THE DESCRIPTION and OPTIONS are a work in progress. Do not purchase. This is not the real price.
The inside job project got started a few years back after building several dedicated keg washers commissioned by homebrewers who where willing to throw any amount of money at their least favorite brewery task; cleaning a pile of kegs. We treated each one of those builds as a complete ground up fabrication, sometimes spending a dozen hours cutting, bending and welding. They were all unique and all more expensive than anyone should realistically be willing to spend.
We used everything we learned from those projects to come up with a plan to mass manufacture at least some of the more tedious parts of the build and that got the cost down significantly. Let's be very clear about what this product is and what it isn't.
First, it's NOT a fully contained "keg washer in a box" that you plug in and load kegs onto. After building a couple hundred electric brewing rigs, we realized that most people already had some of the most expensive parts of a good keg washing system; A large basin to hold the cleaning solution (the brew kettle), a heating element to keep the solution hot, a temperature controller to keep it from getting too hot, and a pump to drive the solution into the kegs. OF COURSE! We had a few problems left to solve.
- How do we hold kegs in position while they're being cleaned so that the solution can drain out and get recycled back into the process without making a mess?
- How do we cleanly route the pumped cleaning solution into the keg, or other vessel, that we're trying to clean.
- How do we ensure that every part that touches your precious beer gets adequately cleaned so that we don't have to break the kegs down to pieces?
- Can it clean all types of homebrew kegs? How about other vessels?
The inside job is basically all the missing pieces to convert your electric brewing kettle into a fully realized, and badass, keg washing station. You only buy the pieces needed to clean what you have and nothing more. It makes the system modular and a touch more tricky to order, but your wallet with thank you.
The BASE STATION (required), which rests on:
- A BIAB False bottom, which is already a stable platform above your heating element,
- The inside of your sturdy drop in basket; Spike SOLO basket, SSB 2.0 Basket,
- The bottom of a slop sink.
OR.... it can rest on the bottom of the kettle suspended upon optional legs, various lengths available. The ability to lift the base station up on legs is an upcharge option due to the extra welding required.
The base station is a special TEE fitting with three 1.5" TC ends. Along with TC clamps welded to flat bars acts as an input/output manifold and also supports the vessels to be cleaned. It comes standard with the X-PLATFORM clamp on top, which works with common rubber topped corny kegs and carboys/fermenters of various types along with an optional carboy drying base to further hold them steady. You will also have an option to substitute the X-Clamp platform for a form factor that accommodates single strap handle style kegs, but you can read about that further down on this page.
The SPRAYER (optional)
- Standard sprayer (as pictured); This 1/2" Tube welded to a 1.5" TC flange has a machined tip that creates a very strong laminar jet of water from most popular brewery pumps. It also features four small holes drilled around the tube a few inches above the TC base to aid in cutting through that stubborn area that forms at the top of the keg. If you want to focus all your pump power on the main jet, we include a short piece of silicone hose and a hose clamp to secure it over the holes. The tube is short enough to rest 2.5 Gallon Kegs on without the nozzle touching the bottom of the keg.
- Sprayer Delete. You already have a CIP ball with a 1.5" TC flange that you want to use. Keep in mind CIP balls will not fit inside glass carboys but they should work with everything else.
The CLEANER INPUT (optional)
- Male QD (BLQD) x 1.5" TC adapter. You QD your pump hoes on and clamp it. Hose must not kink over the top of the kettle.
- 5/8" Hose barb x 1.5" TC adapter. You push your pump hoes on and clamp it. Hose must not kink over the top of the kettle.
- Overboard (Hard Piped SS tubing clamps to The Base Station, clamps to the side of your kettle wall and positions a male QD on the outside of the kettle. No kink issues. Increases base station's stability substantially.
The CORNY KEG LIQUID FLUSH LOOP (optional)
- Standard Loop - 1.5" TC x 3/8" hose barb adapter, 3ft of tubing, CM Becker Black Liquid Ball lock QD. This clips on to your corny liquid out post to force a portion of the cleaning solution through the post, poppit, and long draw dip tube. If you have a weaker pump, it would be best to run the unit with this connector off the keg for half the cleaning cycle then connect it for the last few minutes.
- Flush Loop Delete - Includes 1.5" TC blank cap to seal off this port on the base station tee.
WHAT ABOUT SINGLE STRAP KEGS?
If the top of your kegs don't have rubber handles on the top to safely balance on the X-Clamp Platform, you can substitute in (or add) our "keg stand" which is a completely custom fabricated corny lid profile with a 1.5" TC ferrule welded to the bottom and top. Similar to the X-Clamp platform, the standard sprayer nozzle or CIP ball can be clamped on the top. The only difference is that we need to include a compact TC clamp that doesn't interfere with dropping the keg opening past the clamp.
