Beer taste/smells like soda syrup

I made the Centennial Blonde and it's been kegged for two weeks now but I'm starting to pick up the syrup smell that was left behind in the used corny kegs that I purchased. It was a PITA to clean these things but I thought I got the smell removed but apparently not. Has anyone had a similar situation? Should I try to transfer the beer and hope the syrup hasn't ruined the beer? Any suggestions?

Have you changed the O-ring seals? Change out everything rubber. Soda soaks into rubber like crazy and it's impossible to remove it. As for the stainless steel portion of the keg, a good soak and rinse should be more than enough to remove presence of the soda.

beninan said:

Have you changed the O-ring seals? Change out everything rubber. Soda soaks into rubber like crazy and it's impossible to remove it. As for the stainless steel portion of the keg, a good soak and rinse should be more than enough to remove presence of the soda.

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Well, I thought I did. I didn't replace the o-ring on the top of the posts because I wasn't even sure how to get those things off. Not sure if those need replacing or not. Other than that I'm pretty sure I replaced everything. I can't recall about the release valve.

I soaked in oxiclean for like two days and still had trouble removing the smell. I had to scrub the dip tube like crazy.

Use PBW. Soak overnight with as hot water as possible. Soak all diptubes and post and poppets and lid inside the keg. Change all 5 rubber gaskets. After that rinse and soak for a couple days with iodaphor/water mixture. For some reason it really seems to get rid of any left over smells.

I have a couple soda kegs I need to clean and have replacement o rings, but what about poppet valves? Do they need to be replaced?

dedhedjed said:

I have a couple soda kegs I need to clean and have replacement o rings, but what about poppet valves? Do they need to be replaced?

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I would say you should replace them because they do have a rubber seal. However, I have gotten away without replacing the poppets on any of my kegs, and have not had any soda flavors. But who's to say that my poppets weren't already replaced when I got them...

JRems said:

Use PBW. Soak overnight with as hot water as possible. Soak all diptubes and post and poppets and lid inside the keg. Change all 5 rubber gaskets. After that rinse and soak for a couple days with iodaphor/water mixture. For some reason it really seems to get rid of any left over smells.

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Do you think the soda has permeated my beer or you think it just picks up the soda as it is pushed out of the keg? I'm wondering if I should transfer the beer over to another keg.

When this happened to me the flavour of the pop was in the beer. I couldn't bring myself to discard the beer, but I immediately changed the five gaskets on all of my kegs.

B

Darn. Maybe I will try to transfer it and see if it helps. Or I guess I could just draw a sample directly from the keg, but I assume the flavor has imparted the beer.

Perhaps I should just replace all my posts, poppets, and relief valves.

No just the rubber O-rings on the posts. Remove posts to clean sounds like you didn't remove posts so you are getting syrup in with you beer. Ball-lock use a 7/8 box end to remove.

beaksnbeer said:

No just the rubber O-rings on the posts. Remove posts to clean sounds like you didn't remove posts so you are getting syrup in with you beer. Ball-lock use a 7/8 box end to remove.

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I removed the posts and soaked in oxiclean for a while, but I didn't remove the o-rings that sit on top of the posts. Those seemed like a PITA to remove so I wasn't even sure if they came off. I'm guessing that's where my issue stems from. I also had a hard time scrubbing the syrup off the dip tube but I think I was able to get it all off, or at least most of it.

What about the dip tune o rings? The ones under the posts. Were those replaced? If the only o rings left not replaced were the ones on the outside of the posts there is a very good chance your beer is fine and only getting tainted on the way out.

JRems said:

What about the dip tune o rings? The ones under the posts. Were those replaced? If the only o rings left not replaced were the ones on the outside of the posts there is a very good chance your beer is fine and only getting tainted on the way out.

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Agreed guess I wasn't clear as to the o-rings under the posts thanks for clearing up my chill haze Pull the dip tube and run hot water through til clean.

beaksnbeer said:

Agreed guess I wasn't clear as to the o-rings under the posts thanks for clearing up my chill haze Pull the dip tube and run hot water through til clean.

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Yep, that too. if you don't have a dip tube brush, you should get one. If you had a hard time getting the soda crud off the outside, imagine what the inside looked like.

