I have a pile of dirty Corny kegs that needs a good washing and was looking at the keg washer Doc has built using a pump and some custom plumbing. there is is picture of it in the BN Gallery.

Has anyone built anything similar to this? I think its pretty straightforward in its design, but I didn't see how the Keg sits on the copper spray wand that is connected to the pump. In the pictures Doc posted on the BN gallery, it looks like there is no support for the keg other than it resting on the tip of the of the copper sprayer.

Has anyone built something similar? If so, could you share your design/pics so that I could (sorry...I was going to say get some ideas, but I really am planning on copying the best design..) get some input on the one I am designing.

I have a utility pump sitting around and want to find a home for it. A new keg washer sounds like just the right gadget.

I don't have a pic of mine. I took an old pool cover pump, sweat up the copper riser with a tee that feeds a gate valve to control flow to the in/out fittings on the corney's. The unit sits in an oversized, plastic milk crate which sits in a plastic grout tray. The milk crate us the structural part that supports a cedar frame for kegs to rest while the plastic tray holds the heated PBW or Star San depending on process. The lids and o-rings are tossed in along the sides (scrubbed if necessary). I've made various adapters for carboys too.

We heat up the wash water in the kettle and pump it over when it hits 180f. Through thermal mass and ambient, it quickly drops to about 170f. PBW is added during the transfer for mixing. The corney is plugged into the gas and beverage lines, flipped onto the copper riser, and the pump is activated with a foot-operated switch. We hose out all the kegs prior to washing to reduce the material going through the pump. The tub is dumped, hosed out, filled with a Stat San solution, and the process is started again for sanitizing. Ten minutes on the cleaning and 30 seconds to sanitize and you have kegs ready to fill.

Sanke's fit too and depending on how dirty will run for about 15 minutes on the wash cycle.

We've built this system right after Doc revealed his and have never had a contaminated batch.

I was going too build one but I got some advise from my lhbs (Aust. HB) shop that worked really well. I had 13 kegs to clean.

Prime your pump (I use the march b3 pump) and connect a gas in QD to the in/suck side of the pump and a bev out QD to the out/push side of the pump. Heat up some pbw on the stove and pour it into your keg. Put the lid on keg, hook up the hoses, and turn it upside down, and start the pump.

The pbw is recurc the whole time and is being pumped through the bev out tube so it hits the bottom of the keg and runs down the sides. This also makes me feel good that I am running cleaner through the poppets and posts.

I put the keg upside down on a 2x4 over my 5g brew pot because your bound to have a small leak from the lid because its not sealed under pressure. Just pour the hot pbw from keg to keg and reheat as needed.

This may not be exactly what your looking for but it worked for me.

I pretty much copied Doc's ,except that used pvc instead of copper and if I use a carboy drainer it cleans carboys,too....







Works great but I find I don't use it much....

Wow I've been looking for this for a while. I finally got up the spare cash to buy a 3 keg system (hopefully getting my chest freezer this weekend or next) and I've been wanting to build one of these for cleaning my kegs. Does anyone have a link to the building of one, preferably with a crapload of pictures as drunken reading doesn't always work quite right... God knows when you're playing with power tools, you really should have a drink in your hand.
Thanks!
Matt

That's a great looking rig atfan. I think you and Doc may have inspired another project! I could see not using it much but I bet you appreciate it when you do.

Breyton, here's my version:

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/phpBB2 ... highlight=

I built a modified version of Docs. I use a submersible 1/6 hp pump that has a garden hose adapter on it. I built a 18" straight wand for carboys, and a "T" unit for cornies. I can't see point of having them both on - the cornies dip tubes are all you need. The best thing about the submersible is that it is "liquid cooled" by the water it is sitting in. After about 15 minutes of washing, the pump heats the PBW solution to about 110 degrees.


Mylo

Hmmm, I was just thinking that our dishwasher needed to be replaced when I came across this thread. I bet a dishwasher pump would make a bad ass keg / carboy cleaner.

We're in the dishwasher market also... mmmmm....