 kegs in a hour that would normally take me 3 times as long. This things rocks!!!!

 

[HawkATP]

Wow, this thing is great! I just bought a 620 gph pump from harbor freight (http://www.harborfreight.com/620-gph-submersible-fountain-pump-68393.html) It's on sale for $35 now. I cleaned my sanke keg fermenters and a corny keg already. Total cost was $40 (pump, homer bucket lid, and 3/4" pvc parts)! Cleaning the sanke makes this thing well worth it.

 

[caspio]

Wow, this thing is great! I just bought a 620 gph pump from harbor freight (http://www.harborfreight.com/620-gph-submersible-fountain-pump-68393.html) It's on sale for $35 now. I cleaned my sanke keg fermenters and a corny keg already. Total cost was $40 (pump, homer bucket lid, and 3/4" pvc parts)! Cleaning the sanke makes this thing well worth it.

Let us know how the pump holds up. That one is about half the price of what I've got, so when I inevitably forget to turn it off before going out of town and burn it out, yours might be a good replacement.

 

[FSR402]

Let us know how the pump holds up. That one is about half the price of what I've got, so when I inevitably forget to turn it off before going out of town and burn it out, yours might be a good replacement.

Can't you put it on a timer switch?

 

[Brew-ta-sauraus]

So I made on of these today. I got a 325gph pump first and it didn't have enough balls so I went n got a 550gph and the thing works awesome. Great for carboys. I added a gas and liquid ball lock for kegs. I've cleaned 6 kegs in a hour that would normally take me 3 times as long. This things rocks!!!!

What pump did you use?

 

[Brew-ta-sauraus]

I would like to build one of these in the near future. Obviously the most expensive part is the pump. Any one source a cheap pump that will work well for this application?

 

[HawkATP]

I've cleaned about 20 corny kegs and 6 sanke kegs so far with no problems with my harbor freight pump I linked above. $35 and still trucking!

 

[Gregscsu]

Please Delete This Post

 

[Brew-ta-sauraus]

I've cleaned about 20 corny kegs and 6 sanke kegs so far with no problems with my harbor freight pump I linked above. $35 and still trucking!

How did you connect from the pump to your pvc that runs up into your keg/Carboy? Pics showing this would be great. Your pump is cheap but I don't know how I can attach to my PVC pipe and have it still be secure enough to stick inside & was a keg.

 

[Brew-ta-sauraus]

I was thing of building one of these and was thinking, after reading this forum, does it matter if the pipe is rated for the right heat? One would be post-rinsing these anyway and doing a simple sanitizer after PBW or oxyclean.

Also I found this very cheap 1000gph pump for 25 bucks. Wy buy a more expensive pump of this? I understand durability but might just try this today unless someone can point out a good reason not to try it. Unless I get lazy and just buy the more beer one.

On further review I see the above mentioned pump is a 12 v dc so it. Would likely be a pain....
Thanks, ryan

How did you make the connection from the pump to your PVC pipe going into the keg/Carboy

 

[HawkATP]

How did you connect from the pump to your pvc that runs up into your keg/Carboy? Pics showing this would be great. Your pump is cheap but I don't know how I can attach to my PVC pipe and have it still be secure enough to stick inside & was a keg.

The Harbor Freight pump I have came with about 15 different screw on attachments for the discharge. Just take the attachment you are going to use into Home Depot and make sure it fits the PVC attachment you're going to use. I'm on travel so can't post any pics this week.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

How long are you guys running oxiclean solution through the pump to clean the kegs?

Thinking of building something similar but with copper and brass parts. I usually sanitize my kegs by filling with water and oxiclean and leaving overnight. Cleans everything fine (and sanitizes to boot).

Never have figured out what the min contact time for oxiclean is but I do know when I filled my kegs last I ran into a pinhole leak and had to grab a dirty keg to transfer beer from the leaky one. Filled with oxiclean and hot water for an hour. Didn't make it shiny but nothing got infected. (Due to circumstances beyond my control I had to risk it).

Going to use my march pump. Wondering also how best to make the holder so the keg doesn't fall over when I am out of the room. (Murphys law is strictly enforced around here it seems!) Might have to leave it running for hours to properly wash a dirty keg. Trying to reduce water wastage here.

 

[oakbarn]

Forget the March Pump. One of the small ones from Harbor Freight works well and the simple fact that these are a little messy means in the middle of the garage on on the driveway. I actually have 2 but one with just connected to a garden hose. I run PBW for about 15 minutes then I move over and rinse with tap water on the lawn. I also use the tap water one on brew days for a pre rinse before cleaning my MLT and Brew Kettle after brewing. I also built one out a old dishwasher but it takes up too much room. I use them to clean everything (Kegs, Conicals, MLT, Carboys, you name it)

 

[Chad_C]

I have built one of these out of a HF dirty water pump a few years ago, forget which model. However, I have used it for the last 2 years without a hiccup. There have been times where I leave it on for a few hours at a time, if I'm doing something else and forget about it. The water gets pretty darn hot ~ 130* or so I'd say. I use it for cleaning carboys, kegs, and my faucets.

