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I had some issues when ordering from the first post parts list. It was probably my fault, or I mis entered part numbers but ended up short some parts and others did not appear to fit together correctly. After a few more trips, I decided to go for 3/4 as per the suggestion and am only missing the shut off valves. I am considering changing out the keg post adapter part for one that I can just attach to the keg lines where the QD's screw in. Then again, maybe I should just make a second one of them so I can have both.

I had some issues also from the original parts list post:

The 1"x3/4" adapters, PN 23856 are the 3/4" adapter to be used on the 3/4" vertical center pipe that goes inside the bucket/carboy/keg, etc. You still need at least one of these, depending on how many different lengths of 3/4" pipe you want to use. This slips over the end of the 3/4" pipe and puts a male thread on the end.

The 90° elbows, PN 23868 are also the 3/4" size, substitute these with the 1" elbows, PN 23870 @ .76 each.

Missing from the original parts list are the adapters that fit into the 1" slip fit elbows, and are 3/4" threaded for the plugs, barbed elbows, etc. Use 1"x3/4" adapter PN 227573 @ 1.00 each.

I ordered the pump which should arrive any day now so I am not really clear on how this will connect up. The photos show that the outlet is threaded but I don't know the pitch or the size.

Hope this saves a few trips to Lowe's. BTW, fine work on the cleaner, I look forward to using this when it's finally built. Cleaning buckets, carboys, and kegs is a real PITA, but this should make life easier and I'm all about easy. Thanks for all the work that went into pulling this together.
Sláinte
 


I had some issues also from the original parts list post:

The 1"x3/4" adapters, PN 23856 are the 3/4" adapter to be used on the 3/4" vertical center pipe that goes inside the bucket/carboy/keg, etc. You still need at least one of these, depending on how many different lengths of 3/4" pipe you want to use. This slips over the end of the 3/4" pipe and puts a male thread on the end.

The 90° elbows, PN 23868 are also the 3/4" size, substitute these with the 1" elbows, PN 23870 @ .76 each.

Missing from the original parts list are the adapters that fit into the 1" slip fit elbows, and are 3/4" threaded for the plugs, barbed elbows, etc. Use 1"x3/4" adapter PN 227573 @ 1.00 each.

I ordered the pump which should arrive any day now so I am not really clear on how this will connect up. The photos show that the outlet is threaded but I don't know the pitch or the size.

Hope this saves a few trips to Lowe's. BTW, fine work on the cleaner, I look forward to using this when it's finally built. Cleaning buckets, carboys, and kegs is a real PITA, but this should make life easier and I'm all about easy. Thanks for all the work that went into pulling this together.
Sláinte


Well, my experience went thusly. The adapters to 3/4 female thread adapters would not snugly fit in the larger elbows so I was unable to assemble it with the larger diameter cross, valves, tees and elbows. I juset bought it all in 3/4 and was able to get it all assembled. Works fine that way and has pretty darn good pressure. Have yet to use it on a keg or carboy though.

When running it for keg lines though, how does everyone set their valves? I got a decent flow with the wastewater one (downward pointing) at 1/2-2/3 and the other side with just to the lines at full open.

Also, for the keg washing lines, I decided to change things up since I was having trouble with flow through the ball lock post and just stepped it down to 1/4 inch so I could use a 1/4 inch flare to connect to my keg lines which are all 1/4 MFL. Will post an alternative part list for the adapter if you all want
 
I may have dropped the ball - I only ordered the 1/5 HP (20 GPM pump) and will be cleaning Corny kegs that have been fermented in (krausen on the walls that is sort of a pain to scrub off by hand) - think the flow rate will be sufficient vs the 1/4 HP (30 GPM)? I'll be almost exclusively cleaning kegs unless I come up with a bottle cleaning attachment.

I'm not worried about leaving the keg on there an extra few minutes if that is what it takes to get clean, I just don't know if the pressure output from the stand is an essential part of the cleaning.
 
