Portable bottle rinsing station

[edit1now]

I was just getting stuff together to bottle my Oatmeal Stout when I remembered that the in-laws had given me a Blast bottle rinser at Christmas (4th item down on Brupaks' page). It won't fit on our cheapo kitchen mixer tap, and the garden tap is partially obscured by the grey-water recycling tank, but...



Made of bits and pieces I had in the garage - a desk clamp for an Ergotron computer monitor stand, an old 15mm-1/2" BSP backplate elbow, an old garden tap, a couple of inches of 15mm copper pipe, a 15mm-1/2" BSP adaptor and a 1/2"-3/4" BSP adaptor to fit the hose coupling. The Blast fitting p***ed water sideways until I put an additional 3/4" rubber washer in there and did it up very tightly with the pipe wrench.

It works very well. We haven't got an awful lot of mains water pressure as we're at the top of a hill, but I gave 30 bottles a final rinse before sulphiting them in about 10 minutes. If you don't get the plastic spout poked up the neck of the bottle before you push down it becomes quite an effective ear rinser instead

[Garth]

nice job there edit,

I have the same blaster but find it is slightly the wrong thread to fit onto my garden tap, to get it tight I had to add a couple more black rubber washers. Did you have any problem like this?

I was thinking maybe because it's American threads?

[edit1now]

Yup!

The Blast fitting p***ed water sideways until I put an additional 3/4" rubber washer in there and did it up very tightly with the pipe wrench.

I think the thread size is OK - 3/4" BSP is the same number of threads per inch as 3/4" NPT, the American standard, but there weren't enough threads on the end of my garden tap to go down the Blast fitting and squash its washer against the plastic bit, hence the need for a second rubber washer.

[Garth]

sorry, didn't read your thread properly

just tried it on this house outside tap and it's like yours, it just needed the washers as there wasn't enough thread to get it tight, but the thread did seem to be correct.

on the other hand at our old house the thing wouldn't screw on more than a thread or so and then jammed, hence the need for washers there as well.

very odd

[edit1now]

I don't think the thread on the Blast brass locking ring was cut very well, or maybe the thread profile is slightly different from the one on the tap.

According to here the ANSI NPT thread form (profile) is 60̊, whereas the BSP thread form is 55̊ according to Wikipedia.

The fit is specified in the relevant standards (ANSI or BSI, and ISO these days) and if the tap was at one end of the permissible range and the ring was at the other, then that together with the differing thread form would make the pair bind up.

I expect one of our engineering chums here on JBK will add some informed suggestions

[mixbrewery]

I had the same problem with mine when i tried to finish the brewery/garage plumbing yesterday.
Wasn't sure how to fix it so just fitted a JG end stop on the pipe.
It will wait now until i've done the tiling above the sink.

[SteveD]

I'm going to make something like John Alexander's 'rinsemaster' out of a load of 15mm copper plus elbows, T joints, and end caps. A load of upright bottle-length 15mm pieces capped and drilled at the top connected at the bottom with T pieces and more pipe, all connected to a sanitising tank. Stick up to 16 bottles on it, let rip with the sanitiser, then either flush with water and leave to drip dry in situ, or if using Starsan, just leave to dry.
Easy peasy Working out a way to cap off rinsers not being used, if only doing a few bottles.

[edit1now]

Steve - how about little plastic end stops like you can get for the ends of tent poles or kite sticks? These guys sell them by the thousand in the USA, and these guys and these guys in the UK. Aha, but you only want a few. Phone them up and ask if you could have a small sample for evaluation, maybe 20 of them? These should push onto your 15mm stubs unless they're just too big. Otherwise you might find one that will go onto a 10mm pipe.