Keg Washer Manufacturer Selection

[shovelheadbrew]

Heyall,

I'm looking for suggestions on entry level keg washers and possibly fillers.

Is it better to go cheap and get something somewhat manual or is it better to go a little more automated and save myself some labor?

You input is greatly appreciated.

jK

[NHBrewer23]

My take on keg washers, is that your money is well spent going with a semi-automated keg washer like the one from Premier Stainless. Being a one person show, I can put 3 kegs on and hit start. In the 4-6 minutes it takes to clean, sanitize, purge, and pressurize, I can be mashing in or filling kegs. It also removes most human error from the process, which makes it easier to sleep at night after you had a volunteer/intern or anyone but yourself cleaning kegs. Ultimately your going to have to upgrade the keg washer from a manual to a semi or automated keg washer, so why buy twice if you can afford not to. Money doesn't grow on trees though, so do what you can reasonably afford.

[revnatscider]

Manual DIY keg washer: http://www.probrewer.com/vbulletin/s...ad.php?t=16170

[schlosser]

I can still hear the advice from one of the teachers at Siebel about packaging equipment. He said "Spend all your money on packaging equipment and brew your beer in a bathtub." To me, your keg washer is one of the critical control points of the brewery. No matter how wonderful you beer is, if you put it in a dirty keg then you've wasted all your time and effort. The biggest problem is that you are taking a leap of faith that after you are done cleaning the keg that it is actually clean. You can pull a spear to check every once in a while but this tough to do on a regular basis.

Most of our equipment was bought used, but we spent the money on a New 3 station, 3 tank (caustic, acid and water) semi automated washer from Premier Stainless. Couldn't be happier with the decision. We use a simple 3 head manifold for filling. Two things that I love. You can't take shortcuts and you aren't tied to the machine. I can load 3 kegs and come back 8 minutes later or 8 hours later and can be confident that I have beer clean kegs. I know everyone can't swing one, but look at where else you can cut costs to get the best one you can. You won't regret it.

Cheers,
Dave