Made a bottle washer!

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I got 10’ of 3/4 pax (pvc) with corner pieces and t-connectors. 2 - 12 packs of red pens from the dollars store and a 3/4 inch FNPT X FHT PVC Swivel to connect the hose. I had the fastrack (they’re pretty cheap on Amazon) and measured it all out. I got the adhesive recommended for pvc. It dries REALLY fast.
I already had a 1/4 hp pump for when I’m running my chiller. Instead of continuously running water I make ice the night before and recirculate the water through the chiller. Cut off a piece of garden hose to run from the pump to the wash rack and it worked like a charm.
I’m pretty pumped 😉
 
As an alternative to pens I used stainless steel straws, but I can only wash 10 bottles at a time
 

Attachments

  • 203737AC-81AD-4CCD-B3A8-2B7345A369D4.jpeg
    203737AC-81AD-4CCD-B3A8-2B7345A369D4.jpeg
    2.2 MB · Views: 7
I got 10’ of 3/4 pax (pvc) with corner pieces and t-connectors. 2 - 12 packs of red pens from the dollars store and a 3/4 inch FNPT X FHT PVC Swivel to connect the hose. I had the fastrack (they’re pretty cheap on Amazon) and measured it all out. I got the adhesive recommended for pvc. It dries REALLY fast.
I already had a 1/4 hp pump for when I’m running my chiller. Instead of continuously running water I make ice the night before and recirculate the water through the chiller. Cut off a piece of garden hose to run from the pump to the wash rack and it worked like a charm.
I’m pretty pumped 😉
Did you use the pvc glue to secure the pen tubes to the manifold? I'm thinking of building a second bottle washer. The cpvc uprights I used on my original won't work with my flip top bottles. I'm so spoiled by using the bottle washer that I can't hardly force myself to mess with bottle I have to clean by hand anymore.
 
Some of them are snug without any help, for the others I put a small piece of silicon tube over the hole then push the straw in, making a tight seal
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    1.7 MB · Views: 13
Another thing-if the straw is pushed too far in the hole the water pressure coming out of the straw is not enough. Not sure on the physics of it but at a guess, the further in the pvc pipe it is, the less of the water pressure in the pvc pipe is usable to push water up the straw
 
Did you use the pvc glue to secure the pen tubes to the manifold? I'm thinking of building a second bottle washer. The cpvc uprights I used on my original won't work with my flip top bottles. I'm so spoiled by using the bottle washer that I can't hardly force myself to mess with bottle I have to clean by hand anymore.
Yes, I used the glue.
 
Back
Top