While we are still firmly in "startup" mode, cash is tight & lean operation is the name of the game. Part of this was reducing the labor component of keg washing so our guys can focus on more important aspects of the operation.
It took a little over two months, but we built a completely automated keg washer based off of a Raspberry Pi. Here are the basic components:
- Raspberry pi board, Arduino board.
- Two 1HP pumps, for cleaning and sanitizing.
- Manifold built from stainless tee's and couplers
- 8 automated stainless ball valves
At time of writing, it has washed a little over 300 kegs and performs flawlessly. We're in a situation where we need to upgrade it's capacity, so I'll be running a test next week to see if it has enough power to wash two kegs at once. My hunch is, it does. It's working so well, in fact, that I am considering building another so we can wash 4 kegs at once. The cycle time is 8 minutes, so a keg every two minutes is some fantastic throughput for a small brewery with an investment of $2k.
So this brings me to why I am writing - is there any interest out there for making these available for purchase? I am not looking to profit off of these, but we can have a circuit board printed if there is enough interest to spread the cost among a few people. It's more cost effective to built one more with another raspberry pi/arduino board, but if we were to run a larger batch, it would be significantly easier to outsource this to a real manufacturer.
The end user would be responsible for assembly the manifold (pipe tape and ability to follow step by step instructions) as well as purchase their own pumps, etc. If there was incredible interest, I could look into purchasing components in bulk to save money.
I could supply the source code to make adjustments to timing, etc, but would not be able to offer tech support. That being said, we would ship the boards with known working code. Here is the current keg washing procedure that has worked well for us.
- Keg is hooked up, uses pressure in keg to blast out any beer.
- Blasts n2 briefly to purge any remaining liquid.
- Hot water rinse, 30 seconds. Blast our with n2.
- Short hot water rinse, another blast.
- 3 minute PBW cycle w/ 1HP pump, blast of n2 to purge all liquid.
- Another double rinse cycle.
- 30 second sanitize cycle w/ other 1HP pump
- Blast of n2 to clear keg of sanitizer.
Downfalls vs. a "real" automated keg washer
- Very little input to change cycles on a keg-by-keg basis (although easy to change the system's source code)
- Relies on a 3-bay sink OR stand with buckets of solution. Need access to a drain and water supply.
Video is uploaded, click here.
Any thoughts?
It took a little over two months, but we built a completely automated keg washer based off of a Raspberry Pi. Here are the basic components:
- Raspberry pi board, Arduino board.
- Two 1HP pumps, for cleaning and sanitizing.
- Manifold built from stainless tee's and couplers
- 8 automated stainless ball valves
At time of writing, it has washed a little over 300 kegs and performs flawlessly. We're in a situation where we need to upgrade it's capacity, so I'll be running a test next week to see if it has enough power to wash two kegs at once. My hunch is, it does. It's working so well, in fact, that I am considering building another so we can wash 4 kegs at once. The cycle time is 8 minutes, so a keg every two minutes is some fantastic throughput for a small brewery with an investment of $2k.
So this brings me to why I am writing - is there any interest out there for making these available for purchase? I am not looking to profit off of these, but we can have a circuit board printed if there is enough interest to spread the cost among a few people. It's more cost effective to built one more with another raspberry pi/arduino board, but if we were to run a larger batch, it would be significantly easier to outsource this to a real manufacturer.
The end user would be responsible for assembly the manifold (pipe tape and ability to follow step by step instructions) as well as purchase their own pumps, etc. If there was incredible interest, I could look into purchasing components in bulk to save money.
I could supply the source code to make adjustments to timing, etc, but would not be able to offer tech support. That being said, we would ship the boards with known working code. Here is the current keg washing procedure that has worked well for us.
- Keg is hooked up, uses pressure in keg to blast out any beer.
- Blasts n2 briefly to purge any remaining liquid.
- Hot water rinse, 30 seconds. Blast our with n2.
- Short hot water rinse, another blast.
- 3 minute PBW cycle w/ 1HP pump, blast of n2 to purge all liquid.
- Another double rinse cycle.
- 30 second sanitize cycle w/ other 1HP pump
- Blast of n2 to clear keg of sanitizer.
Downfalls vs. a "real" automated keg washer
- Very little input to change cycles on a keg-by-keg basis (although easy to change the system's source code)
- Relies on a 3-bay sink OR stand with buckets of solution. Need access to a drain and water supply.
Video is uploaded, click here.
Any thoughts?
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