DIY keg/carboy washer... too foamy, even w Saniclean. Advice?

[Baglorious]

Greetings all. I built a DIY keg/carboy/multipurpose washer that I am fairly proud of. Very similar to what others have made in many respects, with perhaps a bit more PVC than necessary. I attempted to make something functionally equivalent of the SS Brewtech Keg Washer, where the whole unit could be picked up (keg, washer, pump, and all) and moved from bucket of cleaner (PBW) to bucket of rinse, to bucket of sanitizer (saniclean). With the PVC bracing I made, the 'frame' is constructed so that when the pump is resting on the bottom, the frame fits the inside diameter of the bucket fairly snugly. Keg sits on top of frame. I can use a carboy with one of those plastic stands (for drying) where you invert the carboy on the plastic stand. Good stuff. Whole thing is pretty darn stable, and can be picked up and moved in a singular unit, with keg still attached. It all works great, except...

Even with saniclean rather than star-san (when running in the sanitizer bucket), it overfoams with a keg, to the point where i have to shut it off in about a minute to avoid an overflow of nice sanitary foam out of the bucket. I think on the first run, I may have very slightly over-mixed the saniclean, but nothing drastic. I used just over the 1/2 oz line for 1.5 gals of water.

When washing a carboy, it is apparent that the sanitizer is getting really foamy. I'll have several inches of foam in the bottom of the carboy that is foamy to the point it is not flowing freely, and builds up in the carboy.

The pump is the equivalent of a pump it seems everyone uses for these projects. Got it at Menard's... Barracuda, 1/4 hp, 1500 gal per hour.

Has anyone experienced problems with even Saniclean overflowing due to foam in one of these setups? I think there just may be too much agitation with the fairly powerful pump. I tried it with the CIP nozzle in place and without, hoping that perhaps less 'spray' would result in less foam... but it didn't help. (May have been worse without the CIP nozzle.)

Anyone have a similar experience?

I am wondering if I simply needed a less powerful pump?

Anyone ever 'dilute' their saniclean a bit more than instructed, or have advise on how to address this problem? Was pretty excited by my washer, but the overfoaming really puts a damper on it. I can't simply let it be and come back in 10 minutes.

Hoping for some help. Thanks.

 

[MoonBrewer]

Nice build! I only use the washer for cleaning with PBW and rinse water. I don't pump sanitizer because it does not need pressure or circulation to be effective. It just needs some contact time on a clean surface.

After cleaning and drying, store your clean equipment and sanitize only when you are ready to use it.

For fermenters, on brew day make a 5 gallon batch of StarSan sanitizer in the (already cleaned) fermenter while wort is chilling. Soak (already cleaned) transfer hoses and anything else that needs to be sanitized. Then drain sanitizer into clean empty keg for storage and use while brew is fermenting.

For kegs that are empty, clean them using the washer and PBW, rinse, then fill with sanitizer, and finally push the sanitzer out of the keg with CO2, leave it pressurized. That gives you a clean, sanitized, purged, and pressure tested keg ready for next brew.

 

[jrosc]

I have a similar wash rig. Mine foams the saniclean also, however it’s not foaming so much that I have to turn the pump off. I think my pump is 1/6 hp...

 

[beernutz]

I built a very similar system a few years ago with a similar pond pump and PVC pipes attached to hoses with keg connections except instead of the CIP ball I drilled about a dozen holes in a PVC cap on the uppermost part for a sprayer.

I have tried to find a way to avoid foaming with sanitizers but never found one that didn't so I just run the system outside where the foam isn't a problem. Instead of the pump and solution being in a bucket I use a larger storage type container which helps keep more of the foam in the container and I start with at least 5 gallons of santizing solution to keep the pump from running dry when cleaning multiple kegs.

 

[postalbunny]

You may be able to try putting a pvc ball valve in the middle so you can dial down the flow... or lessen the concentration and lengthen the contact time with saniclean. I use saniclean and see some foaming, but not enough to prevent use. I'm using a 1/3hp pump and 3g of solution.

I have tried starsan and that runs for about a second before it foams out... did it to see if it's even feasible.

 

[BitterSweetBrews]

I have the same pump, also from Menards. I just built my washer Saturday and used Dollar Tree Oxi during testing. I made a build video on my YouTube Channel -

I did the PVC cap drill method. It also would have foamed over the bucket, had I let it.

I have read people say that dishwasher soap works well. I just bought some Cascade liquid today (at Menards) and will try it. I bought some powder at the Dollar Tree yesterday. Both of them say they have bleach in them, so it should act as a sanitizer, although I will have to rinse them well, so, the StarSAN isn't going away. I have a keg to clean tonight and will try both.

 

[Blazinlow86]

As others have noted it's ideal to use the washer to wash and then filling the keg with starsan and pushing it out using co2 then NEVER opening the lid again until the kegs kicked. Otherwise your getting alot of o2 in your beer which is of course one of the biggest enemies of your beer. Cheers

 

[BitterSweetBrews]

Tonight I built a bottle washer to use with the same pump. It took me 2 hours to build it and maybe $15 in PVC parts. It will do 24 bottles at a time and fits in my laundry sink. It worked great. I created a build video and will post it to my YouTube Channel soon (youtube.com/c/timtrabold).

One of the reasons it is great is because once I am done with the load I empty the sink, fill it up with fresh water and rinse the bottles. After doing this a couple of times I can just leave the bottles on the washing rack to drain. If I am not kegging, I bet I will be able to do two cases of bottles, enough for a 5 gallon batch, in under 30 minutes with very little effort..

I used Palmolive liquid dishwasher soap. It did not suds up at all. There was one bottle I found in the ones I tested that had moldy, caked on crap on the bottom of it. It cleaned it spotless in about 10 minutes.

When I need to bottle, this is going to be so much easier than washing bottles one at a time!

 

[Dr_Jeff]

a couple of drops of fermcap in the water eliminates foaming

 

[Blazinlow86]

a couple of drops of fermcap in the water eliminates foaming

Good idea. Never thought of that. Cheers