Your Keg Washing System? Looking for ideas.

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Crabnut

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Looking for ideas for a DIY corney keg washing/sanitizing system. I have been thinking through my options, using what I have available. Plenty of copper tubing and fittings, buckets, hoses, couple of different pumps, etc., but no really fine ideas yet on how to put it all together. If you don't mind, how about showing us your system?
 
I completely dismantle the keg, remove the o-rings, and stuff it all into the keg after it all gets a good rinse, I then fill the keg with hot water and oxyclean and let it soak for 24 hours, then rinse the heck out of everything, replace any iffy o-rings, lube the o-rings and reassemble, fill with starsan and push with co2 to the next cleaned keg, the keg is now ready to go, and sealed with co2. My equipment consists of a showerhead on an extended hose, and a jumper for coupling the kegs together.
 
I completely dismantle the keg, remove the o-rings, and stuff it all into the keg after it all gets a good rinse, I then fill the keg with hot water and oxyclean and let it soak for 24 hours, then rinse the heck out of everything, replace any iffy o-rings, lube the o-rings and reassemble, fill with starsan and push with co2 to the next cleaned keg, the keg is now ready to go, and sealed with co2. My equipment consists of a showerhead on an extended hose, and a jumper for coupling the kegs together.

+1 I clean my kegs essentially the same way. My Oxyclean soak time varies from as little as 20 minutes to overnight. I sanitize the kegs a little differently though. I just pour about a quart of StarSan into the keg and shake it up well to wet all of the internal surfaces. I then dump the StarSan into the next keg and so on if I am doing several at once. My equipment consists of some RV type potable water hose with a plastic pistol grip nozzle hooked up to my laundry sink in the basement. I'm fortunate to have a floor drain near the laundry tub, so wash downs and rinsing are a breeze. I've never had an infection or contamination problem, so I guess my method is effective.
 
- Rinse well in sink
- Fill with c-brite and hot water, let sit for 30 minutes
- Flip upside down, let sit for 30 more minutes
- Hook up picnic tap and CO2, blow out liquid for a couple minutes, then dump out and rinse again in sink
- Fill with iodophor and cold water, let sit for 30 minutes
- Flip upside down, let sit for 30 more minutes
- Hook up tap and CO2 again, blow out liquid for a few minutes, then dump out the rest
- Let dry upside down on a paper towel

That's my system, and so far no complaints. =)
 
lube? maybe I've been doing it wrong, but what are you lubing them with? I've never lubed before.

Lubrifilm FTW:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/default/lubrifilm-spray.html

I suggest avoiding the keg lube stuff (silicone grease) as it is very messy and nearly impossible to wash off of whatever you put it on. The Lubrifilm is much more user friendly. A single can will last you for a very, very long time. A little goes a long way.
 
lube? maybe I've been doing it wrong, but what are you lubing them with? I've never lubed before.


...and get your mind out of the gutter.

gutter??? who me?? You don't want to tear an o-ring! :D

I use a virtually bottomless tube of CIP film for lubing stuff up.
(CIP has a lower melting point than Lubrifilm so it cleans up with hot water a bit easier.)
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i have a similar method to above posters. this is one area where you needn't get too fancy, IMHO. just disassemble, soak with some oxyclean or PBW (i like to fill it up a little over half, soak that side, put a 5 gallon bucket over the top and flip it over to soak the other half), rinse it and remember to sanitize before you use it. i've done many kegs this way with no issues.
 
My Pump:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=1479

My washer:
VAtiZ.jpg


MITCz.jpg


I have PVC unions on the inlet/outlet of the pump for easy dissasembly. I have a T on the outlet where I have two barbs going into 3/16"s line that then goes into liquid and gas QDs. Works like a charm. I use two old submersible aquarium heaters when I want the water to stay warm.

