Droid Cleaning Without the Sink

[Captain 3 Droids]

I thought I’d explain how I clean my droids away from any sink and without moving them. It’s simple, quick and very effective.

Now a 1/3 of a buckets with warm water and a clean cloth

A pressurised canister with spray nozzle ($10 Bunnings/Mitre10)

Finished kegging and have sanitised the lid (non rinse star or Stella san in 1 litre spray bottle)

Using strong spray remove majority of the krausen ring, use a soft spatula head to remove stubborn krausen (not always needed)

 

With the cloth and water clean off around the area, check you got it all with a torch

Then give a spray including the ledge area. Now place a bucket under the tap and bung and then remove them, when all drained use something (piece of foam) under the back of the droid so it is tilted forward slightly.

Clean the tap 2 sections in the water using the cloth through the tap opening and transfer to a container with non rinse sanitiser (like star or stellar san). I use a bucket as used for other things.

Now using the bucket of warm water tip 75% into the base of the droid to flush out the tub (sediment) then use the spray unit to remove any remaining and around the droid inner wall incase some stuff has splashed up. When drained spray up the tap and bung openings. Then use your cloth up the tap spout for a precautionary clean. After doing this tip the remaining water from the bucket into the droid for a final rinse. Wipe out with some paper towel.

 

Finally, spray the inside (1 litre spray bottles) of the droid with a non rinse sanitiser as well spray up the tap spout and bung hole. 

Now your ready to go. Filling the Droid I use  2 x 5l plastic containers (had demineralisation water) about $3.20 from Woolworths.

 

The above seems long winded but honestly it’s simple, easy and quick (15 min). As I’ve said elsewhere I keg, clean and have the next brew running under an hour. Hope this help those that have their Droid away from a sing and get sick of carrying it there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dustin Frothman]

Bloody brilliant. Thanks for going to the trouble of putting this post together.

👏

[Captain 3 Droids]

7 minutes ago, Dustin Frothman said:

Bloody brilliant. Thanks for going to the trouble of putting this post together.

👏

Thanks Dustin appreciated (and so piss head Sunday was delayed a bit, just a bit.)😀

[Nicky Higgins]

Great information for us newbies from experienced brewers like yourself. Thanks 🙏 

[Captain 3 Droids]

Just now, Nicky Higgins said:

Great information for us newbies from experienced brewers like yourself. Thanks 🙏 

Pleasure Nick

[Eltham Brauhaus]

7 hours ago, Captain 3 Droids said:

I thought I’d explain how I clean my droids away from any sink and without moving them. It’s simple, quick and very effective.

Now a 1/3 of a buckets with warm water and a clean cloth

A pressurised canister with spray nozzle ($10 Bunnings/Mitre10)

Finished kegging and have sanitised the lid (non rinse star or Stella san in 1 litre spray bottle)

Using strong spray remove majority of the krausen ring, use a soft spatula head to remove stubborn krausen (not always needed)

 

With the cloth and water clean off around the area, check you got it all with a torch

Then give a spray including the ledge area. Now place a bucket under the tap and bung and then remove them, when all drained use something (piece of foam) under the back of the droid so it is tilted forward slightly.

Clean the tap 2 sections in the water using the cloth through the tap opening and transfer to a container with non rinse sanitiser (like star or stellar san). I use a bucket as used for other things.

Now using the bucket of warm water tip 75% into the base of the droid to flush out the tub (sediment) then use the spray unit to remove any remaining and around the droid inner wall incase some stuff has splashed up. When drained spray up the tap and bung openings. Then use your cloth up the tap spout for a precautionary clean. After doing this tip the remaining water from the bucket into the droid for a final rinse. Wipe out with some paper towel.

 

Finally, spray the inside (1 litre spray bottles) of the droid with a non rinse sanitiser as well spray up the tap spout and bung hole. 

Now your ready to go. Filling the Droid I use  2 x 5l plastic containers (had demineralisation water) about $3.20 from Woolworths.

 

The above seems long winded but honestly it’s simple, easy and quick (15 min). As I’ve said elsewhere I keg, clean and have the next brew running under an hour. Hope this help those that have their Droid away from a sing and get sick of carrying it there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What if any are benefits of using demineralised water versus mains tap water? I am in Melbourne and the tap water here is of the highest quality. I understand you have hard water in S. A. so is that the reason you don't use tap water.

[Robert Pretty]

Cheers Captain that is awesome. I usually carry the droid to the kitchen sink. To clean. Will give that ago next time. After I bottle the west coast. 

