Sanke Keg Washer build

[marcb]

I can't get over how bright that pump switch lamp is!
Looking forward to seeing this in action!

By the way, I ordered wire labels for the big panel today. I have a layout in mind I think you'll like. Ill run it by you when you drop off the kettles.

Awesome! Thanks!

 

[marcb]

finally got the controller stitched up last night! I think we can call this build complete. I've received a couple of PM's from people who are interested in building these. I'm happy to share any information you'll need to do this build, it wasn't tough but there was lots of learning along the way and I would consider doing a few things differently next time.

 

[rvklein]

So awesome. I've been wanting to build a sanke keg washer myself. This may be the push I need.

 

[daksin]

Even with all the shinies, this is a serious bargain compared to the commercial ones. Could you easily make this guy totally manual? Would love to have a total instructable on this build. Been wrestling with how to clean my kegs for a while.

 

[marcb]

Even with all the shinies, this is a serious bargain compared to the commercial ones. Could you easily make this guy totally manual? Would love to have a total instructable on this build. Been wrestling with how to clean my kegs for a while.

It was originally totally manual and worked fine, Fastev built the panel and I hacked it to completion : )

The plan was to provide better documentation but my new build has slowed that down a bit, several small breweries are now building manual keg washers off of this design. I'm happy to answer any questions for provide any additional detail you may need to complete one of these!

 

[daksin]

Do you think you could do it with a smaller pump like the chuggers? I have 3 AC-5B-MDs (two mounted to the stand) and could probably appropriate the cold side pump (not mounted to anything) for this, but it'd be nice to have a dedicated pump for the keg washer.

 

[marcb]

Do you think you could do it with a smaller pump like the chuggers? I have 3 AC-5B-MDs (two mounted to the stand) and could probably appropriate the cold side pump (not mounted to anything) for this, but it'd be nice to have a dedicated pump for the keg washer.

No, you need the volume/pressure that the bigger pump provides. Mine isn't mounted as the plumbing holds it in place. Two TC connections and a pigtail and its ready to use elsewhere.

 

[trip2hard]

Just got my pump in to build this bad boy

 

[marcb]

Just got my pump in to build this bad boy

How's the build coming?

 

[vonZwicky]

Fantastic work, man! I've been thinking about seting up a sankey CIP system in the future. I don't have the space (or funding) for a dedicated rig like this, so I'll probably use my existing mash and boil keggles as the chemical brinks. I will be refering back to this thread when I tackle the project.

 

[marcb]

Fantastic work, man! I've been thinking about seting up a sankey CIP system in the future. I don't have the space (or funding) for a dedicated rig like this, so I'll probably use my existing mash and boil keggles as the chemical brinks. I will be refering back to this thread when I tackle the project.

Thanks! Even with the brewery redesign and rebuild I'm not sure exactly where this is going. The footprint is small and it will also be my CIP cart. Let me know if you have any questions, I'm sure this can be done really inexpensively with 3/4" NPT on the in and 1/2" NPT on the out side.

 

[thereefspot]

Could you PM me the guys email addy for those kettles?

 

[marcb]

Could you PM me the guys email addy for those kettles?

He's no longer building those kettles, they were too expensive to produce.

 

[dolemike]

This is awesome! Do you have a parts list for this thing? I am opening up a 2 bbl nano and this would solve the keg washing issue.
thanks,
mike

 

[marcb]

This is awesome! Do you have a parts list for this thing? I am opening up a 2 bbl nano and this would solve the keg washing issue.
thanks,
mike

Sure, I'll post one in a day or so!

 

[marcb]

Sure, I'll post one in a day or so!

Sorry, been lagging on this. Will get one posted tonight.

 

[marcb]

Parts List:
40 linear feet of .065 wall 304 ornamental finish 1" square stainless tube (purchased in 20ft lengths)
2 10 Gallon kettles with TC fittings for distilling
3 1" T-type 3 way 1.5" tri clamp ball valves
1 1/2" 1.5" tri clamp ball valve
2 1/2" T-type 3 way 1/2" NPT ball valves
4 1" TC 90's
4 1" tri clamp tube (6" length)
1 March nano pump 1" inlet, 1/2" outlet
1 1/2" nipple (6" length)
4 caster city casters and 4 McMaster 1" tube threaded caster connectors

that about does it for the physical components.

 

[marcb]

Parts List:
40 linear feet of .065 wall 304 ornamental finish 1" square stainless tube (purchased in 20ft lengths)
2 10 Gallon kettles with TC fittings for distilling
3 1" T-type 3 way 1.5" tri clamp ball valves
1 1/2" 1.5" tri clamp ball valve
2 1/2" T-type 3 way 1/2" NPT ball valves
4 1" TC 90's
4 1" tri clamp tube (6" length)
1 March nano pump 1" inlet, 1/2" outlet
1 1/2" nipple (6" length)
4 caster city casters and 4 McMaster 1" tube threaded caster connectors

that about does it for the physical components.

Oh and for control I would definitely recommend auberins pids and rtds. I just replaced the love setup I had in there (wrong options - great support!) for less than $50 and had it swapped out in like 10 minutes and working like a champ.

 

[Brandjes]

Is there a specific reason you went with 1.5" TC vs 1"? Thanks and nice job!

 

[marcb]

Is there a specific reason you went with 1.5" TC vs 1"? Thanks and nice job!

