CIP spray ball/head?

[Kev888]

Hi All,
been poking around the forum and struggling to find much info on spray heads for CIP. I want to clean my conical with one as I can't reach down into the cone to clean manually, and probably also the boiler as thats a bit of a faff too.

I'm imagining that a 360degree self-rotating spray ball would be ideal, but I wonder if a fixed one may be okay - would be much easier to make but is it likely to not cover properly?

I'm sure there must be DIY spray head builds, but I'm failing to find much on here about them. Or even places where an individual (rather than company) can buy them at less-than-industrial prices.

Can anyone help?
Cheers
Kev

[beermonsta]

I saw this and though of you (again)...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AM-TECH-3-ARM-GAR ... 35b0d31379
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-ARM-REVOLVING-O ... 1e5ce0959b
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fire-Sprinkler-He ... 4aa9a9c1d4

[Kev888]

Very thoughtful

Hmm yes perhaps I could adapt something like that. I guess I'd need to adapt the nozzles, as the spray patterns aren't 360degrees, but the whirly bits could save some time/effort.

Thanks!
Kev

[beermonsta]

just came across this Kev...
http://www.spagni.com/en/pdf/Cat50/63-6 ... RE%20I.pdf

[dogchillibilly]

I've spent ages looking for a keg washing project. No joy for uk based.
There are a couple of us guys that bought a plastic one but I can't seem to find them in the states either.

[Kev888]

Some serious looking kit there Beermonsta!

I've spent ages looking for a keg washing project. No joy for uk based. There are a couple of us guys that bought a plastic one but I can't seem to find them in the states either.

Yes, the sprayballs do seem to be more of an industrial item, hard and expensive to come by for the home brewer..

But sadly though, I did a test at the weekend with a garden sprayer, and it didn't go well at all really. Aside from my boiler, which is mostly enclosed, none of my tanks seemed able to retain the water from even very modest sprays, due to having ill-fitting lids. Should probably have considered that more, I expected a little egress but not that much..

With all that plus the cost and complication of spray balls and pumps I'm more or less decided to just cut the top off the boiler (and get an extractor sorted) so that I can get in more easily and go for a filling/soaking approach with cheaper cleaning chemicals, rather than a spraying one. The conical is the only one I can't really reach into the bottom of, but its light and I made it easily removable from its cupboard so it shouldn't be too much aggro - if it is then maybe a pressure washer after soaking would sort it.

Anyway, i just ordered a load of sodium percarbonate and metasilicate, to make a poor-mans PBW-like cleaner. If it keeps long enough I think it may actually work out about the same cost as the soda crystals I've been buying, at supermarket prices anyway, and half the price of the small percarbonate packs of washing soda.

I did think about stuffing some water-filled balls or something in the tanks to take up space and so require less cleaning fluid, but perhaps that may be more effort than the saving would really justify. I had a go at pumping the cleaner from tank to tank on the last brew day, and it is possible to re-use the same batch for all the tanks, though it'll be rare I empty the conical on brew days so maybe it won't always work out. I also understand that the percarbonate is only really good/active for so long once mixed, not sure how long that is though or if the metasilicate is the same.

Ah well, the best intentions, and all that!

Cheers
kev

[196osh]

Could you not use a pressure washer?

[Kev888]

Ah, great minds and all that - I borrowed one to try a few weeks ago and it was good generally, but the wand thingy couldn't be pointed back on itself to get the underside of my boiler's roof, and I suspect there wouldn't be enough headroom to get it in the conical cupboard (though I didn't have it at the time to try). I could perhaps make a special attachment, but after my experiment with a garden sprayer if it pointed back on itself I'd probably end up getting it in the face!

I'm coming around to thinking that Keeping It Stupidly Simple is probably the thing. I don't want to cut the top off the boiler, its really well made and great for containing steam and splashes etc, but it would make things an awful lot easier all round if I could just reach into it easily..

Cheers
kev

[dogchillibilly]

found the page i was thinking of

http://www.byo.com/component/resource/a ... r-projects

this is the head

http://breweryparts.com/index.php/equip ... rayer.html

[crookedeyeboy]

Brouwlands do one but man is it expensive.....

[Kev888]

Thanks chaps, Yes they normally do seem very expensive, that plastic one is one of the more reasonable ones I've seen though, thanks very much for the link. (interesting keg cleaning project too!).

What with all the comlexity, cost and escaping liquid I've decided to go with simply filling/soaking for now though, and making manual access easier for scrubby pads. If that doesn't work or is too costly for chemicals then I'll look at a sprayed system again.

Cheers
Kev