I dug around on the forum and set up this DIY keg washer based primarily off this thread:
I built it completely out of PVC pipe so I can use this to learn a bit before I start over and set up something a bit more automated.
I am a homebrewer turned pro, so I have no experience with commercial keg washers. I'm learning as I go here. This is the biggest reason for building with cheap materials at first so I can get something of a proof-of-concept before I go farther.
The main setup is a series of three valves for the fill and drain, with each pair directly above/below them for ease of use.
Left to right is rinse/drain, wash (PBW), and sanitize.
I drive the whole thing with my brewery pump from CPE systems.
There is a manifold between the pump and the keg connector that has a PVC check valve, tee with CO2 line, and a pressure gauge.
I just ran a few kegs through today and it worked quite well. Sure beats the sump pump setup I was cleaning kegs with prior to this.
The addition of the CO2 line and controlling everything with valves rather than disconnects, is a dream.
The next step will be to figure out the best cycle times and rebuild with converted kegs and solenoid valves with some sort of control system.
I'm looking at either an arduino board or a Click PLC from Automationdirect.com. I'm leaning towards the PLC because I've used them before.
I built it completely out of PVC pipe so I can use this to learn a bit before I start over and set up something a bit more automated.
I am a homebrewer turned pro, so I have no experience with commercial keg washers. I'm learning as I go here. This is the biggest reason for building with cheap materials at first so I can get something of a proof-of-concept before I go farther.
The main setup is a series of three valves for the fill and drain, with each pair directly above/below them for ease of use.
Left to right is rinse/drain, wash (PBW), and sanitize.
I drive the whole thing with my brewery pump from CPE systems.
There is a manifold between the pump and the keg connector that has a PVC check valve, tee with CO2 line, and a pressure gauge.
I just ran a few kegs through today and it worked quite well. Sure beats the sump pump setup I was cleaning kegs with prior to this.
The addition of the CO2 line and controlling everything with valves rather than disconnects, is a dream.
The next step will be to figure out the best cycle times and rebuild with converted kegs and solenoid valves with some sort of control system.
I'm looking at either an arduino board or a Click PLC from Automationdirect.com. I'm leaning towards the PLC because I've used them before.
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