My method for carboys is just let it run with oxyclean. My method for kegs is to recirc oxyclean through them first. I then get a second bucket and run my pump inlet pipe into that. I run my garden hose into the pump inlet side, and spray fresh water into the inverted keg. Finally, I flip the keg over, seal it up, and attach the liquid and gas QDs. I put a cap on the main outlet, so the flow can only come out through the QDs. I fill a bucket with starsan and force it in through the QDs into the keg. A quick shake, and it's ready for storage. (I wait until I have 4 or 5 dirty kegs and do this all at once...clean all 5, rinse all 5, sanitize all 5).
 
i have a similar method to above posters. this is one area where you needn't get too fancy, IMHO. just disassemble, soak with some oxyclean or PBW

+1 I suppose you could fire up your pressure washer and get the job done, but seems to me that a simple soak, rinse and sanitizing regimen is a much easier way to go and works just as well. Perhaps if I were cleaning a huge number of kegs and carboys I would automate the process, but with only a dozen or so in my possession and only a few of those requiring cleaning at a time, I just can't justify doing it any other way.
 
I set up one of the submersible pump set ups for the kitchen sink and it's a pain and time waster for a keg or two. I just do the half full with Oxy soak and flip with lid on. Rinse, spray a bit of StarSan in.

Although I always say I am not going to bother to take the posts off, I always take them off anyway.
 
I just have been hosing them out really well and sanitizing them, dip tube and all without taking them apart. That's all I have ever done with my bottles and it's worked just fine for years.

When I got them I did a good oxiclean and I will probably do it again--in a year or so.
 
I don't think you need all this Oxyclean. Just lots of clean water. Assuming you just killed the keg (ie, it's only had your own clean beer in it and isn't fresh from the LHBS with dried Pepsi in the bottom), it's basically clean to begin with. You need to get any yeast sediment or hops particles out, rinse it out, and re-sanitize.

My approach:

1 - Remove lid and drop in a large bowl of hot water.
2 - Remove OUT post, and drop the post and the poppet into the bowl of hot water to soak.
3 - Remove out tube, run a brush through it and rinse thoroughly with hot water.
4 - Remove IN post and drop in a small bowl of hot water (post and poppet separate).
5 - Pour a half gallon or so of hot water in the keg, swish and drain.
6 - Scrub anything that's not visibly clean with a brush. I always brush the bottom of the keg.
7 - Power rinse the inside of the keg 5-6 times with a garden hose/sprayer.
8 - Add about a quart of Star-San to the empty keg.
9 - Re-lube O-rings, re-assemble keg, and pressurize.
10 - Shake keg to ensure that all surfaces have contacted the Star-san, and drain a small amout of Star-san with a picnic tap (to sanitize the inside of the tube).
11 - Store for hours to months, it's ready to go whenever you need it. If it's still under pressure, you know the seals are good, too.

I wouldn't hesitate to break out the OxyClean or PBW if it needs it, but if the keg was clean, and all it had in it was clean beer, how dirty can it get?

L
 
I generally soak kicked keg with oxy for a day (or a few, depending on laziness), drain and then rinse with my homemade POS keg / carboy rinser that is very loosely based off of the forementioned keg cleaner... Basically it is some cpvc attached to my March with a sprinkler head on the top... I use a cob web brush if there is any sticky crud...

Disassemble every couple of batches and replace gaskets / o-rings as necessary...

Use Star-San and co2 to push through everything...
 
My brew/CIP rig. I recirculate 160F PBW for ~15 minutes to clean the mash tun, boil tun, and various size kegs.


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I'm probably the last person (well, one of the last people) to say that it's not worth building a contraption for this, but all I use is...

image.aspx


plus

pbw-by-five-star-1-lb.jpg


plus

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equals clean keg. I don't even do the soak thing that folks have had good luck with, I really don't want to arse around with waiting for it, when I've got a half dozen kegs to do. So pull off the posts, take off the o-rings, and drop them, the gas in, the lid, and the poppets in a bowl of hot PBW (keeping them separate - I learned THAT lesson) then get to scrubbing the inside of the keg. Literally, takes me a minute or so. Flip upside down in the bucket while I give the poppets/posts/tubes a bit of attention, rinse everything, reassemble (replacing o-rings that need it), rinse again, seal it back up. When all the kegs I'm doing are clean, then I'll grab my keg of starsan and use a jumper to push it from keg to keg and back to my designated starsan tank.