It usually cleans my kegs in 10 minutes or so, but sometimes the carboys take longer to clean if they have a nice krausen ring. Sometimes I'll need to change the oxyclean solution. The great thing about it is I can clean 3 carboys, and a few kegs in an hour or two if need be, while doing something else.

 

[jarrodaden]

I was just thinking about this kind of thing earlier today. My idea was to try a short rigid pipe with a semi flexible hose on the end that would allow a similar (soft) spray head to whip about for added agitation.

In my estimation, heat isn't necessary to get a good clean. It is more about chemical sanitation and mechanical scrubbing.

 

[Datchew]

Do you really need a rotating ball or nozzle of any kind at the tip?

Why not just an open pipe blasting water at the top? I would think the water would spread at the top and run down the walls of carboys, cornies, and sankes enough to get the job done.

Any thoughts?

 

[ocluke]

Do you really need a rotating ball or nozzle of any kind at the tip?

Why not just an open pipe blasting water at the top? I would think the water would spread at the top and run down the walls of carboys, cornies, and sankes enough to get the job done.

Any thoughts?

I'm not sure if I would draw the line at "need." It is a strong word. Is it more effective and efficient? Yes.

 

[smittygouv30]

I'm looking to take on this project this week and know very little about pumps. Harbor freight seems to by far have the best prices.

My question is... which pump do I get? Keep in mind I would like to use it to drive ice water through my immersion chiller also.

HF has both a 620 GPH and a 1350 GPH. There is only a 15$ difference so I don't mind going stronger. 1350 won't be too much for the chiller, right? If so will 620 be enough for the cleaner?

What do I do?!?!

Here are links to the 2:
35$ 620 gph http://www.harborfreight.com/620-gph-submersible-fountain-pump-68393.html
50$ 1350 gph http://www.harborfreight.com/16-horsepower-submersible-utility-pump-68422.html

Thanks,
Corey

 

[ocluke]

I'm looking to take on this project this week and know very little about pumps. Harbor freight seems to by far have the best prices.

My question is... which pump do I get? Keep in mind I would like to use it to drive ice water through my immersion chiller also.

HF has both a 620 GPH and a 1350 GPH. There is only a 15$ difference so I don't mind going stronger. 1350 won't be too much for the chiller, right? If so will 620 be enough for the cleaner?

What do I do?!?!

Here are links to the 2:
35$ 620 gph http://www.harborfreight.com/620-gph-submersible-fountain-pump-68393.html
50$ 1350 gph http://www.harborfreight.com/16-horsepower-submersible-utility-pump-68422.html

Thanks,
Corey

It depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you're just trying to cascade water down a carboy, then any cheap pump will do. If you're trying to achieve a strong impingement force, then you'll want to look at the PSI rating (15-30) of the pump. Flow rate (GPM or GPH) through an unrestricted hose is much less important in this scenario, which is how most of the sump pumps are quoted. If your flow rate is too high, you're going to have issues because the water/cleaning solution isn't going to flow out of the opening fast enough to recirculate, or the back pressure created by the water not draining fast enough will considerably slow down the water flow through the pump. Maybe someone else can comment on that because I don't use a sump pump in my setup. I use the pump listed here in my build.

 

[smittygouv30]

It depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you're just trying to cascade water down a carboy, then any cheap pump will do. If you're trying to achieve a strong impingement force, then you'll want to look at the PSI rating (15-30) of the pump. Flow rate (GPM or GPH) through an unrestricted hose is much less important in this scenario, which is how most of the sump pumps are quoted. If your flow rate is too high, you're going to have issues because the water/cleaning solution isn't going to flow out of the opening fast enough to recirculate, or the back pressure created by the water not draining fast enough will considerably slow down the water flow through the pump. Maybe someone else can comment on that because I don't use a sump pump in my setup. I use the pump listed here in my build.

Thanks for the reply!

What I don't want to do is just by a cheap pump to save a few bucks and then wish I had a stronger one. Neither pump gives a pressure rating on the HF website, they just refer to flow (gph). There must be a correlation to pressure though, no? If one is rated for 620 GPH and the other 1350 GPH through the same size hole, it seems it would correlate to pressure. My physics professor would be devastated that I don't recall the formulas and don't know the difference. Should I be more interested in the HP of the motor to generate more lbs/sqin?

 

[jarrodaden]

Thanks for the reply!