No, actually it is all 1" but that isn't clear in my list ; )

 

[zoso]

I own a 3bbl nano and it's a big leap to get even the cheapest keg washer on the market. Would be awesome if someone took this and could make a keg washer for significantly less than $5k

 

[mattd2]

I own a 3bbl nano and it's a big leap to get even the cheapest keg washer on the market. Would be awesome if someone took this and could make a keg washer for significantly less than $5k

Do you have some links to the typical keg washers available on the market. My thoughts are you can DIY one for significantly cheaper because you are not paying for all the overheads of a big company.

 

[marcb]

Do you have some links to the typical keg washers available on the market. My thoughts are you can DIY one for significantly cheaper because you are not paying for all the overheads of a big company.

Brew-stuff has two good examples to look at, a manual two station one similar to this for $5k and an automatic version for $13k

http://brew-stuff.com/kegwashers.html

 

[mattd2]

Brew-stuff has two good examples to look at, a manual two station one similar to this for $5k and an automatic version for $13k

http://brew-stuff.com/kegwashers.html

Thanks marcb - I can't see any differnece in functionality between yours and a comercial model. In answer to the question of why noone "can" build a keg washer for less than $5k is even though the parts cost only a fraction of the cost, if you were paying yourself $60+/hour (which would cover overheads, etc. if you were a business selling these ) how much would of this cost you to build? My guess is $1000 in "parts" and a weeks building time (fabrication, electrical, commissioning) would get you close to nearly there

 

[marcb]

Thanks marcb - I can't see any differnece in functionality between yours and a comercial model. In answer to the question of why noone "can" build a keg washer for less than $5k is even though the parts cost only a fraction of the cost, if you were paying yourself $60+/hour (which would cover overheads, etc. if you were a business selling these ) how much would of this cost you to build? My guess is $1000 in "parts" and a weeks building time (fabrication, electrical, commissioning) would get you close to nearly there

If I was paying myself $60 an hour for working on my brewery I'd be rich! This one took a little longer as I had to design and adapt as I was going but all in all it was about $1500 in parts and probably closer to 60 hours into the build total. Now you could buy a controller and build this with npt instead of TC plumbing to save a boatload of time and money. Then you'd be down to about $1k in parts and knowing what I know now I think it would only take 20-30 hours to build from scratch. One advantage that this design has with the TC fittings is that I can rob from this setup on brew days if I come up short on any fittings and just swap them back in when I'm done!

 

[mattd2]

If I was paying myself $60 an hour for working on my brewery I'd be rich! This one took a little longer as I had to design and adapt as I was going but all in all it was about $1500 in parts and probably closer to 60 hours into the build total. Now you could buy a controller and build this with npt instead of TC plumbing to save a boatload of time and money. Then you'd be down to about $1k in parts and knowing what I know now I think it would only take 20-30 hours to build from scratch. One advantage that this design has with the TC fittings is that I can rob from this setup on brew days if I come up short on any fittings and just swap them back in when I'm done!

I think that if any of us could somehow swing getting $60/hr for working on homebrewery stuff / homebrewing that none of us would go to "real" work
It is a really nice build. I waould like to switch over to sankes one day. Use 50 litre kegs to ferment in then over into 2x 20 litre kegs to carb/serve... one day

 

[marcb]

I think that if any of us could somehow swing getting $60/hr for working on homebrewery stuff / homebrewing that none of us would go to "real" work
It is a really nice build. I waould like to switch over to sankes one day. Use 50 litre kegs to ferment in then over into 2x 20 litre kegs to carb/serve... one day

Given that you can usually find 20l kegs on craigslist pretty cheap (20-25$) I was actually able to sell my fleet of cornies and double my number of kegs without all of issues with the corny kegs. It definitely made it worth it in my situation and I did that prior to building the bigger system so I was only cranking out 20G batches at that point.

 

[zoso]

For me/us it's not that it's hard to design or build something like this (or copy this), it's that you just run out of time focusing on other aspects of the brewery while using a just good enough, not nearly as nice washer because it isn't broken. Not to mention the day job and baby/family that need time. Not complaining, but that's why I haven't gone through the same exercise.

 

[marcb]

For me/us it's not that it's hard to design or build something like this (or copy this), it's that you just run out of time focusing on other aspects of the brewery while using a just good enough, not nearly as nice washer because it isn't broken. Not to mention the day job and baby/family that need time. Not complaining, but that's why I haven't gone through the same exercise.

Agreed, this design/system has been built by several smaller breweries but I have also been to several other mid size breweries that do with what they've got and get by. After pulling spears i decided it was worth it to go this route and made it a fun/unique build for a fraction of the cost of buying. That's in between my other full time gig, coaching football and keeping the SWMBO and four boys happy! of course I don't sleep much and have a tendency of getting obsessed with my builds.

 

[mattd2]

For me/us it's not that it's hard to design or build something like this (or copy this), it's that you just run out of time focusing on other aspects of the brewery while using a just good enough, not nearly as nice washer because it isn't broken. Not to mention the day job and baby/family that need time. Not complaining, but that's why I haven't gone through the same exercise.

Have you any trade schools near you? If you do you might try find an apprentice out of there to build it (for beer), a lot of the apprentices I see would be pretty keen to take on a small project like this and it might even count towards coarse credits