Did four kegs the other day, all four were done and stashed in less than an hour.
 
IMHO, my approach is way less work. I do not remove the keg posts or o-rings. I hook it up to the cleaner and it pumps about 500 gallons an hour. About a tenth of that flow goes thru the dip tubes and posts. I have disassembled several to check for crud and they have always been clean so I quit checking.
I guess it depends on volume. We make 35 gallon batches so we use 7 kegs with every batch. When I did 10 gallon batches I was fine with soaking and cleaning by hand.
 
I don't think you need all this Oxyclean. Just lots of clean water. Assuming you just killed the keg (ie, it's only had your own clean beer in it and isn't fresh from the LHBS with dried Pepsi in the bottom), it's basically clean to begin with. You need to get any yeast sediment or hops particles out, rinse it out, and re-sanitize.

I wouldn't hesitate to break out the OxyClean or PBW if it needs it, but if the keg was clean, and all it had in it was clean beer, how dirty can it get?L

+1 This is the most rational approach for sure and I generally agree, but I still do the Oxyclean soak and remove the posts etc every time as insurance. I may have to rethink my procedure.
 
Here is mine. Great flow thru the diptubes! 10 min with PBW, 5 min with an acid rinse, then water rinse. We typically clean 8-10 kegs on brew day.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sehaun3333/Kegwasher#

I built one very similar to this, I have it sitting in a large rubbermaid tub. It is a beast! I think it's really important to open the keg and at least spray out the chunks before cleaning...if you're doing several kegs that stuff can foul the water pretty quickly.
 
I'm just doing 1-3 kegs at a time and I almost always have some 'old', room temp PBW in a bucket so I just preclean them with that. Then just before it's time to use, I make a small, fresh batch of hot PBW in the keg and final clean it.

I almost always disassemble. Probably a non-issue but it seems that if you don't disassemble and you soak with an alkaline cleaner, the PBW/Oxiclean may not be completely rinsed from small nooks/crannies around the posts. And if that alkaline PBW/Oxiclean isn't rinsed well it will just neutralize the acid in the Starsan rendering it ineffective. As mentioned above, the keg should be fairly sanitary if you just kicked it but still, I'm going through the trouble of trying to sanitize it so I'm not going to rely on the fact that it 'should' already be sanitary (if it was I wouldn't need to sanitize it in the first place).

If it's a keg that I just acquired, I always replace the o-rings and boil the poppets for a few minutes before using.
 
I almost always disassemble. Probably a non-issue but it seems that if you don't disassemble and you soak with an alkaline cleaner, the PBW/Oxiclean may not be completely rinsed from small nooks/crannies around the posts.

I always disassemble as well. IMO it's more important than using Oxy or PBW. Mechanically removing all trub/hops particles/misc scum is much better than trusting Oxy to dissolve them.

L
 
you guys are more viligant than me. wash with unscented soap, rinse with hot water, then store.
 
Do you guys give a cleaned and stored keg a sniff test? Whenever I soak a keg, even overnight, in PBW and don't replace the o-rings and then store it I can always smell beer/hops when I open it again. That's why I started 'precleaning' them for storage and then giving them another full, hot PBW soak just before sanitizing and using.
 
Do you guys give a cleaned and stored keg a sniff test? Whenever I soak a keg, even overnight, in PBW and don't replace the o-rings and then store it I can always smell beer/hops when I open it again.

When I used to clean kegs by hand, yes, I would occasionally smell a slight beer aroma. Since I've been using the keg washer, no.

Apparently, I wasn't cleaning some of the kegs as well as I had thought. ;)
 
I think 15 minutes in that keg washer is plenty....I've closely inspected my kegs and they're pretty dang clean. Enough that the star-san shouldn't have to compete with any crud, at least.

I've been hearing about guys using unscented dishwashing detergent because it doesn't foam.....I may give that a try. Winter's coming and it'll be hard to keep a bucket of oxiclean >150F (no-foam temp) for long.
 
I've been hearing about guys using unscented dishwashing detergent because it doesn't foam.....I may give that a try. Winter's coming and it'll be hard to keep a bucket of oxiclean >150F (no-foam temp) for long.

