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Cleaning pluto beer guns


Shamus O'Sean

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The Internets is a wonderful place where you can find any manner of information.  Videos on tying shoelaces.  Manuals for 50 year old lawn mowers.  Instructions for greasing the bearings on a Penny Farthing.

But, do you think I could find a video or a manual on cleaning pluto beer guns.  What gives folks.

I have got two secondhand pluto guns, but I have not used them yet.  One is a full stainless steel jobby.  The other is one of the nylon guns.  Both have barbed connectors at the bottom, not the onion style tube up the handle.

Does anybody have a links to information or advice about dismantling and cleaning these.  Or even just advice about how you go about it.  Mine are in good condition, but the old line connected to them is a bit iffy.  So I think that the internals of the guns might not be great either.  I could just go nuts undoing nuts.  But before I did I wanted to do a bit of research so springs and things do not jump to hyperspace and disappear forever.  I would like to do a bit more than just run some sodium percarbonate thought them.  I think they would benefit from a good clean.

Thanks in advance.

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i dont think you can totall dismantle a pluto gun   

but run some form of oxy clean (pbw)    through it from a keg (hot boiling water)

then rinse  the pbw  with hot water  

then run  sanitiser through the pluto gun 

you could get a very small bottle brush and run through most of it but the pbw should   get most of the grit out

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10 hours ago, MUZZY said:

The only thing I could find was a thread from another forum. The info isn't really ground breaking though.

https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/do-pluto-guns-diminish-flavour.91689/

Thanks Muzzy, there certainly is a dearth of material about them.  At least the comment you found said about running clean through them.

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what a coincidence!  i have been soaking one that i was given recently - it was totally seized up so wasn't too concerned about giving it some gentle persuasion in the workshop..   

it still needs cleaning,  but hopefully these snaps help uncover the mystery 😉

 

cheers!

 

IMG_5906a.JPG

IMG_5907a.JPG

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23 minutes ago, G00DSY said:

what a coincidence!  i have been soaking one that i was given recently - it was totally seized up so wasn't too concerned about giving it some gentle persuasion in the workshop..   

it still needs cleaning,  but hopefully these snaps help uncover the mystery 😉

That is bbbllllooooddddyyyyy bbbbrrrriiilllllliiiiaaannnntttt!  I have already book marked this post.  Thanks very much Goodsy.

I reckon an hour in sodium percarbonate will do wonders.  Lubricate the seals (hopefully they are in good nick) and re-assemble.

Thanks again.

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39 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

That is bbbllllooooddddyyyyy bbbbrrrriiilllllliiiiaaannnntttt!  I have already book marked this post.  Thanks very much Goodsy.

I reckon an hour in sodium percarbonate will do wonders.  Lubricate the seals (hopefully they are in good nick) and re-assemble.

Thanks again.

No worries mate!  Really chuffed I could help out 🙂

Forget the rest of the interwebs (I’m struggling to read it all to be honest) this forum rocks!  It has been sooooo helpful all along my brewing journey, so thank youse!

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On 11/28/2020 at 2:46 PM, G00DSY said:

what a coincidence!  i have been soaking one that i was given recently - it was totally seized up so wasn't too concerned about giving it some gentle persuasion in the workshop..   

it still needs cleaning,  but hopefully these snaps help uncover the mystery 😉

 

cheers!

 

IMG_5906a.JPG

IMG_5907a.JPG

Nicely done, Goodsy.
Although these photos have me suspicious you may be a trained assassin. 😉 

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13 hours ago, G00DSY said:

Haha!  Or the work of someone very scared he couldn’t put humpty dumbty back together again!  😂

That was my concern along with the "spring that could never be found again".

Firstly I took photos as I went IMG_2011.JPG.8effcc1827c48fed1f2ed2715ce778ab.JPG

Then I got cocky with the second pluto gun IMG_2016.JPG.2276063dfaf96d50faf9371ddbd060ac.JPG But I am nowhere near as well trained as Goodsy. Pretty sloppy laying out of parts.

Finished product IMG_2017.JPG.764e47a43fe7ea6aa71e1cff621d15a7.JPG

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3 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Just be aware that there are slightly different designed pluto guns (I have two different ones), with different seals.

Cheers for that. I think mine looks like that one (stainless with black handles). Turns out that BB link doesn't have any stock, so the search continues. 🙂

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9 minutes ago, Instigator said:

Cheers for that. I think mine looks like that one (stainless with black handles). Turns out that BB link doesn't have any stock, so the search continues. 🙂

I have one of those too.  Here are some close-ups of the seals.

IMG_2015.JPG.ea7c9e97526dbbcd1639ca070dc439ad.JPG

IMG_2014.thumb.JPG.0407dfd99926e210f974a6a4e26217a8.JPG

Edited by Shamus O'Sean
Grammar correction, to protect Muzzy's sensibilities
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