Sanitizing sanke keg with OLD beer?

I'm planning to use a 5 gallon sankey keg that had beer of an unknown age in it. The keg has sat in my garage for at least 2 years, and I don't know how old it was before that. It was given to me by a friend, back when I had my kegerator setup, to use for an exchange, but I never did use it. I cracked it open and whew, was it sour. I gave it a good flushing with hot water, then filled it with sanitizer and let that work for a couple of days, and then filled with water and have it boiling on the stove right now. I plan to let it boil for 30 minutes or so. Does this sound sufficient?

I'm not too experienced with kegs, but it sounds just great to me. The boil alone should actually sterilize it (or get dang close).

You've got the sanitation down...have you removed the beer tube and inspected it to make sure it is "clean" with no crusts or rings?

Clean and sanitized are two different animals.

You can sanitize/boil all you want but if there is still a crust or ring in the keg from 2-year old skunked beer, you've still got problems!

I have the tube removed, and it did have some crust on it which I cleaned/sanitized. I soaked the keg with sanitizer for a couple days to loosen any residue, and swirled it regularly to try to break loose any crust, and then brushed it with a bottle brush. I was hoping the boiling would loosen any remaining crust that I can't see or reach. Is there another method?

woodstone said:

You've got the sanitation down...have you removed the beer tube and inspected it to make sure it is "clean" with no crusts or rings?

Clean and sanitized are two different animals.

You can sanitize/boil all you want but if there is still a crust or ring in the keg from 2-year old skunked beer, you've still got problems!

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woodstone has the key. First you clean. Then you sanitize.

search the site for cleaners like oxyclean.

I'd be willing to bet that the boil is going to loosen any crud you didn't already get, you'll be fine. Store it with about a gallon of sanitizer in it to keep the nasties at bay until you rack your beer in to it, and give it a shake/swirl every time you think about it or walk by. That's what I do with the 1/6bbl kegs that I use.

Go buy some generic unscented Oxy Clean (or sodium percarbonate based cleaner). Soak HOT with 1 scoop per 5 gallons. Rinse well, then hit it with a Starsan rinse to get rid of any soda ash deposits from the Oxy. Sanitize as normal from there.

Will do. Thanks for the detailed info.

use hot water and pdw. Its designed to be a clean in place cleaner.

I already had oxiclean, so I used it. FYI, don't add to very hot water. I just had a mini volcano in the kitchen. Good thing the wife is working late!

I think I will use this for my first batch that is almost ready to keg, and then bite the bullet and order some corny's. That seems to be the standard for home brewing anyway, and they look to be easier to work with. I was going to order a few beer kits from Northern Brewer anyway. The end plan is to have 4 beers on tap (wheat, stout, pale, cream), so I might as well keep them all the same type of connection. I did put quite a bit of time and money into finishing the basement and building a bar specifically for this, so I might as well put out another $200 and do it right. I guess I can always use the sankey coupler for the wife's water, I mean 64 calorie "beer".

Thanks again for the tips