I have a keg that had wlp 645 I just emptied, if I starsan the stainless and boil the rubber parts will it be purged of the nastiness that is white labs brett C? Can I put the keg back into regular rotation? I have a pack of wyeast Brett B I'd like to use in the keg but I don't want to cross contaminate with the C. Right now I'd feel safer using the keg for a session mild that is going to be killed within a month rather than a big beer I'm planning on aging for 1 year+. Any thoughts?
cleaning bret infected kegs
- Thread starter gbx
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after a thorough cleaning and overnight soak with PBW (fill the keg to the top, put all of the parts into it, disassembled) and then an overnight soak with Star San, I consider the keg 100% good to go for anything. I dont even think that is all necessary, but it works for me. I have used the same set of kegs for every type of beer, mead, cider, and crazy wild lambic stuff, very long term age, and then reuse of the kegs, and no issues.
The reputation of the staying power of Brett in equipment is (in my opinion and experience) mostly a holdover from earlier days of home brewing with less available sanitizers, or from misapplying advice from brewers on commercial systems.
The reputation of the staying power of Brett in equipment is (in my opinion and experience) mostly a holdover from earlier days of home brewing with less available sanitizers, or from misapplying advice from brewers on commercial systems.
TNGabe
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Have some phenolic issues with 645? 
I use same soft goods for all my beers and brew a lot of wild beers and (knock on wood) have never had an issue. You might want to just replace the o-rings and such though. I replace my soft stuff at least twice a year.
I use same soft goods for all my beers and brew a lot of wild beers and (knock on wood) have never had an issue. You might want to just replace the o-rings and such though. I replace my soft stuff at least twice a year.
beer doesn't spend enough time in contact with those for it to be an issue. unless beer is going to spend weeks in the beer lines, not moving, any brett or bugs in there won't have time to make an impact on the beer.
Have some phenolic issues with 645?
I use same soft goods for all my beers and brew a lot of wild beers and (knock on wood) have never had an issue. You might want to just replace the o-rings and such though. I replace my soft stuff at least twice a year.
Yes, the beer was soured in the keg and has had 0 exposure to oxygen...I initially blamed myself for somehow infecting it but after reading the forums it seems like a common problem with wlp-645 and the 2 litre pop bottle that I filled when I kegged and added orval dregs was awesome.
In terms of the rubber parts, I was thinking of boiling them for 10-15 minutes to sterilize. Good idea? bad idea? Connectors don't bother me as much as they aren't attached until the beer is in the keggerator at a low enough temp that the miniscule pitch rate of an infected line won't have time to affect the beer before its consumed.
TNGabe
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You just speculatin on a hypothesis? Sorry, you probably don't get the reference, but I'm still interested in your reasoning. Seems like the 5 second rule. Of course I think I've heard there are studies that back up the 5 second rule and it's longer than that, but still a stretch to apply it to this.
It looks like we posted at the same time. HBT should force people to rebase before pushing a post...
My hoses are cleaned and sanitized regularly and only connected to a beer that's in the keggerator and ready to drink. The extremely small pitch rate from anything that survives the sanitation is unlikely to affect a chilled beer in the relatively short time before its emptied.
so...more of the 5C rule than the 5 second rule
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