Carboy/keg washing equipment

[distancerunner]

Bucket Blaster and/or Keg and Carboy Washer: Are these useful or are they solutions in search of a problem?

We have carboys and corny kegs. We currently use brushes, bottle washers that hook up to the faucet, cleaners, and sanitizers. For tough stuff we use sand. All labor intensive. Kind of slow, too. The idea of having something that is cleaning while we're racking or doing other cellar tasks is enticing.

Does anyone use or know about these products?

 

[katsboytoy]

I clean my coffee pots with ice cubes. Now that I think of it, may be a good thing to try with car boys. Put a bunch, not a lot, in and swish the bottle with the ice running up the sides. works for dirty coffee pots, maybe for car boys too. Good luck.

 

[VinesnBines]

For really gunky carboys, lines, kegs, whatever, I use PBW. A little pricey but works perfectly. If I don't have dried or stubborn gunk, I just rinse with dish soap and rinse well with clear water. Then I rinse with Star San.

 

[cmason1957]

You might also want to take a look at a product sold by @vacuumpumpman, a pressurized Bottle Washer/Sanitizer, I know the name doesn't say carboy, but I use mine for carboys that I clean while or just after bottling, it does a great job of spraying stuff up there and making sure you got the last little bit of gunk out that you might not be able to see. Here's a link to it:

https://www.allinonewinepump.com/product/pressurized-bottle-washer-sanitizer/

 

[CDrew]

Better living through chemistry here. Use warm water, PBW, and clean easily as much as you want. PBW is the best. You can even use Oxi-Clean and equivalents, or Oxi-clean plus TSP/90 as a rough equivalent of PBW. Note: use only Oxiclean "Free" and TSP/90 (which is not TSP).

I mostly use 2/3 Oxiclean free + 1/3 TSP/90 as my general wash solution. Works out a bit cheaper than PBW.

The best method is to rinse thoroughly, then use the cleaning chemicals to break up the biofilms. Then rinse very thoroughly with clean water.

Detergents and soaps are too hard to rinse completely, and those sprayer devices are not needed if you have a garden hose.

 

[Ajmassa]

You might also want to take a look at a product sold by @vacuumpumpman, a pressurized Bottle Washer/Sanitizer, I know the name doesn't say carboy, but I use mine for carboys that I clean while or just after bottling, it does a great job of spraying stuff up there and making sure you got the last little bit of gunk out that you might not be able to see. Here's a link to it:

https://www.allinonewinepump.com/product/pressurized-bottle-washer-sanitizer/

Same here. Not with Steve’s exact product tho. I used the standard bottle washer sold at most LHBS’s and just ghetto rigged it up so it works with wider necks and can handle heavy vessels. it blasts bottles, carboys, demi’s, & buckets clean. I prop ‘em up and give a few spins— I also use for small cups/ beakers, and with different sized tubing pieces as adaptors i use to clean my hoses too.

I don’t use PBW cleaner at every clean. Blasting piping hot water and then sanitized w/ kmeta does the job most of the time for me. Idea was inspired by @mainshipfred

 

[mainshipfred]

Same here. Not with Steve’s exact product tho. I used the standard bottle washer sold at most LHBS’s and just ghetto rigged it up so it works with wider necks and can handle heavy vessels. it blasts bottles, carboys, demi’s, & buckets clean. I prop ‘em up and give a few spins— I also use for small cups/ beakers, and with different sized tubing pieces as adaptors i use to clean my hoses too.

I don’t use PBW cleaner at every clean. Blasting piping hot water and then sanitized w/ kmeta does the job most of the time for me. Idea was inspired by @mainshipfred View attachment 70662

I like your design for keeping the spout from turning, might just have to steal that.

 

[Ajmassa]

I like your design for keeping the spout from turning, might just have to steal that.

yea that was a ‘figure it out as you build it’ kinda thing. initially was just for 1 bottling session then i planned to redo it properly. Making it smaller, using pvc material- and definitely rethinking a better way to keep spout in fixed position. But here i am over a year later lol.