I may have dropped the ball - I only ordered the 1/5 HP (20 GPM pump) and will be cleaning Corny kegs that have been fermented in (krausen on the walls that is sort of a pain to scrub off by hand) - think the flow rate will be sufficient vs the 1/4 HP (30 GPM)? I'll be almost exclusively cleaning kegs unless I come up with a bottle cleaning attachment.



I'm not worried about leaving the keg on there an extra few minutes if that is what it takes to get clean, I just don't know if the pressure output from the stand is an essential part of the cleaning.


It's mostly about the PBW contact and time, not pressure. My results are only slightly better than filling with PBW and soaking. The washer cuts down on the labor and volume of water and PBW required. Leave it and go have a beer.
 
It's mostly about the PBW contact and time, not pressure. My results are only slightly better than filling with PBW and soaking. The washer cuts down on the labor and volume of water and PBW required. Leave it and go have a beer.

Sweet. Just picked up the rest of what I need. I'll have 4 kegs to wash tomorrow after bottling so I best get to finishing my assembly.

Edit - built mine yesterday. The tub I bought was too short - just barely cleared the top of the valves, so I turned them 90* from OP's so they're horizontal. I purchased a closet shelf at home depot instead of racks - its pretty rigid on both sides and one overhangs more than the others. I had to cut off about 18" of it and then cut two of the supports to pass the washer through.

I only made a part for the keg washer and hose attachment at this point in time since kegs are the only thing I need to wash. Its remarkable how little water you need to use with this to clean the kegs - the environmentalist in me loves that I probably used a total of less than 5 gallons to scrub and rinse 4 kegs. And the ability to walk away from it while its doing the cleaning? Priceless.
 
Two things. I made mine a couple weeks ago and really find it useful. But I have two warnings for you all.

One, If you are using the cleaner on Sankey style kegs, keep an eye on it. It appears that even with a 3/4 inch pipe, you are restricting the keg opening enough that it fills faster than it drains (especially once the PBW starts foaming up).

The second is due to a bonehead move of mine. I cleaned and rinsed out my kegs, buckets, etc all in a row on Saturday and set the whole assembly aside. Sunday while wandering around I attempted to step over the assembly (keg cleaning spear removed) and ever so gently kicked the PVC part which immediately snapped the adapter that came with the pump that is screwed into the PVC assembly cleanly off. After some cussing I calmed down, and put everything away as I should have done when I first finished cleaning kegs.
 
Anyone know of either the part number for or the specifications for the black piece that screws onto the pump in this picture? The part that is the attachment point to the pump dead center in the pic.

manifold-complete.jpg


I managed to break mine. The pump manufacturers webpage does not have that pumps part listed. And idea what I part I can find to replace it?
 
Anyone know of either the part number for or the specifications for the black piece that screws onto the pump in this picture? The part that is the attachment point to the pump dead center in the pic.

I managed to break mine. The pump manufacturers webpage does not have that pumps part listed. And idea what I part I can find to replace it?

Its threaded, right? I'll toss mine in the car tonight- I need to grab some homer buckets Friday for grain splits in a group buy- I'll see if I can match it to anything there- you may be able to make your own replacement...
 
Its threaded, right? I'll toss mine in the car tonight- I need to grab some homer buckets Friday for grain splits in a group buy- I'll see if I can match it to anything there- you may be able to make your own replacement...

Yeah, it should be a 1-1/4"which is the threading on the pump itself (from the site) though for some reason they dont even list the part for this particular pump on their site http://superiorpump.com/adapters.html I am just wondering about the threadding. Getting it threadded to the threaded PVC was a little tight as it is.

Thanks!
 
Yeah, it should be a 1-1/4"which is the threading on the pump itself (from the site) though for some reason they dont even list the part for this particular pump on their site http://superiorpump.com/adapters.html I am just wondering about the threadding. Getting it threadded to the threaded PVC was a little tight as it is.

