Keg Washers

Keg Washers – Build your own Part 4 – Trial set up and testing

posted Oct 14th, 2015 by pbrewadmin

OK, it’s time to do a trial set-up with a keg to make sure everything goes together smoothly.

• First, place the Reservoir and Manifold Board in the area where you will be doing your keg cleaning.
• The Reservoir should be set on top of an inverted plastic milk crate. NOTE: I have not specified any particular method for propping or mounting the Manifold Board because it will be different in every brewery depending on your layout. With a little ingenuity, you could probably mount everything on a cart for easy portability and storage.
• Make sure all valves on the Manifold Board are CLOSED.
• Feed the free end of the DRAIN LINE into or near a floor drain – you may need to weigh it down to keep it from jumping around during discharge.
• Feed the free end of the RETURN LINE through the intact handle hole on the Reservoir and down into the bottom of the Reservoir.
• Use the “S” hook to secure the RETURN LINE to the pipe in the bottom of the Reservoir.
• Now connect the Keg Connector to the keg and flip the keg over so that it is standing upside-down on top of two inverted plastic milk crates, with the handle of the Keg Connector centered between the crates, and the FEED and DISCHARGE LINES draped through the gap between the crates.
• Make sure the Lines are not kinked. It may take some practice to achieve the proper positioning in one smooth “flip & place” motion, but I assure you it can be done. This is the starting position for each keg cleaning cycle. Reverse the motion to dismount the keg after cleaning.

Test Run

Once you have mastered keg positioning, you can set-up the rest of the connections for a test-run.

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Keg Washers – Build your own Part 3 – The cleaning cycle sequence

posted Oct 14th, 2015 by pbrewadmin

The cleaning cycle sequence is as follows:

1. OPEN the DRAIN valve, allow keg to depressurize and discharge residual beer.
2. OPEN the WATER valve, then OPEN the AIR valve, wait 30 seconds, then CLOSE the WATER valve, wait until all water is discharged from keg, then CLOSE the AIR valve, and allow keg to depressurize.
3. CLOSE DRAIN valve, OPEN RETURN valve, OPEN ACID valve, turn Pump ON, OPEN the AIR valve, wait 60 seconds, then CLOSE ACID valve, turn Pump OFF, wait until all acid is discharged from keg (air bubbles in the reservoir) then CLOSE AIR valve, OPEN DRAIN valve, CLOSE RETURN valve.
4. OPEN the WATER valve, then OPEN the CO2 valve, wait 30 seconds, then CLOSE the WATER valve, wait until all water is discharged from keg, then CLOSE the DRAIN valve, wait 2-3 seconds, then CLOSE CO2 valve.
5. Dismount keg and disconnect Keg Connector.

NOTE: If you don’t have access to compressed air, all of the above AIR functions can be performed using CO2 instead, but not the other way around – CO2 must be used in Step #4 to purge oxygen from the keg!
To clean kegs for real, add cleaning agent to the Reservoir per the manufacturer’s instructions. You should be able to clean one to two dozen kegs before the cleaning solution gets too dirty or too cool to be effective.

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Keg Washers – Build your own Part 2 – Keg cleaning agent reservoir

posted Oct 14th, 2015 by pbrewadmin

Do not assume that the keg is not pressurized just because it is damaged. Unless it has a hole in it that you can easily see, always assume it is under pressure and your first step should be to depressurize the keg by installing and actuating a keg connector with a blow-off hose attached to the liquid (top) port on the connector. Once this is done you can safely turn the keg over to your welder and have him/her cut the top out of the keg, leaving the chine (the part with the handles) attached. All cut edges should be ground smooth so there are no irregularities, burrs, or sharp edges.

• Assemble one 3/4” NPT X 1-1/2” Nipple to one leg of the 3/4” FNPT X 90 degree Elbow, wrench tight.
• Assemble the 3/4” NPT X 8” Nipple to the other leg of the 3/4” FNPT X 90 degree Elbow, wrench tight.
• Next, have the welder burn a hole in the side of the keg, just above the weld seam joining the bottom chine to the body of the keg to accept the 3/4” NPT X 8” Nipple. The vertical position of the hole should be measured to allow a 1/2” to 3/4” gap between the end of the 1-1/2” Nipple on the Nipple & Elbow assembly and the center depression at the bottom of the keg when the assembly is mounted inside the keg with the 8” Nipple horizontal and the 1-1/2” Nipple pointing down.
• From the inside of the keg, insert the free end of the 3/4” NPT X 8” Nipple through the hole in the side of the keg and align it so that the free end of the 3/4” NPT X 1-1/2” Nipple is pointing downward into the center depression at the bottom of the keg, with a 1/2” to 3/4” gap between the end of the Nipple and the bottom of the keg.
• Weld the Nipple & Elbow assembly in place.
• After the welds have cooled, assemble one of the 3/4” FNPT Ball Valves to the free end of the 3/4” NPT X 8” Nipple using Teflon Tape and wrench tight.
• Make sure the valve is positioned so that the valve handle points away from the keg when the valve is open.
• Assemble one 3/4” X 1-1/2” Nipple and one Sanitary Adapter to the open end of the 3/4” FNPT Ball Valve using Teflon Tape and wrench tight. This completes the Reservoir.

Assemble the Manifolds

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Keg Washers – Build your own Part 1

posted Oct 14th, 2015 by pbrewadmin

By Phil Internicola
Original Article in the Great Lakes Brewing News 2010

This project is aimed at brewpubs and very small start-up breweries where low-volume external distribution of draft beer is part of the business plan, but money and space are hard to come by and even harder to part with. Now, if you are going to distribute draft beer, you’ll have to put your beer in kegs. And before you can put your beer in the kegs, you will, of course, have to clean the kegs. And in order to clean the kegs, you’ll need a keg washing machine. A very expensive automated keg washing machine that requires dedicated power, water supply and drainage, and space. Or not. What if I told you that it is relatively easy to build a manually controlled keg washing “system” that can perform all of the functions that the automated machine does, and that you can do it for less than $500 as compared to the $10,000 it will cost you for the commercial model with all the bells and whistles you don’t really need anyway? If I’ve caught your interest, then read on.
In a low-volume situation where you are processing say, 50 or so kegs a week, you really don’t need that expensive automated keg washer because you aren’t processing enough kegs to make the thing pay for itself. What you need is something that will do all of the things necessary to properly clean your kegs in small batches of around one or two dozen in a session. So, the first thing you need to do is look at the functions that are performed by a keg washing machine, which are:

1. Purge beer residue from the keg.
A. Blow-out any beer remaining in the keg to waste drain.
B. Rinse-out the keg and blow-out the rinse water to waste drain.

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