The keg is assembled, now what?

The keg is cleaned and works, but just sitting about half full with plain water. Should I fill it and add sanitizer and wait until I have a brew to go in it? I also bought some beer line cleaner. When should I run that through? I still have about a week before I even start the batch, so I'm a couple weeks out till it goes in the keg.

Sounds like you might be spinning your wheels a bit. Once the keg is clean, just let it dry, close it up, and when you're ready to keg your beer, sanitize it. Sanitizing your keg before you even brew is like sanitizing your brew equipment after brewing. Unless you can hermtically (sp?) seal the equipment up until its needed, its pretty much a waste of time because you'll need to sanitize again.

Run the BLC through between brews.

Wild

just drain it and let it dry. then, clean/sanitize prior to racking beer into it.

patience grasshopper :~)

brewsmith said:

The keg is cleaned and works, but just sitting about half full with plain water. Should I fill it and add sanitizer and wait until I have a brew to go in it? I also bought some beer line cleaner. When should I run that through? I still have about a week before I even start the batch, so I'm a couple weeks out till it goes in the keg.

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Yeah, dump the cleaner/sanitizer out, let it dry. I'd also make sure it tests out okay by juicing it up with about 30 psi (to seal the lid) and see if it holds pressure. Don't want a leaky keg when the good stuff gets in it.

When it is time to put beer in, sanitize it one more time, then rack, as DeRoux said.

There's no sanitizer in it yet, just some water. I'll dump it and let it dry, then sanitize it as if it were another carboy when the beer's ready.

I like to store my spare kegs with a half gallon of water and some sanitizer and about 5 psi of pressure. Before I use one, I'll burp it then drain the sanitizer. That way I know it's sealing properly.