Thanks!

Shoot- I went this AM and my the part was in my work bag at home. Sorry Drunkle- if you know its 1 1/4 I would give any pipe threaded piece you can find a shot, worked on the outlet....
 
I built this last weekend. If you go into the sprinkler section of home depot you'll find the hose (female) to pipe swivel that you can use to connect the pump to the pvc. I do think the inch pvc is overkill but it makes it look impressive. Doing the build with 3/4 is probably just as good. The part numbers seemed off when i went to lowes so I just pieced it together in the store.

Also, I skipped the little 90 degree parts and just made all my tools connect to the threaded pvc. Made a hose attachment to pump ice water thru my IC. Did the mfl connection for keg lines. Everything worked out fine other than when i forgot to plug the center hole when i was testing the IC flow.

I also bought a little 3 gallon bin since when running something like hose cleaning you only need a little water/cleaner and can fit the pump in there.

Oh, my motivation here was as much to save water as anything else (since we are now the dry state known as California) . But a side bonus is when you have the carboy washer attachment and no carboy it's a great high powered sprinkler. Will get put to use at the first summer party.

I will say this is my fave latest homebrew related DIY.
 
Bump.


I finally got around to putting mine together. I've had the pieces for about two months now, but have had other projects get in my way. Here's some pics.


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20150908_185919_zpsl9vinzzy.jpg


20150908_190002_zpsuevd3yqb.jpg



I used a dremel to cut down the width of the wire shelving. I also bent the sides down to where they snugged the sides of the tube a bit better. I need to paint them before using.

The tub was about $7 at Home Depot. It's a perfect fit as I can store everything in it and close the lid! Gonna try to fire it up tomorrow as I have quite a few kegs to clean.


Thanks to Ray for supplying the parts list. Huge help!
 
You are welcome. I'm guessing you have had time to use the system by now. If it works like mine it makes very short work of cleaning just about anything brewing related.

Sure does. I've gotten a bit lazy and haven't kept up with my keg cleaning when I should have. I had seven kegs to wash yesterday and got all of them cleaned in under a couple of hours. That probably would have lasted all evening if I had to do each one by hand.


Now the only ones dirty are the three I have in use.
 
Anyone have any ideas on how to incorporate a way to wash multiple beer bottles at once with the SM3K?
 
I'm sure you could easily incorporate Malfet's bottle washer into the scrub master. Should be fairly simple.

Definitely. I built a Malfet-style bottle washer modified to the the dimensions of FastRacks (since this photo I've added PVC supports under the frame).

108eiOCh.jpg


The expensive part is the pump. Building the PVC parts to wash carboys and kegs would cost less than $10. Just unscrew the hose barb from the pump's threaded adapter, screw on the straight capped pipe, and put the shelves in place.

The line cleaner parts would be more expensive because of the fittings and valves, but still inexpensive when you consider you can wash pretty much anything with the finished project.
 
Definitely. I built a Malfet-style bottle washer modified to the the dimensions of FastRacks (since this photo I've added PVC supports under the frame).

108eiOCh.jpg


The expensive part is the pump. Building the PVC parts to wash carboys and kegs would cost less than $10. Just unscrew the hose barb from the pump's threaded adapter, screw on the straight capped pipe, and put the shelves in place.

The line cleaner parts would be more expensive because of the fittings and valves, but still inexpensive when you consider you can wash pretty much anything with the finished project.

Do you happen to have a build thread for yours? I like the look of it a lot.
 
I don't, I'm brand new here. But I did take some photos during my build and have some thoughts about it. I'll post in the Malfet thread tomorrow.
 
What about using automatic dishwasher detergent instead of oxyclean?
It is semi caustic and is designed to get organic material off of things i.e.-foodstuffs. Most rinse clean. Designed for use in hot water, etc.
 