What I don't want to do is just by a cheap pump to save a few bucks and then wish I had a stronger one. Neither pump gives a pressure rating on the HF website, they just refer to flow (gph). There must be a correlation to pressure though, no? If one is rated for 620 GPH and the other 1350 GPH through the same size hole, it seems it would correlate to pressure. My physics professor would be devastated that I don't recall the formulas and don't know the difference. Should I be more interested in the HP of the motor to generate more lbs/sqin?

My previous hobby was freshwater aquariums. I can tell you to pay close attention to the claimed flow rates of pumps. The rate of flow varies depending on how high you are lifting the water.

As an example, if you were holding the outlet waist high while the pump was in a bucket of water it might give you say 100 gallons per minute. If you moved the outlet above your head, it would probably cut the flow rate in half.

The claimed flow rate is typically associated with the "head" (number of feet you are lifting the water) during the performance testing.

In this case, you are only "lifting" the water about 3' so it should not matter that much.

 

[tracyt1800]

Other than several people mentioning that the pumps should be oilless, are these sump pumps safe for use in this manner? I would LOVE to build one of these, but I am a little concerned about the sanitizing solution picking up some chemical, plastic by product, or something else that would then get sprayed up into my kegs & carboys.

I searched for "potable water pumps" but those are several hundred dollars before you can get to a decent rate of flow.

 

[cwilliams108]

So, decided to build one of these yesterday. Picked up this pump http://www.harborfreight.com/1-horsepower-submersible-dirty-water-pump-with-float-69300.html on sale for $49.99 and as I'm paying for it I get the "do you want to buy the warranty it's $5.99 for one year and you can get it replaced within a year regardless if anything is wrong with it or not" sold american. Ran it on 3 kegs last night 2 corneys and a sanke and it does warm the water up pretty well (I'd say 140 ish based on feel and what I know I have my water heater set at). Anyway anyone looking to build one I would recommend this pump especially given a $6 warranty that will give me peace of mind as I beat the hell out of it. As a side note yeah the pump is probably overkill but when is that ever a bad thing.

 

[HawkATP]

I've noticed with my keg washer that it works great on corneys, but it isn't able to break the krausen ring on my sanke fermenters. Anyone that uses sankes as fermenters had this issue? I still have to brush the inside krausen ring on the sanke to break it up.

 

[ocluke]

I've noticed with my keg washer that it works great on corneys, but it isn't able to break the krausen ring on my sanke fermenters. Anyone that uses sankes as fermenters had this issue? I still have to brush the inside krausen ring on the sanke to break it up.

There are a lot of variables between each person's keg washer, so it's hard to compare apples with apples, unless of course two people have the exact same setup and process. Some variables to consider changing in your system:

- are you using a nozzle/spray ball, and if so, what is it rated at and what is the coverage (e.g. 360°, 270°, etc)?
- are you using a pump with sufficient PSI for your nozzle/spray ball (they give flow rate/PSI ratings)?
- what type of cleaning solution are you using, and at what strength? If PBW, time, temperature and concentration are all factors in how well it cleans (the higher the better the job for all 3).

Try thinking on some of those variables and decide for yourself which you can change to get better results.

 

[Monster Mash]

I have a 30 gallon fermenter that I put on mine, I wasn't expecting much because normally I have to really scrub to get the krausen off. I was pretty surprised to find it cleaned almost all of it off except a few small spots.

I guess it depends on the setup, the temp of the water and the type of cleaner...

 

[Monster Mash]

Other than several people mentioning that the pumps should be oilless, are these sump pumps safe for use in this manner? I would LOVE to build one of these, but I am a little concerned about the sanitizing solution picking up some chemical, plastic by product, or something else that would then get sprayed up into my kegs & carboys.

I searched for "potable water pumps" but those are several hundred dollars before you can get to a decent rate of flow.

These are meant for a cleaning solution to be run through them, you rinse and sanitize afterword so there is nothing to worry about.

 

[kenyabob]

Does the pump have to be a dirty water pump, or can it be any submersible pump? I'm worried a generic pump might leach nasties I dont want ending up in my beer (although I could just do a final rinse with non pumped water)

Example of a generic pump:
http://is.gd/E4wnKa

 

[ocluke]

Does the pump have to be a dirty water pump, or can it be any submersible pump? I'm worried a generic pump might leach nasties I dont want ending up in my beer (although I could just do a final rinse with non pumped water)

Example of a generic pump:
http://is.gd/E4wnKa

The pump you link to is an oilless utility pump, which shouldn't leak anything. I don't know what kind of keg cleaner you are intending to build, but if you're looking for something to cascade water down the keg, then it will work fine. If you are going to be using a spray ball/nozzle, or otherwise putting back pressure on the pump, I'd recommend going with something that is rated for restriction (a PSI rating will be given).