Too cheap to work

[JohnRoberts]

I am encountering products without an obvious higher quality alternative.

Two seem to be related so maybe I am the common problem.

First is my beer bottle washer;

I am on my 3rd or 4th by now. The return spring fatigues and breaks after about a year of daily use. I have had multiple discussions with the seller and even requested replacement springs to perhaps repair my broken ones. He promised he would try to get me new springs but no luck so far. I keep a new spare unit in my kitchen drawer for the next time it fails.

On a related failure since I leave this bottle washer screwed into my kitchen sink main faucet. I use the side sprayer for everything else. These cheap plastic side prayers are clearly not designed for high frequency daily use.

I just used my JIC replacement unit so time to order another back up.

For a related dirty trick these are 99.9% all cheap plastic chinese crapo. The sellers cleverly give them color names like "brushed nickel" inferring that the sprayer is metal... it isn't same cheap plastic.

JR

 

[Gold]

I’d look at restaurant supply for better quality versions.

 

[ruffrecords]

I am obviously missing something. Why are you washing beer bottles?

Cheers

Ian

 

[scott2000]

Why are you washing beer bottles?

He brews his own beer.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I am obviously missing something. Why are you washing beer bottles?

Cheers

Ian

I recycle my glass beer bottles by washing them and filling them up with beer again.

I'm so green.

====

I’d look at restaurant supply for better quality versions.

Good idea but no luck on beer bottle washers.

They have some commercial pre-rinse assemblies for dish washing restaurant sinks that might work. For $500 each I can buy a lot of $9 plastic sink side sprayers.

JR

 

[AnalogPackrat]

I am encountering products without an obvious higher quality alternative.

Two seem to be related so maybe I am the common problem.

First is my beer bottle washer;

I am on my 3rd or 4th by now. The return spring fatigues and breaks after about a year of daily use. I have had multiple discussions with the seller and even requested replacement springs to perhaps repair my broken ones. He promised he would try to get me new springs but no luck so far. I keep a new spare unit in my kitchen drawer for the next time it fails.

On a related failure since I leave this bottle washer screwed into my kitchen sink main faucet. I use the side sprayer for everything else. These cheap plastic side prayers are clearly not designed for high frequency daily use.

I just used my JIC replacement unit so time to order another back up.

For a related dirty trick these are 99.9% all cheap plastic chinese crapo. The sellers cleverly give them color names like "brushed nickel" inferring that the sprayer is metal... it isn't same cheap plastic.

JR

Same thing with outdoor hose-end sprayers. They start leaking within weeks, maybe a few months. Some have bodies made from better quality and thicker materials, but the valve mechanisms are still cheap leaky chinesium garbage. Very annoying.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Same thing with outdoor hose-end sprayers. They start leaking within weeks, maybe a few months. Some have bodies made from better quality and thicker materials, but the valve mechanisms are still cheap leaky chinesium garbage. Very annoying.

if you search more expensive versions often they are the same cheap innards just priced higher...

JR

 

[scott2000]

Some dishwashers have a bottle washing deal. Guess you could always tap into the line feeding the top sprayer and add one yourself if you even have a dishwasher. And significant others don't count....

 

[JohnRoberts]

Some dishwashers have a bottle washing deal. Guess you could always tap into the line feeding the top sprayer and add one yourself if you even have a dishwasher. And significant others don't count....

The beer bottle washer works great, my complaint is that the spring fails after about a year of my heavy use (I drink a lot of beer). I already have a new one sitting in the drawer for the next time it breaks.

JR

 

[ruffrecords]

I recycle my glass beer bottles by washing them and filling them up with beer again.

I'm so green.

JR

I am old and things no longer make sense to me. So the beer that you refill your beer bottles with - what does it come in??

Cheers

Ian

 

[AnalogPackrat]

I am old and things no longer make sense to me. So the beer that you refill your beer bottles with - what does it come in??

Cheers

Ian

From his kitchen brewery. Home brewing is fairly popular here in the US.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I am old and things no longer make sense to me. So the beer that you refill your beer bottles with - what does it come in??

Cheers

Ian

I have been brewing my own beer for decades. I find it a very rewarding hobby. (from a quick search the UK removed the licensing requirement for home brewing in the 60s).

We can purchase LME (liquid malt extract) so I don't have to mash (boil) the raw grain to extract sugars. The LME comes in an 8# plastic pouch.

Coincidentally I use both UK Fuggle hops, and UK Kent Golding hops in my beer.

Many home brewers use mini kegs, but I prefer glass bottle to help with portion control. I use both 12 oz and 22 oz bottles.

JR

 

[ruffrecords]

I have been brewing my own beer for decades. I find it a very rewarding hobby. (from a quick search the UK removed the licensing requirement for home brewing in the 60s).

We can purchase LME (liquid malt extract) so I don't have to mash (boil) the rain to extract sugars. The LME comes in an 8# plastic pouch.

Coincidentally I use both UK Fuggle hops, and UK Kent Golding hops in my beer.

Many home brewers use mini kegs, but I prefer glass bottle to help with portion control. I use both 12 oz and 22 oz bottles.

JR

The light dawns! Home brewing was very popular in the UK in the 60s. I remember my parents fixing a sign inside the pantry when we moved to Peterborough that said "Bell's Brewery. Established regrettably not before 1958"

When I was at Nottingham University in the very early 70s, half a dozen of us rented a house in our second year. One guy had failed is Part 1 chemistry exam so was taking a year out. He got a job in the QA department at Boots the chemists. One of the things he had to test was home beer hits. He would take a spatula full from one kit, test it, and if it was OK the entire batch was passed. Of course the one he had tested could not be sold so he brought it home. We always had a 40? gallon plastic dustbin (trash can) in the kitchen full of brewing beer. After lectures we would eat then go out for a few beers. We would get home about 10pm and hit the home brew. It was evil stuff. Some of the things we got up to after drinking that stuff should never be mentioned.

