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Keg Cleaning Station in Brewery Layout?

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  • Keg Cleaning Station in Brewery Layout?

    In a perfect world, where would you place the keg cleaning station in your brewery layout. I'm going with traditional horseshoe layout and following the ingredients form raw materials to finish product. I have the bottling area and keg filling station next to my bright tanks. Which flows to the cold storage area next to the loading dock. It makes sense to put the keg cleaning station next to this area, but is not in my best interest to place dirty kegs that I will be cleaning all the time next to a sanitized packaging area?

  • #2
    What kind of washer are you looking at? Are we talking like a two station semi-auto or manual washer? Or an automated line? Or a jury-rigged nano setup?

    One thing to think about is that, assuming you're using a two or three station semi-auto, you'll need: water, 220v electricity, compressed air, co2 and a drain. So where in your brewhouse can you most easily get those things? Also, how often will you be washing kegs? Many stations are on wheels, so you can move it in, set it up, then put it away somewhere when it's done. As opposed to say, hard plumbing it, which you can also do. We wash kegs in one big go once or twice a week. So we roll our 2 station Premier into place near the brewhouse and do it there, because we've got utilities there, a place to store it in a corner next to the brewhouse, and for this reason: kegs take up space. Will you be spraying the shells down and scrubbing the outside as well? I've seen plenty of breweries that don't (gross....), but we hot water spray and PBW scrub the outside of our kegs before they hit the washer. So a big open area, preferably with a floor drain, is nice, so you don't have to scrub, like two kegs, then wash them, then scrub two, etc. We scrub a pallet full at a time. Obviously if you intend to brew every day though, you'll need a separate dedicated area out of the way from the normal processes. Also, don't forget to earmark a space for dirty kegs to pile up. It's easy to think: "Oh we'll wash them as they come in." Nope. You've got better things to do and the washer will take an hour to warm up and get ready. Not worth it for like three kegs.

    And now I've got to go wash kegs. (<--- is there a smiley there 'cause I can't see it on this end)
    Russell Everett
    Co-Founder / Head Brewer
    Bainbridge Island Brewing
    Bainbridge Island, WA

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    • #3
      Thanks, that is some good information. I'm looking at a 2 head semi-auto cleaner. And we will only be brewing 2 times a week for the first couple of years, so you have a good point about making the station a mobile one.

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