Are you guys leaving the cleaning solution in there a couple rounds or dumping it after a batch clean? Also, how are you rinsing with plain water afterwards? Whenever I leave things assembled I always fear I'm not getting enough water through the poppets/QD etc. Guess I could just get a second bucket and plop the pump in there with clean water for the rinse, or am I missing something easier?
 
Are you guys leaving the cleaning solution in there a couple rounds or dumping it after a batch clean? Also, how are you rinsing with plain water afterwards? Whenever I leave things assembled I always fear I'm not getting enough water through the poppets/QD etc. Guess I could just get a second bucket and plop the pump in there with clean water for the rinse, or am I missing something easier?



I pre-rinsed all my kegs before running them through the cleaner. Afterwords, I rinse the clean kegs again, then put the lids back on after they dried. I didn't dump the cleaning solution at all on this last round of keg cleaning.


I'm still going to break the kegs down every so often as I guess it wouldn't hurt to inspect the posts, seals, etc.. for more thorough cleaning/seal replacement . I do the disconnects on my beer lines the same way. After a few batches, I swap them out with clean spare disconnects, then precede to break down and clean the dirty ones.
 
Star San makes a non-foaming sanitizer. That's what I will be using for final rinse when I finally get around to building a scrub master
 
Are you guys leaving the cleaning solution in there a couple rounds or dumping it after a batch clean? Also, how are you rinsing with plain water afterwards? Whenever I leave things assembled I always fear I'm not getting enough water through the poppets/QD etc. Guess I could just get a second bucket and plop the pump in there with clean water for the rinse, or am I missing something easier?

I keep the same homemade PBW solution for several cleanings. I also use the tub/solution to submerge bottles in to get the labels off. After each cleaning I slosh some water around to semi rinse them. After several cleanings I have quite a bit of equipment to sanitize. I dump the used up cleaning solution pour 5 gallons of starsan in the tub (I generally keep about 5 gallons of Starsan in a 5 gallon bucket for brewing). I run the Starsan solution for a couple of minutes on each keg/carboy, etc. then remove it. If it's a keg, I turn it upside down to drain for about a minute then put the lid on and use a little CO2 to pressurize it. I have had kegs stay pressurized and sanitized for months before I am ready to use them. I then pour the Starsan back in a 5 gallon bucket to be ready for my next brew session.
 
What size tubing do you use to slip over your faucets? I'm worried if I daisy chain them together they may build up sufficient pressure to "blow off" the faucet.
 
What size tubing do you use to slip over your faucets? I'm worried if I daisy chain them together they may build up sufficient pressure to "blow off" the faucet.

I just use an old piece of racking cane tubing. I think it is 5/16 thinner walled stuff that i bought at the LHBS. It fits perfectly inside (not outside) my Perlik 525s. It also makes a great growler filler when paired with a drilled stopper.
 
I use the high temp. Silicon hose and slip it on the outside of the faucets. The small diameter of the keg line restricts the flow and the pump doesn't have that much pressure with the restricted flow. I've never had a line blow off but they must be dry when putting them on or the will slip off.
 
Quite well actually. And to clarify since my brain is still on snowdays. The tubing I used was old tubing that was connected to my autosiphon. I am using a drilled stopper that fits inside a beer bottle mouth. I can fill pretty much at pressure, crack the seal a little and it fills to the top. Then I pull the whole thing out of the bottle and can cap on foam. Tend to get pretty good fills this way too.

I will take a picture of my ugly junk bottle filler. Its not counterpressure but it sure keeps my from filling the bottle half full of foam.
 
Technically it is counter fill if you use a stopper to build up pressure, but yeah it's not a pro-counter p but it works a charm. this is my preferred method
 
I like the build...trying to wrap my head as to how to configure it to sanke keg washer? Have to be same type build but ball float out of the connector to allow it to drain...more thinking.

Great build thread!
 
You have to pull the ring out ofter bottom of the sankey adapter and the ball float will fall out. Not sure though how the restriction change from the beer nut to the adapter will affect cleaning pressure
 
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