I needed a solution to wash and sanitize sankey kegs for closed system pressurized fermentation and pulling the spears between every batch was a hassle I didn't want to deal with. So I set out to build a keg washer, below is what I came up with along with an item list and theoretical cost.
First, the finished product:
I had a lot of the parts lying around and I tried to use stuff I stock in my shop for most of it, but for the sake of usefulness I'll do my best to price this if you had to buy it all. I'm sure you could cut the cost down by shopping around and using stuff you already have. To build this I used:
5 - 8'x2"x4" $3.24 ea - $16.20
30' - 1/2" ID Vinyl Tubing $0.45 ea - $13.50
1 - Sankey Coupler $29.99
3 - 5/16" tailpieces $1.99 ea - $5.97
3 - Keg Shank Hex Nut $1.30 ea - $3.90
3 - Keg Shank Washer $0.32 ea - $0.96
4' - 5/16" Red Gas Line $0.79 ea - $3.16
1 - Dual Gauge Regulator $59.99
1 - 20# CO2 Tank $149.99
10 - Brass Weldless Cooler Conversion Kits $19.99 ea - $199.99
10 - 1/2" MPT Nipples 1 1/2" long $3.20 ea - $32.00
1 - 1/2" MPT x 5/16" Barb $3.76
2 - 1/2" FPT Brass Cross $17.65 ea - $35.30
1 - 1/2" FPT Brass Tee $7.83
1 - 1/2" FPT to 1/2" Barb $5.08
1 - March High Temp Pump $159.99
2 - 13.5 gallon trash cans $13.97 ea - $27.94
1 - 1# Box 2 1/2" Outdoor Screws
19 - 5/8" Easy Turn Hose Clamp $0.99 ea - $18.81
1 - 1/2" barb to 3/4" Garden Hose Female - $2.99
4 - 3/4" Two Hole Pipe Strap $0.99 ea - $3.96
Total - $781.31 (glad I got most of this at wholesale)
Right now operation requires some creativity to keep the tubing from kinking, so I'll be replacing that with reinforced braided tubing soon. Also I still need to install a switch box for the pump and a heating element in the PBW container so the PBW can be retained and reheated instead of having to replace with hot water every-time it's used. Construction is pretty straight forward, assemble the manifolds, install an input and output bulkhead in each trash can and run the tubing between everything. If someone wants to replicate something similar feel free to ask any questions.
To clean a keg:
First, the finished product:
I had a lot of the parts lying around and I tried to use stuff I stock in my shop for most of it, but for the sake of usefulness I'll do my best to price this if you had to buy it all. I'm sure you could cut the cost down by shopping around and using stuff you already have. To build this I used:
5 - 8'x2"x4" $3.24 ea - $16.20
30' - 1/2" ID Vinyl Tubing $0.45 ea - $13.50
1 - Sankey Coupler $29.99
3 - 5/16" tailpieces $1.99 ea - $5.97
3 - Keg Shank Hex Nut $1.30 ea - $3.90
3 - Keg Shank Washer $0.32 ea - $0.96
4' - 5/16" Red Gas Line $0.79 ea - $3.16
1 - Dual Gauge Regulator $59.99
1 - 20# CO2 Tank $149.99
10 - Brass Weldless Cooler Conversion Kits $19.99 ea - $199.99
10 - 1/2" MPT Nipples 1 1/2" long $3.20 ea - $32.00
1 - 1/2" MPT x 5/16" Barb $3.76
2 - 1/2" FPT Brass Cross $17.65 ea - $35.30
1 - 1/2" FPT Brass Tee $7.83
1 - 1/2" FPT to 1/2" Barb $5.08
1 - March High Temp Pump $159.99
2 - 13.5 gallon trash cans $13.97 ea - $27.94
1 - 1# Box 2 1/2" Outdoor Screws
19 - 5/8" Easy Turn Hose Clamp $0.99 ea - $18.81
1 - 1/2" barb to 3/4" Garden Hose Female - $2.99
4 - 3/4" Two Hole Pipe Strap $0.99 ea - $3.96
Total - $781.31 (glad I got most of this at wholesale)
Right now operation requires some creativity to keep the tubing from kinking, so I'll be replacing that with reinforced braided tubing soon. Also I still need to install a switch box for the pump and a heating element in the PBW container so the PBW can be retained and reheated instead of having to replace with hot water every-time it's used. Construction is pretty straight forward, assemble the manifolds, install an input and output bulkhead in each trash can and run the tubing between everything. If someone wants to replicate something similar feel free to ask any questions.
To clean a keg:
- Attach coupler and set keg upside down on stand.
- Open keg input and output valves
- Open water input valve and drain valve - Wait 5 minutes
- Close water input and open CO2 - Wait for keg to empty
- Close CO2 and Drain
- Open PBW feed, Pump Input, PBW Return and turn on pump - Wait 5 minutes
- Close PBW feed, pump input and turn off pump
- Open CO2 - Wait for keg to empty
- Close CO2 and PBW Return
- Open water input and drain - Wait 5 minutes
- Close water input and open CO2 input - Wait for keg to blow empty
- Close CO2
- Open star-san feed, pump input and turn on pump - Wait for PBW residue to purge from lines and keg
- Close drain and open star-san return - Wait 5 minutes
- Close star-san feed, pump input and turn off pump
- Open CO2 - Wait for keg to blow empty
- Close star-san return, CO2, keg input and keg output
- Disconnect clean keg