Cheers

Ian

 

[gevermil]

I did the home brew thing in the early 90s . boiled grain , did extract , cap bottles , corny kegs ect .
watching a carboy in full on fermentation was a hoot . half my beer was so-so the other half was fantastic . I worked at sprecher and lakefront breweries in milwaukee as well and I remember hand trucking kegs to local bars from the brewery . Im tempted to do it again as fresh beer is amazing
it goes down hill quickly IMO .

 

[JohnRoberts]

I did the home brew thing in the early 90s . boiled grain , did extract , cap bottles , corny kegs ect .
watching a carboy in full on fermentation was a hoot . half my beer was so-so the other half was fantastic . I worked at sprecher and lakefront breweries in milwaukee as well and I remember hand trucking kegs to local bars from the brewery . Im tempted to do it again as fresh beer is amazing
it goes down hill quickly IMO .

home brew beer is like home made bread with more water. Just like home made bread each batch is different but they are all good.

For my fellow homebrewers, here's a new anecdote from just a couple days ago. I am an extract brewer because I'm too lazy to mash and sparge from raw grain. I usually buy enough LME for 4 batches at a time. Two days ago I was ready to pitch 8# of LME into my brew pot, and the plastic pouch full of LME was expanding like a ballon ready to burst. All I can imagine is that the LME got contaminated with some wild yeast, or stray bacteria at the vendor I buy from, before sealing. I am pretty sure they bulk purchase 55 gallon drums of LME and repackage that into the smaller 6# and 8# plastic pouches. Somebody messed up but it took almost a month to show up. The first three pouches of the four I purchased at the same time showed no evidence of contamination.

I remain perpetually thirsty so decided to use the suspect LME pouch. Boiling the LME with water and hops in my brewpot will surely kill any rogue biotics. My town's tap water kills yeast (another story). I advised the vendor, for their information and ordered 4 more pouches of LME for my next brews.

The good news about home brew is that there are zero cases AFAIK of home brewers that made themselves sick from dirty home brewing. More than a few have made themselves sick from the ethyl alcohol.

JR

 

[shabtek]

this style is more durable

 

[shabtek]

corny kegs are less work and less washing than bottles;

do you carbonate in bottle with kreusen/sugar addition? the mouthfeel is better than forcing co2 in a keg

 

[Tubetec]

Theres a pub here that was only 150 yards from the brewery gates , the owner would stroll up with the hand truck in the afternoon , he'd come back with a keg chilled to the perfect temperature , wheel it in behind the bar , lift it into a fridge directly under the bar tap and start serving , best pints of stout I ever had in my life . Brewery amalgamated with Diagio and moved location a few years ago , still within walking distance though I'm not sure if it hand delivered any more ,must get back there for a pint soon again ,place was mothballed during covid .

My guess is these fittings arent designed to be holding mains water pressure all the time ,
What about a return spring from a motorcycle pedal ? third from the left looks about right with some minor modifications .
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/402837612884

 

[JohnRoberts]

View attachment 97229 this style is more durable

You are correct, those are robust. I have one of those as a back up... My complaint about it is that when I turn on the water pressure without a bottle on it, it squirts out across the room. My work around was to leave a coffee cup sitting on it until I was ready to wash a beer bottle. It is so close to being ideal, I tried to add a back flow preventer between it and the washer so it would not lose pressure and spray again. A few years ago I noticed a slow leak from the side spray hose if I left the water on constantly.

The Improved sprayer in my post above has a spring loaded valve that stay cut off until you press down with a bottle.

corny kegs are less work and less washing than bottles;

do you carbonate in bottle with kreusen/sugar addition? the mouthfeel is better than forcing co2 in a keg

I've considered mini kegs but don't like the lack of portion control... of course it would be easier.

Theres a pub here that was only 150 yards from the brewery gates , the owner would stroll up with the hand truck in the afternoon , he'd come back with a keg chilled to the perfect temperature , wheel it in behind the bar , lift it into a fridge directly under the bar tap and start serving , best pints of stout I ever had in my life . Brewery amalgamated with Diagio and moved location a few years ago , still within walking distance though I'm not sure if it hand delivered any more ,must get back there for a pint soon again ,place was mothballed during covid .

My guess is these fittings arent designed to be holding mains water pressure all the time ,
What about a return spring from a motorcycle pedal ? third from the left looks about right with some minor modifications .
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/402837612884

My beer is respectable, I've been told by friends I've shared them with. Better than anything I've ever found for sale in a pub/bar.

Those are the wrong kind of spring... I have spent time talking with the manufacturer's customer service. If i was doing a scratch design I would use a compression spring, but that would involve tooling a retainer for the top of the spring.

I suspect I can just buy new ones every couple years when these break. I don't plan to live long enough to justify too much investment of time and money.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

I am making progress looking at restaurant supply... Those vendors are way too expensive but Chinese knock offs are getting closer to my price range.

I still haven't found a slam dunk but one maybe is an add on bidet conversion for toilets. There are some commercial pre-rinst spray heads in the $40 range that look robust...

I still need to work out the plumbing, but making progress, so thanks for the suggestion.

JR