 

[winemaker81]

I purchased a power washer wand extension that came with 2 new heads -- one is bent at 90 degrees, the other at ~135 degrees. These work great for hitting all the nooks and crannies in a barrel, and were fairly inexpensive.

https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/cleaning-barrels.72585/
Note: Either head produces a lot of torque, so hang on tight.

 

[katsboytoy]

Same here. Not with Steve’s exact product tho. I used the standard bottle washer sold at most LHBS’s and just ghetto rigged it up so it works with wider necks and can handle heavy vessels. it blasts bottles, carboys, demi’s, & buckets clean. I prop ‘em up and give a few spins— I also use for small cups/ beakers, and with different sized tubing pieces as adaptors i use to clean my hoses too.

I don’t use PBW cleaner at every clean. Blasting piping hot water and then sanitized w/ kmeta does the job most of the time for me. Idea was inspired by @mainshipfred View attachment 70662

Nice clean set-up...

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I came up with this several years ago = I installed a new laundry sink - but the faucet is too cheap to add a bottle washer to it. I ran an extension hose to the bottle washer that is mounted to a small bucket that has holes in. Works perfect !

 

[mainshipfred]

I came up with this several years ago = I installed a new laundry sink - but the faucet is too cheap to add a bottle washer to it. I ran an extension hose to the bottle washer that is mounted to a small bucket that has holes in. Works perfect !
View attachment 70810View attachment 70811View attachment 70810View attachment 70811

Don't let the plumbing inspector see that! Just kidding, mine is a similar concept.

 

[sour_grapes]

Don't let the plumbing inspector see that! Just kidding, mine is a similar concept.

Yeah, a vacuum breaker wouldn't be a bad idea there!

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Why would you need a vacuum break ?

The bucket has holes it to let the water flow freely - I do not see how water can possibly backflow

 

[kevinlfifer]

Got the faucet (hot only) on ebay $7, The bottle washer from labelpeelers clearance $3 7yrs ago.

I use that thing to clean everything!

 

[mainshipfred]

Why would you need a vacuum break ?

The bucket has holes it to let the water flow freely - I do not see how water can possibly backflow

Got it, didn't see the holes earlier.

 

[sour_grapes]

Why would you need a vacuum break ?

The bucket has holes it to let the water flow freely - I do not see how water can possibly backflow

You still have a hose below the flood rim of the tub. I am not worried about it, but it certainly wouldn't cut it with an inspector. Imagine if the drain in the tub gets clogged, for example.

 

[distancerunner]

Thank you for all of the discussion and recommendations.

We started using PBW this year. In the past we used sal soda. Quite frankly, I don't see any difference. Except that sal soda is a tad cheaper when purchased in bulk.

We use Star San for sanitizing. In the past we used a blend of sulfite and citric acid. We've had no infections with either.

AIO's washer saves some water, but still requires someone to hold the bottles. More importantly, it doesn't really address cleaning carboys.

That's the main concern, to be able to set an empty supply carboy on a washer while racking the next one. Even when two are racking, it's hard to do both at the same time. Since we use AIO's set up, which is great, racking goes much faster. So there's less time for one guy to wash while running back and forth handling glassware.

 

[AbruzziRed]

View attachment 70828
Got the faucet (hot only) on ebay $7, The bottle washer from labelpeelers clearance $3 7yrs ago.

I use that thing to clean everything!

Kevin, how do you like the commercial faucet with sprayer and faucet? Is that from Amazon? I have been thinking about getting one but reviews were mixed.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Thank you for all of the discussion and recommendations.

We started using PBW this year. In the past we used sal soda. Quite frankly, I don't see any difference. Except that sal soda is a tad cheaper when purchased in bulk.

We use Star San for sanitizing. In the past we used a blend of sulfite and citric acid. We've had no infections with either.

AIO's washer saves some water, but still requires someone to hold the bottles. More importantly, it doesn't really address cleaning carboys.

That's the main concern, to be able to set an empty supply carboy on a washer while racking the next one. Even when two are racking, it's hard to do both at the same time. Since we use AIO's set up, which is great, racking goes much faster. So there's less time for one guy to wash while running back and forth handling glassware.

I use the same washer to sanitize or clean the carboys after using the original carboy cleaner to them