Mark II Keg and Carboy Washer

Pros : Very nice product, i use this to clean 5 and 1 gallon carboys, i dont know if it will work on my 750ml wine bottles yet, i have to take off the nozzle to fit my 1 gallon over.Cons : The only thing i wish it had was better mounting for the carboy holder peice itself. Its held in by 3 little notches and can disconnect if not careful.Update. Was going to mount the washer to the table i made and upon a trip after lowes for some threaded rods, come to find out the front and back holes are different sizes...

Bought this to clean glass jugs and 6 gallon glass carboys. Set it up and had it running within 10 minutes.

Such a simple invention that made me love brewing more. Cleaning and sanitizing is the least fun part of the process and this makes it so easy. Pro Tip: Swap out the spray nozzle for a CIP ball (non rotating worked better for me), get a non-foaming sanitizer, and an outlet switch or a wireless outlet switch if it has a dedicated outlet. Makes it a breeze.My corny kegs and beer lines have never been cleaner. Great invention. Worth every penny.

Ok... So I had read reviews on this before purchasing and was on the fence because I was also interested in the SS Brewtech keg washer (approx 2 x the price at about $220). I pulled the trigger on the Mark II (paid a little under $100) because it also was capable of washing buckets and carboys. I use 6.5 gallon carboys to ferment, so it seemed the best choice. The item arrived packed well and no missing nor broken pieces. I guess the instructions were easy enough to understand and assembly was minimal.So why only 2 stars?I expected more, or better, or both!In my opinion, the design is pretty poor and the parts are not quality. I say this because the plastic "stand" that is provided that you have to use to hold the carboy up is very thin plastic and the way the it attaches (and detaches) is VERY flimsy. I do not trust it to hold the weight of a carboy without constant monitoring (which they recommend in the directions). Since I am using PBW at over 110 degrees F, the plastic feels even MORE flimsy!! Then, the design of this "stand" makes it very difficult to place the carboy on it if you have carrying handles. Can you take them off? YES! But this is supposed to make it EASIER not more work! Can you leave the handles on ? YES! But its kind of a difficult finagle and then you inevitably detach the stand and now you have put your hands in scalding hot water and you are trying to hold a slippery keg in your hands so it doesn't fall and break. (If you have every used PBW or Oxy clean you know it can make glass very slippery) THEN , you have to take the whole thing off and reassemble (10 seconds) and place the carboy back on it , going through the whole handle issue again! NOT FUN.Ok, so now you got it on there. You start it up. Ohhh... you HAD put the pump screen open all the way, but while you were messing with this last issue, you accidentally hit it and it closed. Ok... Start over and burn your hands to get to the pump in the hot solution (which just sits there... there is not even a real "seat" for it so it ends up moving around a little) and start all over. Ok, so now you are ready to go.Ohhh... Did I mention it does not have an on and off switch?? That is ok, because luckily I have a remote on/off, but do you?Alright, ready to go! Start it up and I find that the water does not touch all the sides, it only shoots to the top and runs down SOME of the sides. So you have to move it around. The water seems to be forced up into the carboy faster than it can drain. That is really bad if you end up with not having enough in the pump area because it can run dry and ruin the pump, not to mention it does not help with cleaning. After 20 to 30 mins of hot PBW, I have had to start and stop it maybe 15 times to let water out and STILL the carboy has crud on the krausen line.So, I kind of give up, get my brush and brush out the remaining pieces and place my other carboy on the mark II. The pump gets clogged with gunk from the cleaning. (by the way, I dumped out all the yeast etc that was in each carboy then rinsed them 2 times each with a high pressure spray to get most of the loose stuff off first. This was done on my kegging day, so it was not sitting around getting dry and caked on) So, now I need to make more cleaning solution.... Another 20 mins and pretty much the same result. It really didn't get all the crud out of the carboy...Prior to doing the carboys, I used it to clean and sanitize 2 corny kegs... They don't really get dirty, so cleaning was pretty easy. It sat on the stand a little better for these, but not with the hoses, unless, again, you finagle it a bit. What I dont like is that if you want to clean and sterilize the inlet and out ports (which you need hoses and connections pieces, which I am fine with) you cant really do them at the same time. So , you need to stop make a connection. Stop make another connection. Stop make another connection, etc etc. STILL better, IMO than disassembling the whole keg every time to clean and sanitize.All this said I think it could have been made sooooo much better with very little effort.First a stronger pump would be great. Not much, but a little.Next I would suggest a better end to the spray wand. A hole at the end is simply not a practical solution.Third, I would increase the size of the solution holder by about 50%, as it would prevent clogging and solution splashing out.Fourth I would say to COMPLETELY REDESIGN that stand for the caboys/kegs. IT DOES NOT WORK WELL AT ALL,is a total PIA to use and it doesnt feel secure ever (again, slippery solutions!!!)Fifth, there needs to be a way to clean the in/out line AND the keg at the same time. This also NEEDS to be easy!So, this thing KINDA works. I do not know how much I will use it, because it does not seem to save me time, energy, or give me freedom to walk away. It may save a LITTLE bit in solution/water use and cost, but not enough to make a real difference (at least to me).I will probably get the SS Brewtech Keg washer to wash my kegs in the future and just stick with filling my carboys with warm PBW for a few hours and then using a scrub brush to "touch" the krausen lines, as that is all that is necessary after soaking, and i end up having to do this anyway with the Mark II This thing will probably sit on the shelf or be given away/traded for something that would be more useful to me. I am not sure what the Mark I was like, but for me, this just doesnt cut it.

