Bottle washer

[Bryan1]

G'day Guy's,
Well as this cider I make goes down so well the fact of the bottle washing is a huge job so I am thinking of making one out of some 1/2" copper tube. Go a spacing of 80mm and starting curving the tube on a 450mm diameter then curve the next diameter 80mm shorter and on the next revolution the same 80 mm.

Now as I'm using 1/2 copper tube out of a roll it is already annealed and the best way to cut the end to suit the 1/2" hole in the lower tube a 1/2" endmill in my old bridgeport mill where I'll drill a 1/2" hole in some 75mm thick plywood I have here then put a cut in it for clamping. When i did my 3" connections on my bubbler a hole saw did the job in the mill so doing 1/2" will be a breeze. To curve the tube I'll just use that 1/2" SS spring used to bend annealed tube. Do a light centre punch on the ring then clamp it to drill the holes.

For the water jet part just put the end of 1/2" in a vice and close the end, now put 3 off 1mm rods in to make the jets then hard solder the 2 flat parts to make the jet. Then just do a 2 turn clamp with some 1.6mm copper wire. I mean if one doesn't have a hose clamp just go grab some fencing wire or such wrap it twice then 3 turns with the pliers then cut of the offending part.

To hold the stubbies on I reckon some 3/8" silicon tube should be a nice push in fit but I do need to check out the diameter as 20mm is the ideal diameter.

Making something like would be considered copper edit in some circles and with this virus so far had 3 days off last week and now my daughter is coming down with a cold. This could and may mean I'm stuck at home for 14 days on full pay which for me won't be a bad thing.

With this project just being a bottle washer what does one think a 1/2" polished copper one that does 50 bottles be worth.

Now as my magnetic pump can do 19 litres/minute it will be interesting to see how it goes. Also going to a mates place so I can test it on mains water as living off grid we do have the better flows

Cheers Bryan

[Yummyrum]

Sounds good Bryan .

All we need now is pics

[Boozewaves]

+1 Yes, sounds interesting. I would like to see pictures too, or a video link

[Bryan1]

After doing all the jobbies on the farm had a few hours this arvo to get started. Now I have thought about the huge job of milling and soldering and decided to look on fleabay for the cost of 1/2" copper tees. There are alot cheaper than I thought so is is the way I'm going to go and i need to source a decent plastic box the right height as when this will be running I don't want bottles hitting the roof of the shed becoming missiles.

I made a start on the riser jets and found some 304 SS tig filler rod was the best to use so cut a piece and folded it in half then added a 3rd leg for the centre jet. Made one out some scrap and gave it a test. With gravity fed water a nice stream of water came out of the jets and when I turned on the 12 volt flojet pump running at 40% man did they perform. I had to keep hold of the bottle as the force of the water was pretty high. So with that done made a start on making the riser jets. Just used my real small vice to squash the end of the tube 10mm from the end until the gap was about 3mm. Then I put the 3 wires in and used my multitool to gently close the copper ensuring the centre jet was central. Then I used my mini chisel to flatten the copper around the formers. This makes the 3 jets where the outer one point out the centre one will blast the base of the bottle.

I'll use a 20 litre cube as the input to and make a return from the box back into the cube. This way I can do a cleaning run with some bottle wash then once all the bottles are done change out the fluid for the sanitizing rinse.

Cheers Bryan

[Corsaire]

Nice job!

Reminds me of a video I saw a long time ago. Two guys had set up their brew shed, they brewed and drank a lot of beer they made off lme.
The interesting part was they converted an old dishwasher into a bottle washer. They replaced the spinning blades with a grid of pipes, feeding multiple t's that you could stick a bottle on.
Fill the soapbox with starsan or something, and let the machine wash, rinse and dry.

Can't find the video atm.

[Bryan1]

I ended up going to the green shed where I found 1/2" copper tees for $1.15 so grabbed 20 of them along with 3 elbows. So this bottle washer is going to be a 5 by 4 one so 20 bottles. So far I have made one row and i silver soldered all the joints. I do need to get more tees and it will fit nicely in one of the big black tubs I have here. I'll make base for the unit and can probably go about 4" high so that will make a good bath size. I'll setup my magnetic pump for closed system run and if the fluid needs replacing I'll have a valve so it can be pumped out then fresh liquid can be put in.


Cheers Bryan

[Bryan1]

G'day Guy's,
Got 2 rows done and on setting it up on the side copper run there is room for 4 or 5 bottles. 4 if I decide to use both centre tees so the ends of both banks get an even pressure where with using one input where the last ones could get less pressure. So went the to the big green shed and got 10 more tees. So that makes 30 tee's and 4 elbows and when I'm finished I'll put up the length of 1/2" copper tube I used.

I did the first bank with 45% silver solder and found their more of a brazing rod as I had to put 2 or 3 touches to make sure the seal was made. Grabbed a 2% stick and man what a difference, one touch when it's hot enough and watch it flow around the whole joint.

Cut the copper pipe for the rest of the jets so in the morning I'll get it finished and try a youtube but the lack of mobile coverage on the farm when I hit send I will be sitting ontop of the hill.


Cheers Bryan

[Bryan1]

G'day Guy's,
Well got the bottle washer all soldered up and when it was all together there was noway the mapp gas could keep up so I let it cool down then cleaned all the joints and soft soldered them.

Then it was time to test this unit out, the magnetic pump was a huge fail as it didn't have the suction and the flo jet pump didn't get a big stream happening. So I went and got my gear pump which is a pump I use for water transfer between tanks. It does does a bit of for the suction to get going then into life the bottle washer came. The water hits the top of the bottles nicely but I do need to setup a filter for the suction so the crap from the bottles doesn't get pumped thru the jets.

The phone decided not work on first attempt at a video and only did 4 seconds of the unit working with no bottles on.



The next video is with all 25 bottles in and working nicely




Cheers Bryan

[Bryan1]

G'day Guy's,
Decided to try out that 240 volt onga pump I picked up a few months cheap and off the first test it does show promise. On looking around now for some 1" tap connectors so I can dual plumb it so the flow should go a heap higher. Now one does have to prime the pump and once it kicks in full flow is there. Now also with the second input it will allow me to flush out the bottle washer. I soaked the washer in some citric acid and that is the fluid I'm using in this youtube.



Cheers Bryan