daedalus12
Member
I've read other people's posts about making their own bottle washers for use with a pump. A lot of them said they wished they'd used copper instead of plastic, so I went ahead and soldered up a rig for cleaning twelve 22oz bottles.
I've been using this 1/3 HP submersible pump, which has plenty of flow.
So far, my process has been:
- Recirculate PBW with the pump for 10 minutes
- Hook up garden hose for a ~1 minute rinse
- Hand pump StarSan into each bottle with a vinator
It's actually still quite a bit of hassle.
Two questions:
1. So far I've been wary using the pump for the final step, since it's not food safe. Since most of the liquid drips out anyway, is this a reasonable concern? I could use a low-foam sanitizer like Saniclean with the pump as the final step to save some time.
2. Is there a simpler process? Considering substituting a no-rinse cleaner like OneStep or EasyClean as the only step; I realize they don't technically/legally meet the requirements for a sanitizer, but the inverted spraying creates tons of agitation and the bottles will be filled with beer that already has alcohol & active yeast present. Do folks think I can get away with that?
I know I know, just switch to kegging already. But I'm stuck with bottling for a variety of reasons, so might as well make it less painful.
I've been using this 1/3 HP submersible pump, which has plenty of flow.
So far, my process has been:
- Recirculate PBW with the pump for 10 minutes
- Hook up garden hose for a ~1 minute rinse
- Hand pump StarSan into each bottle with a vinator
It's actually still quite a bit of hassle.
Two questions:
1. So far I've been wary using the pump for the final step, since it's not food safe. Since most of the liquid drips out anyway, is this a reasonable concern? I could use a low-foam sanitizer like Saniclean with the pump as the final step to save some time.
2. Is there a simpler process? Considering substituting a no-rinse cleaner like OneStep or EasyClean as the only step; I realize they don't technically/legally meet the requirements for a sanitizer, but the inverted spraying creates tons of agitation and the bottles will be filled with beer that already has alcohol & active yeast present. Do folks think I can get away with that?
I know I know, just switch to kegging already. But I'm stuck with bottling for a variety of reasons, so might as well make it less painful.
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