[Captain 3 Droids]

13 minutes ago, Eltham Brewing House said:

What if any are benefits of using demineralised water versus mains tap water? I am in Melbourne and the tap water here is of the highest quality. I understand you have hard water in S. A. so is that the reason you don't use tap water.

I only used the demineralised water for starsan sanitised solution, leaves it very clear, no initial cloudiness. Would not use it to brew with. I use filtered water from a simple pure tap system attached to the kitchen water. (turn on when required).

[Eltham Brauhaus]

16 minutes ago, Eltham Brewing House said:

What if any are benefits of using demineralised water versus mains tap water? I am in Melbourne and the tap water here is of the highest quality. I understand you have hard water in S. A. so is that the reason you don't use tap water.

Also you are saying that there is no need to fill the unit with sanitizing liquid for 2 hours prior to starting the brew (as per BrewArt recommendation) as long as your steps are followed. This obviously saves time. I have been doing both spraying with sanitizer and soaking with sanitizer for 2 hours for fear that I may not have done enough of a good job with just the cleaning and spray sanitizing. It would be good to skips the 2 hour soak.

[Eltham Brauhaus]

7 minutes ago, Captain 3 Droids said:

I only used the demineralised water for starsan sanitised solution, leaves it very clear, no initial cloudiness. Would not use it to brew with. I use filtered water from a simple pure tap system attached to the kitchen water. (turn on when required).

Why not use tap water for StarSan solution and the rinse with tap water before loading up with the 10 lt of water from your simple pure tap system? It seems to me that using demineralised water for sanitising is an unnecessary expense.

[Rob Courtney]

4 minutes ago, Eltham Brewing House said:

Also you are saying that there is no need to fill the unit with sanitizing liquid for 2 hours prior to starting the brew (as per BrewArt recommendation) as long as your steps are followed. This obviously saves time. I have been doing both spraying with sanitizer and soaking with sanitizer for 2 hours for fear that I may not have done enough of a good job with just the cleaning and spray sanitizing. It would be good to skips the 2 hour soak.

Up until a few months back, I always filled the droid with warm water and sodiumpercarbonate and let it soak for 2 hours. I knew that C3D just sprayed with sanatiser and moved on to the next brew and my local brewshop guy thought the soaking was over the top ( but still sold me the percarbonate).

I was happy to do it that way and it worked but since  have stopped doing it, it still works, there has been no infections in my brews and I feel comfortable with the results

[Eltham Brauhaus]

4 minutes ago, Rob Courtney said:

Up until a few months back, I always filled the droid with warm water and sodiumpercarbonate and let it soak for 2 hours. I knew that C3D just sprayed with sanatiser and moved on to the next brew and my local brewshop guy thought the soaking was over the top ( but still sold me the percarbonate).

I was happy to do it that way and it worked but since  have stopped doing it, it still works, there has been no infections in my brews and I feel comfortable with the results

Yes, I will follow you and skip the 2 hour soak on my next brew. Its just a matter of building confidence in your sanitising process. I think BrewArt's sanitising instructions are perhaps a bit over the top but for a Newby its been good training for me to ensure sanitising effectiveness is carried out. 

[Rob Courtney]

46 minutes ago, Eltham Brewing House said:

Yes, I will follow you and skip the 2 hour soak on my next brew. Its just a matter of building confidence in your sanitising process. I think BrewArt's sanitising instructions are perhaps a bit over the top but for a Newby its been good training for me to ensure sanitising effectiveness is carried out. 

I guess when you look at it from Brewarts point of view, they basically have it all set up for you to succeed, all that can go wrong is a lack of proper cleaning and sanatising, leading to infections, so the droid tablet really does remove that chance. Honestly, there is nothing wrong with just using the droid tablet or as i used to 2.5 table spoons of Sodium Percarbonate with a full droid, it does the job. When or if you do go to what C3D is suggesting, take note of the checking to make sure all the grime is off the droid walls. He suggests a torch, which is a good idea but it is worth double and triple checking and looking from a few different angles...kinda better safe than sorry to make sure the walls of the droid are clean, free from debris before the final sanatising spray.

[Captain 3 Droids]

8 hours ago, Eltham Brewing House said:

Why not use tap water for StarSan solution and the rinse with tap water before loading up with the 10 lt of water from your simple pure tap system? It seems to me that using demineralised water for sanitising is an unnecessary expense.

I only purchased and  used the 2 x 5l demineralised water to get the containers, starsan now made with tap water. The containers are now used over and over again with the filtered water. (removes chlorine and softens the water a bit.

