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**Capt. Bob** · 03-27-2011, 07:51 PM

We use a couple of these. http://www.midwestsupplies.com/bottl...-sulfiter.html On with low foam no-rinse like Sani-clean and another with filtered water. One pump on each and the rinser can more than keep up with the filler.

**beejay** · 03-27-2011, 09:06 PM

We are thinking of going with a couple of these guys. You can also hook em up to an inert gas for purging too.

http://morebeer.com/view_product/7271/102377/Rinsing_Sparging_Base

Cleans dozens of bottles quickly! Imagine a system that lets you sanitize bottles 12 at a time, temporarily store them while they drain upside down, and then flush them with inert gas prior to filling. Free shipping over $59.

**tsmack** · 03-27-2011, 11:06 PM

Sweet!

Thanks, guys. Capt. Bob, the one you linked is a perfect step up for us...I see they even make a racker for the bottles. This fits 750mls for you, right?

Taylor

**HinduKush** · 03-28-2011, 08:44 AM

Originally posted by tsmack

Looking for ideas for rinsing 750ml bottles. Currently we only bottle 100 cases or so of 750s at a time, and we actually have a big tub with sanitizer that we have a guy dunking and rinsing and crating up to dry just ahead of the guy grabbing them to go for filling on our gravity filler. As we look to expand production on these 750s it has become apparent that this just won't do. Any suggestions for an efficient rinsing machine/setup for 750s? What are any of you doing out there for a similar setup?

Thanks,

Taylor Smack
Blue Mountain Brewery
Afton, VA
www.bluemountainbrewery.com

Here's what I made. All parts from McMaster-Carr. The top of the 6" nipple terminates in a SS cap that has been sliced with a bandsaw or dremel tool. The keg rest on top of a full five gallon bucket for stability and is hooked to a portable CIP pump with VFD drive dialed all the way down. Quick rinse with 10 - 15 ppm active Dioxychlor then drained on a 90 bottle tree. The red washers on the stems are regular garden hose variety and act as a buffer in case a bottle slips put of your hand.

You'll notice the top of the keg is arced to fit a bung side Hoff-Stevens keg or for cask cleaning. The rinsing stems are removed and a small spray ball goes on for keg use.

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**tsmack** · 03-28-2011, 09:42 AM

Cool

Definitely very handy. How many bottles can you rinse per hour? Do you have a separate rack to let them dry?

Taylor

**HinduKush** · 03-28-2011, 10:13 AM

Originally posted by tsmack

Definitely very handy. How many bottles can you rinse per hour? Do you have a separate rack to let them dry?

Taylor

400 bottles per hour is easy if one person stays on it. We use two of the 90 bottle trees available at your local homebrew supply shop. The kank (keg-tank) works as a cip tank in its daily life. It can be fitted with a false bottom and do duty as a hop-back on nano breweries.

**hopcounter** · 04-02-2011, 10:22 PM

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it on my computer but we planned
on lots of hand bottling and so I built a rinser/sparger out of 1/2" copper tubing and a whole bunch of tee and elbows. Each bottle rests on an 8" copper "stub out" pipe. It will do a case of 750s at a time. It was a lot of copper sweating and it isn't pretty (to me it is) but I think once I can test it, it will work well. It will sit in a tub with sanitizer and a sump pump. One valve to open sani flow and one to open CO2 flow.

Cheers,
Edward

**liammckenna** · 04-03-2011, 04:43 AM

Originally posted by hopcounter

copper tubing .... It will sit in a tub with sanitizer and a sump pump. One valve to open sani flow and one to open CO2 flow.

Watch out for acid sanitizers with copper. Won't take long until the copper dissolves completely.

Pax.

Liam

**Capt. Bob** · 04-03-2011, 11:51 AM

Originally posted by tsmack

Thanks, guys. Capt. Bob, the one you linked is a perfect step up for us...I see they even make a racker for the bottles. This fits 750mls for you, right?

Taylor

Upside-down milk crates work very well for draining 750's. The grid on the bottom seems custom made for it. Rinsed and drained tens of thousands of bottles this way, so far. Also, if you are bottle conditioning, there is no reason to sparge/purge with CO2. The priming yeast will consume any residual O2.

**tsmack** · 04-03-2011, 04:45 PM

Yup. Same here.

Bob,

We've been using 25-hole restaurant-style dishwasher racks for the draining...kind of the same theory. And we do 100% bottle refermentation by krausening the beer the morning of bottling, so I don't purge either! We're looking at starting up 250-case runs and I just want to simplify/automate/save workers' backs as much as possible.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far. Anyone rigged up a twist rinser or anything for this application?

Taylor

**chaser** · 04-10-2011, 08:51 PM

Used to use something like what was shown on the link to bottle small batches in 750's. It was slightly different as the reservoir was a rubbermaid trash can but the same concept. It was all built out of homebrew supplies. Then we air dried on a bottle tree. We also utilized the twist rinser on our 12 oz. bottling line for 22 oz. runs with a Meheen which went too fast to use the homebrewing equipment. The equipment we used on those 750 runs was actually the first bottling equipment in a brewery that's now doing over 15,000 bbls a year and is still working and working well 15+ years later. Simplicity is such a great thing sometimes.

**CbP Brewing** · 04-14-2011, 07:52 AM

Low budget bottle washer, sanitizer

We built a bottle washer out of a laundry sink that drains into a 3/4 HP pump (gleaned from a bath tub spa destined for landfill). Schedule 80 pvc carries up to a manifold that leads to two individually valved arms; each arm has twelve washer nipples. One side can drain sanitizer while the other is unloaded and loaded. All parts came from Fergussens except for the 1/16" ID nipples, which are Delron rigid tubing from McMaster Carr. Total cost: $250, and a good weekend of cutting and gluing.

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