FWIW, PBW doesn't foam above ~100F.
 
I just have been hosing them out really well and sanitizing them, dip tube and all without taking them apart. That's all I have ever done with my bottles and it's worked just fine for years.

When I got them I did a good oxiclean and I will probably do it again--in a year or so.
That's probably fine - but I'm just gunshy. I've put enough effort into making the beer, that the last thing I need is a sink dumper after I've brewed it, fermented it, and carbed it!
 
I have been wanting to do this for a while. I have been brewing 10G batches for over a year, and using Sanke kegs for fermentation. While I have modified 2 of my Sanke kegs to

go from this:------------------------------------------------------To this:
keg1.gifFermenter-450x600.jpg
For easier cleaning, I still wanted to be able to wash in a way that utilized a barrel cleaning nozzle from St.Pats to really get the hard to reach areas free of krausen.
BarrelSprayHead.jpg

So I got a 55 gallon drum, a clear water pump from Harbor Freight, some bulkhead fittings and reused the top of an old turkey fryer stand with the burner removed. I attached the barrel cleaning nozzle to the end of the wand that St.Pats sells for the nozzle, attached it to a quicky stainless bracket and have been washing kegs upside down with 130° water mixed with PBW for the past week. I washed my brew kegs (MLT, HLT, & BK) last weekend during brew day, and washed out two fermenters and 4 corny kegs this past Sunday.
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It is a monster. It does a pretty good job, but it still requires that you lift up the keg a bit to get the lower (Upper when keg is right side up) bits and areas, but it does a pretty good job. You can set it and forget it. If the stuff isn't baked on from getting lazy and not addressing the krausen right away, it will clean the keg in about 10 minutes.

Future plans are to build in a heating element through the wall of the 55G drum to keep the water at a constant 130°-140° temp. To empty, I pull off the goes-inta hose to the drum and let it run into a bucket to dump down the appropriate drain. It runs beautifully on 12-15 gallons of wash water. Thanks HBT for some of the inspiration!
 
I just posted in the equip/sanitation forum about the Carboy Cleaner.

http://www.carboycleaner.com/index.html

I ordered the version for the glass carboy and at the same time asked about the E.T.A. or plans for a Keg sized version. The response I received was great. along with my order i was sent a "Test" version of the keg cleaner. Since I cannot see inside the sanke to verify the effectiveness of this product, the old fashioned dental mirror gave a VERY pleasing report as to the effectiveness of the larger cleaner on the sanke kegs.

I am VERY pleased with the job it did. A word of warning though, it will want to vibrate pretty good as you pull the spinning brushed up towards the bund if the rod attached to the drill is NOT kept pretty close to vertical.


VERY good product for cleaning the sanke kegs
 
When the keg is empty I keep the lid on to keep the sediment from drying out. When I have around 4 or 5 empties I rinse them all out, fill one with PBW solution soak for a few minuts and then dump that into the next until all are clean. I then rinse and let them sit there until I have more beer ready for them. I store with the lid covering the top but not sealed so they can air dry I Starsan just prior to filling. I do a complete break down of the stems as needed.
 
Four pages. Wow. Lots of ways to skin this cat, and I really appreciate all the responses. This could have turned into a debate about one way. Instead, I see all kinds of answers. My original intent was to head towards a pumped spray system, but I am in no hurry. I am curious to see what other kinds of ideas and methods surface. Great discussion.
 
Four pages. Wow. Lots of ways to skin this cat, and I really appreciate all the responses. This could have turned into a debate about one way. Instead, I see all kinds of answers. My original intent was to head towards a pumped spray system, but I am in no hurry. I am curious to see what other kinds of ideas and methods surface. Great discussion.

That was my intention also.

But i was concerned that IF there was some really stubborn gunk on the inside, would the spray be able to blast it off? I ALWAYS like the good old scrubbing approach, but since the hole is a bit tight.... I aimed for the Carboy Cleaner, keg sized thing. Like I said it seamed to work very well, and anything i get to use with power tools is a big plus......
 
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