The o-rings on the posts themselves are easier to get off than you think - just kind of pinch it in between your fingers and you'll pull at least some of it out of the groove in the post, then push it up and off the top of the post. Might be slightly more of a pain if it's sticky, but it's still easy.

One of the last kegs I purchased still smelled like the soda-smelling caustic cleaner they use when they refurb kegs, even after days of oxyclean soaking - but changing all the rubber took care of it.

Yea, I replaced the o-rings for the dip tube and used a dip tube brush to clean out the inside.

I think it must have been caused by either the o-rings on the post or perhaps the release valve because I didn't replace the little rubber thing that sits on the bottom of the valve.

I guess the only way to find out if it has penetrated my beer is to open the lid and take out a sample. Here is to hoping.

Well, some good news!

I pulled my keg out and drew a sample with a turkey baster and the beer actually tasted good with no off flavors. I then drew a sample with through my taps and the beer picked up the syrup (?) taste. So I guess that must mean the liquid out post is what's causing this, correct? I've only had one other beer used on these lines and I flushed with water and oxiclean as soon as I kicked that keg, so I would imagine the lines are the issue.

Keg posts are specific for the type of keg, correct? I have a backup keg but it is a converted pin lock, not a natural ball lock like I'm using right now. I'm assuming I can't just switch the posts. I guess I could transfer the beer to my backup keg. Any thoughts?

Edit: It's definitely the liquid out post. I just took off the disconnect and smelled it and it reeked of syrup. Weird because I made sure it smelled clean before I kegged everything.

Change the o rings again and soak in hot hot pbw overnight. Make sure you push the poppet out and clean it real well. The soda likes to gunk up and stick to the poppet spring.

JRems said:

Change the o rings again and soak in hot hot pbw overnight. Make sure you push the poppet out and clean it real well. The soda likes to gunk up and stick to the poppet spring.

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Any good way of doing this without risking infection? I wouldn't think it's a good idea to take the post off while full of beer and soaking overnight. I guess maybe I could use plastic wrap or tin foil?

cincybrewer said:

Any good way of doing this without risking infection? I wouldn't think it's a good idea to take the post off while full of beer and soaking overnight. I guess maybe I could use plastic wrap or tin foil?

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Soak the new orings. You should have 5 new ones. Soak the pop things and put sanitized foil over openings. Sanitize everything and reassemble. Good luck.

another tip for post o-rings is to use a flat head screw driver, slide it under and you can take them right off. Good luck - sounds like you just need to clean/soak the post and poppet and then put on a new post o-ring.

Thanks for all the help.

Hopefully I can get to this tonight. I have a big back of post o-rings so that shouldn't be a problem. I don't have PBW but I'll just soak them again in oxiclean.

cincybrewer said:

Thanks for all the help.

Hopefully I can get to this tonight. I have a big back of post o-rings so that shouldn't be a problem. I don't have PBW but I'll just soak them again in oxiclean.

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I only use oxyclean. Works great.

i have gotten kegs before that had dried soda on the insides of the dip tubes. if you have not taken the dip tubes apart and scrubbed them with a dip tube brush, that might be a good idea. even after changing all plastic parts and scrubbing the inside, the soda smell was not eliminated untill i bought that brush and really got everything out.

Well I think I got the smell out. I replaced the o-ring on the post and soaked the poppet in oxiclean and I couldn't detect any syrup smell.

However, when attached the liquid out line this morning the beer/co2 was leaking from where I put the new o-ring on the out post. Are there specific o-rings that you have to buy for each specific brand of keg posts? These seemed like they fit fine but it was still leaking. I didn't have time this morning to apply any keg lube so maybe that will fix this issue but maybe I need a different type of o-ring?

Your oring might be too small. Sorry don't know the exact size it should be. My kegs get a new set during purchase. Did you tighten the popette enough?

Tighten the poppet? Does a poppet tighten? I thought you just set them inside the post?

edit to add: when I set the new o-ring on top of the old one, it looked the same size. Wasn't scientific but visually they looked about the same.

Sorry meant to say tighten the post the popette is in. Does the poppette look completely closed ontop of the post?

Oh, gotcha.....I tightened it with my socket wrench but I didn't use all my strength as I wasn't sure if a risk of over tightening it existed. But it seemed pretty tight. Would that cause beer to come out of where the post o-ring is? I thought the poppet looked set correctly and nothing was coming out of the top of the post, just where the o-ring was.