{"id":33,"date":"2008-08-28T22:41:07","date_gmt":"2008-08-29T05:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slobrewer.com\/kegcarboy-washer\/"},"modified":"2008-08-28T22:41:07","modified_gmt":"2008-08-29T05:41:07","slug":"kegcarboy-washer","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.slobrewer.com\/wordpress\/howto\/kegcarboy-washer\/","title":{"rendered":"Keg\/Carboy Washer"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Keg\/Carboy Washer<\/h2>\n<p>After listening to recent episodes of The Sunday Session on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thebrewingnetwork.com\">the Brewing Network<\/a> I was reminded of an intriguing project by Dr. Scott.  A few years ago he described a keg washing station that could also be used to clean carboys.  This came up again with Tasty McDole saying he&#8217;d built one as well.<\/p>\n<p>All of that, a stack of dirty kegs, plus a bit of vacation prompted me to dive into building one of my own.  Much thanks go to Dr. Scott, Tasty McDole, and the Brewing network for the idea and most of the details.  I put this together to make this available to the brewing community.<\/p>\n<p>With this washer I am able to efficiently and effectively clean a keg or carboy while walking away to focus on other brewing tasks.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/Keg_Washer_017__800x600_.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox\"  ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/\/thumbKeg_Washer_017__800x600_.jpg\" alt=\"Keg Washer\" title=\"Keg Washer\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Table of Contents<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Page 1 &#8211; Intro, Tools and Supplies<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"2\/\">Page 2<\/a> &#8211; Building<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"3\/\">Page 3<\/a> &#8211; Using the Washer, Conclusion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Tools and Supplies<\/h3>\n<p>All told this setup costs around $50-60.  You can probably do this for less if you have parts available.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/Keg_Washer_001__800x600_.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox\"  ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/\/thumbKeg_Washer_001__800x600_.jpg\" alt=\"Keg Washer Parts\" title=\"Keg Washer Parts\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.harborfreight.com\/cpi\/ctaf\/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94651\">Sump Pump<\/a><\/li>\n<li>6.5 Gallon Ale Pale (or other bucket)<\/li>\n<li>Gas and Liquid Quick Disconnects (1\/4&#8243; barb)<\/li>\n<li>1\/4&#8243; ID poly tubing<\/li>\n<li>1\/4&#8243; tee barb<\/li>\n<li>6 hose clamps<\/li>\n<li>1\/4&#8243; barb x 1\/2&#8243; MIP connector<\/li>\n<li>2 of 1\/2&#8243; slip fitting caps<\/li>\n<li>1 of 1\/2&#8243; slip cross<\/li>\n<li>1&#8243; FIP connector x 1&#8243; female slip<\/li>\n<li>1&#8243; male slip x 1\/2&#8243; male slip<\/li>\n<li>1\/2&#8243; female slip x 1\/2&#8243; MIP connector<\/li>\n<li>1\/2&#8243; MIP ball valve<\/li>\n<li>1\/2&#8243; street elbow<\/li>\n<li>1\/2&#8243; x 4&#8242; PVC pipe<\/li>\n<li>PVC primer and glue<\/li>\n<li>teflon tape<\/li>\n<li>pipe cutter<\/li>\n<li>tape measure<\/li>\n<li>drill<\/li>\n<li>1\/8&#8243; brad point bit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h3>Building<\/h3>\n<p>Constructing the keg washer is actually quite easy if you&#8217;ve ever done any PVC work (like sprinklers) in the past.  You&#8217;re basically just trying to get from the 1&#8243; MIP (male international pipe thread) of the sump pump to the spray pipe and quick disconnects.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a shot of the parts lined up but not yet joined:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/Keg_Washer_004__800x600_.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox\"  ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/\/thumbKeg_Washer_004__800x600_.jpg\" alt=\"Keg Washer Parts Breakdown\" title=\"Keg Washer Parts Breakdown\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I decided on a 15&#8243; length spray pipe given the heights of the various vessels I expected to wash.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a shot of the parts connected:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/Keg_Washer_005__600x800_.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox\"  ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/\/thumbKeg_Washer_005__600x800_.jpg\" alt=\"Keg Washer Parts Assembled\" title=\"Keg Washer Parts Assembled\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Once all the PVC is connected you need to drill some holes.  I tried to spread out the holes to ensure some even spraying.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/Keg_Washer_008__600x800_.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox\"  ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/\/thumbKeg_Washer_008__600x800_.jpg\" alt=\"Tip Holes\" title=\"Tip Holes\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/Keg_Washer_010__600x800_.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox\"  ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/\/thumbKeg_Washer_010__600x800_.jpg\" alt=\"Shaft Holes\" title=\"Shaft Holes\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Then all that&#8217;s left is connecting in the quick disconnects.  I won&#8217;t dive into the details because anyone that&#8217;s set up a kegerator can easily figure it out.  The only suggestion I&#8217;ll provide is to say that you want to make sure it&#8217;s easy to hook up the quick disconnects while the keg is sitting next the washer (rather than having to hook them up when the keg is upside down.)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/Keg_Washer_017__800x600_.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox\"  ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/\/thumbKeg_Washer_017__800x600_.jpg\" alt=\"Quick Disconnects Hooked Up\" title=\"Quick Disconnects Hooked Up\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h3>Using the Washer<\/h3>\n<p>Using the washer couldn&#8217;t be easier.  Heat up a couple of gallons of water and some cleaning agent (I prefer PBW but Oxyclean would work as well) and dump it into the bucket.  If you&#8217;re cleaning a keg then hook up the quick disconnects and open the ball valve.  Flip the vessel onto the spray tube and turn the pump on.  Then go ahead and walk away for a few minutes while the washer does it&#8217;s job.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve got a couple of videos showing the washer in action:<\/p>\n<p>Carboy:<br \/>\n<object width=\"425\" height=\"344\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/t_QUbDREsXI&#038;hl=en&#038;fs=1\"><\/param><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"><\/param><\/object><\/p>\n<p>Corny Keg:<br \/>\n<object width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/z60U6anXoIo\"><\/param><\/object><\/p>\n<h3>Conclusion<\/h3>\n<p>This washer makes cleaning a bunch of kegs or your carboy a lot easier.  That&#8217;s bar none my least favorite brewing task.  Plus, since you&#8217;re not applying any scrubbing action this setup should work very well with the plastic Better Bottle carboys that can scratch with carboy brushes.<\/p>\n<p>There are several improvements you could make, though I&#8217;m super happy with the approach I took.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Upgrade to copper &#8211; the original from Doctor Scott was done with copper parts.  That would add durability but would also make the construction more costly.<\/li>\n<li>Building a keg\/carboy stand &#8211; my build relies on resting the vessel on top of the spray piping in the bucket.  Alternative designs incorporate more support for the keg or carboy that&#8217;s being washed.  I haven&#8217;t run into issues yet, though.<\/li>\n<li>You could probably skip the ball valve because the disconnected quick disconnects will prevent liquid from flowing down those lines.  I decided to include the ball valve since it was easy to add and ensures that I don&#8217;t exceed the pressure limit on the lines.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Feel free to contact me at dave@slobrewer.com if you have questions or suggestions for improvements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Keg\/Carboy Washer After listening to recent episodes of The Sunday Session on the Brewing Network I was reminded of an intriguing project by Dr. Scott. A few years ago he described a keg washing station that could also be used to clean carboys. This came up again with Tasty McDole saying he&#8217;d built one as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":13,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-33","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slobrewer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slobrewer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slobrewer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slobrewer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.slobrewer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slobrewer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slobrewer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}