Use this for Keg & Carboy cleaning (2.5, 3 & 5 gallon each). Give the keg/Carboy a good rinse then, 1 gallon of hot water in the reservoir, .75oz PBW, turn on the pump let it run for 20-30mins and you have yourself a clean keg/Carboy. For keg cleaning, setup & run as normal but simply run a short length of beer line with a QD from the pump to the outpost on the keg to circulate through the inside of the dip tube (it comes with a small barb connection to do this!). After the the cleaning cycle is complete, I remove the dip tube and get the outside of the tube manually. I also use the pump for Draft Line cleaning on my kegerator which works very well.

Why didn’t I buy this sooner? The keg and carboy washer is amazing. It works flawlessly and it seems to be built well. After 2 broken backs, no more lifting of full 6.5 gallon carboys is darn appealing. It saves on water and cleaner too. Great investment!

Makes cleaning carboys, and buckets a breeze. I used to have to setup my sanitizing station in my bathtub to get enough water to clean my carboys and santize them. Now I can just set this little guy up with a gallon of water, and some One Step, works like a charm. No mess, and it after 1 minute the containers are all good for their next brew.Be careful with the buckets though, they will make a slight mess if you aren't careful. Still cleans them fine though. I use this for my carboys and my bottling bucket.

A must-have if you use Corny kegs - it gets the valves, diptubes and poppits very clean without having to disassemble, though I still do disassemble after every couple of uses. Saves time with carboys too, though the tough gunk still needs the brush. Haven't used on buckets - no real point IMO.Pros:Get kegs & carboys clean with 1 gallon of solution instead of 5The pump did well with StarSan and powdered cleaners - mix powder in a separate bucket first for best resultsEasy to use and disassembleSturdy for being all plasticLarge basin for soaking equipmentIf you don't over fill the basin, StarSan rarely bubbles overCons:You need to supply tubing to clean kegs - I knew they didn't include disconnectsKeg cleaning adapter T would be nicer if it came with a cap so I could just leave it connectedCarboys may need moved around to ensure solution sprays evenly around themMy basin had a small hole in it that I didn't notice until I ran it inside - manufacturer defect, and Midwest was great with replacing - Kudos to Justin and the rest of the teamHighly recommended product. Definitely more useful to the keggers.