[Captain 3 Droids]

9 hours ago, Eltham Brewing House said:

Also you are saying that there is no need to fill the unit with sanitizing liquid for 2 hours prior to starting the brew (as per BrewArt recommendation) as long as your steps are followed. This obviously saves time. I have been doing both spraying with sanitizer and soaking with sanitizer for 2 hours for fear that I may not have done enough of a good job with just the cleaning and spray sanitizing. It would be good to skips the 2 hour soak.

The tablets are basically sodium per carbonate, it takes time for it to do its job and is active up to 6 hours. I’ve done near on 200 brews using my method without issue. It’s important to clean/sanitise the tap, bung and tap spigot on the droid as this is where nasties can hide. BrewArt recommend the tablets as it’s simple to do and they sell the tablets. Nothing wrong with their method it’s just as you mentioned, 2 hours downtime. Also I guess 10l of water down the drain each brew is a bit of a waste particularly if you have nothing else for it. Top loading washing machine would be my go.

Edited April 4, 2021 by Captain 3 Droids

[Dustin Frothman]

I’m a fan of sodium percarbonate as a cleaner and don’t mind soaking everything in it. I buy it in bulk and make a solution at 5g/L of water.

I’m not too fussed with the time required to turn around the Droid between brews and I have a solid routine down that is repeatable and sanitary. The efficiency tips here are great though so I’ll consider which might work for me. I find the process of kegging, cleaning, preparing and making a new brew quite therapeutic.

I would like to use less water in my cleaning process so will consider that too.

As I use a lot of hops direct in many of my brews; often 100g at a time, I end up with an impressive amount of sludge in the bottom of the droid at the end of the brew. 

In a similar vein to the silicon spatula trick, I’ve found that a silicon ladle is great for scooping out the sludge and it can either go onto the garden, in the compost, or in your green waste bin. It smells great too. 

[Captain 3 Droids]

2 minutes ago, Dustin Frothman said:

I’m a fan of sodium percarbonate as a cleaner and don’t mind soaking everything in it. I buy it in bulk and make a solution at 5g/L of water.

I’m not too fussed with the time required to turn around the Droid between brews and I have a solid routine down that is repeatable and sanitary. The efficiency tips here are great though so I’ll consider which might work for me. I find the process of kegging, cleaning, preparing and making a new brew quite therapeutic.

I would like to use less water in my cleaning process so will consider that too.

As I use a lot of hops direct in many of my brews; often 100g at a time, I end up with an impressive amount of sludge in the bottom of the droid at the end of the brew. 

In a similar vein to the silicon spatula trick, I’ve found that a silicon ladle is great for scooping out the sludge and it can either go onto the garden, in the compost, or in your green waste bin. It smells great too. 

Like you, love sodium percarbonate and also by it in bulk. Use it mainly for cleaning ss hop bombs, hop bags, glass cleaning brushes and other assortments of brewing/kegging equipment. 

[Paul84]

I am the same as @Captain 3 Droids  and @Rob Courtney. The last year or so I have been using Starsan for sanitising . I havent had an issue at all with a brew. I think going on above and its something i am millitant on is making sure the droid is clean before sanitising and get all the hidden bits , around the valve on the tap is a good spot to get hidden bits and i split is as just running water through it doesnt work. And its easy to have stuck on bits on a black wall stay hidden in my laundry where the light isnt 100%.

Will also have to say happy to see you drink while cleaning Mark and we got to see the photos through your eyes 🤣🤣🤣

[J P]

Brilliant post.   very helpful to learn from your extensive experience and tips C3D!  
 

I’ve installed a special sink tap ($100 at Bunnings, install time 15’). with telescoping handle handy for spraying out the droid and allows effluent to exit Straight to sink.   Still have to move droids but fully confident in a well flushed droid.  
 

im keen to reduce water and time by using star San.  Am I right in understanding this sanitizer DOESNT require waiting like the percarbonate?

 

 

[Captain 3 Droids]

5 minutes ago, J P said:

Am I right in understanding this sanitizer DOESNT require waiting like the percarbonate?

 

Correct, it’s non rinse and needs contact for 3 mins. Does not effect the taste of the brew and is environmentally friendly.

Thanks for nice comment and your tap set up will be great.

[Dustin Frothman]

@Captain 3 Droids  I bought a pressure sprayer  and large plastic tub from the big green warehouse the other night and employed your method this morning.

Pleased to report that cleaning was a breeze and I had the next brew on within record time.

Thanks again.