DIY bottle washer

[Goosey]

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 .

[Cobnut]

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

[Goosey]

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

[brewpete]

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

[IPA]

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.

[McMullan]

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

End caps by the looks of it.

Nice looking work, Goosey

[Goosey]

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