DIY bottle washer

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Goosey
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DIY bottle washer

Post by Goosey » Thu Apr 02, 2020 1:18 pm

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 :) .

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Cobnut
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Re: DIY bottle washer

Post by Cobnut » Thu Apr 02, 2020 1:23 pm

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 :D
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!

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Goosey
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Re: DIY bottle washer

Post by Goosey » Thu Apr 02, 2020 2:17 pm

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 :)

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Re: DIY bottle washer

Post by brewpete » Fri Apr 03, 2020 11:04 pm

What did you use for the end caps on the copper pipe

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IPA
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Re: DIY bottle washer

Post by IPA » Sat Apr 04, 2020 8:11 am

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

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Re: DIY bottle washer

Post by McMullan » Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:41 am

brewpete wrote:
Fri Apr 03, 2020 11:04 pm
What did you use for the end caps on the copper pipe
End caps by the looks of it.

Nice looking work, Goosey =D>

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Goosey
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Re: DIY bottle washer

Post by Goosey » Sat Apr 04, 2020 11:11 am

Yes, just end caps with a 1.5 mm hole drilled in them.

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