As we all have more time on our hands than usual, I thought I'd take the drudgery out of bottle washing by making my own bottle washer. It can do 24 at a time and works very well. It's powered by a garden pump that sits in a reservoir underneath and is just connected by hosepipe .
DIY bottle washer
Re: DIY bottle washer
Lovely!
Must've cost you a small fortune in copper, though.
And takes bit of space for storage.
I've been thinking about a keg/fermenter washer powered by a pond pump, but hadn't considered a bottle washer.
As I wash each bottle after emptying the contents and give each a squirt of Starsan and cap with a plastic cap, I'm not sure I need one: my bottles are mostly ready for bottling day in advance!
But I do appreciate the engineering beauty of what you've done
Must've cost you a small fortune in copper, though.
And takes bit of space for storage.
I've been thinking about a keg/fermenter washer powered by a pond pump, but hadn't considered a bottle washer.
As I wash each bottle after emptying the contents and give each a squirt of Starsan and cap with a plastic cap, I'm not sure I need one: my bottles are mostly ready for bottling day in advance!
But I do appreciate the engineering beauty of what you've done
Fermenting: nowt
Conditioning: English IPA/Bretted English IPA
Drinking: Sunshine Marmalade, Festbier, Helles Bock, Smokey lagery beer, Irish Export StoutCascade APA (homegrown hops), Orval clone, Impy stout, Duvel clone, Conestoga (American Barley wine)
Planning: Dark Mild, Kozel dark (ish), Simmonds Bitter, Bitter, Citra PA and more!
Conditioning: English IPA/Bretted English IPA
Drinking: Sunshine Marmalade, Festbier, Helles Bock, Smokey lagery beer, Irish Export StoutCascade APA (homegrown hops), Orval clone, Impy stout, Duvel clone, Conestoga (American Barley wine)
Planning: Dark Mild, Kozel dark (ish), Simmonds Bitter, Bitter, Citra PA and more!
Re: DIY bottle washer
Thanks! Yes the copper was relatively expensive, but I couldn't find plastic pipe small enough to get into the neck of the bottles. I also use the same set-up (minus the copper) to wash my cubitainers. I unplug the copper tubes and then fit one plastic tube coming up from the middle that the cubi sits onto. Works very well too
Re: DIY bottle washer
What did you use for the end caps on the copper pipe
Re: DIY bottle washer
It's a large version of a Ken Shales Rinsemaster. It's in his book Brewing Better Beers. He wrote the book over 40 years ago.
"You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on." Dean Martin
1. Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, thoroughly used, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming... "f*ck, what a trip
It's better to lose time with friends than to lose friends with time (Portuguese proverb)
Alone we travel faster
Together we travel further
( In an admonishing email from our golf club)
1. Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, thoroughly used, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming... "f*ck, what a trip
It's better to lose time with friends than to lose friends with time (Portuguese proverb)
Alone we travel faster
Together we travel further
( In an admonishing email from our golf club)
Re: DIY bottle washer
Yes, just end caps with a 1.5 mm hole drilled in them.