15 gallon keg cleaning techniques?

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  1. Relieve pressure
  2. Remove spear
  3. Empty keg
  4. Rinse with water
  5. Put 3 gallons water in the keg
  6. Place the keg on your patio burner and bring to a boil for 15 minutes
  7. Turn off burner
  8. Add dishwasher detergent
  9. Use an extended carboy brush to scrub interior
  10. Cool keg
  11. Use gloves to remove keg from burner
  12. Lay the keg on it's side and rock to splash water around the inside
  13. Scrub again with the carboy brush
  14. Rinse inverted keg with hot water
  15. Inspect interior with a strong light and an inspection mirror
  16. Repeat if necessary
 
[*]Remove spear

I have the keg but haven't been able to drive that retaining ring thing around yet to get the spear out. I've read the "anatomy of a keg" page, etc, but I still can't get it.

:-(

I don't mean to hijack. Just wanted to whine a little.
 
I've had trouble with it as well, eventually used a screwdriver and a hammer to pound it around, screwed up the ring a little but if you are using the sanke regularly you probably want to get a snap ring for it anyway
 
Relieve pressure first. Pour hot water on it, repeat if necessary. You don't have to beat it up to get the spear out.
 
Relieve pressure first. Pour hot water on it, repeat if necessary. You don't have to beat it up to get the spear out.

Hmmm.

I pushed the ball in to relieve pressured, and did the "tap/beat it around the circle" motion but the ring only moved a 1/4" or so.

I made a few gentle passes with a propane torch with no improvement. Maybe I'll soak in break-free or something for a few days then try to tap around again.

I am going to have the top cut off anyhow for keggly purposes, but I wanted the spear out before that to facilitate cleaning and filling with water for the plasma cut.
 
I have taken out many a spear. The tool costs 100 dollars and you only need it to put it back in. Use 2 mini screwdrivers to remove the ring. It has an angle on the end of the spiral that the end of the screwdriver can get under and pry out. Use the other screwdriver to get under a good portion of the ring and gentlly work your way around 2.5 revolutions and the ring comes free from the groove. Rotate the spear tab to line up with the notch and the spear lifts right out.
 

That's the webpage I meant when I said "anatomy of a keg" above. I didn't remember the name of it.

I am failing at the very first step: "To remove the tube, you first must remove the retaining "spring". I did this by pushing it around with a flat screwdriver until the end was visible through one of the holes in the fitting built onto the keg. "

The pushing around part hasn't worked for me yet. I'll try again tonight.
 
Some of my brew partners ferment in 15.5gal Sanke's and here is how we get them clean.

Remove the spear
Add 8gallons of water and bring to a boil
Add PBW and insert rubber stopper
Shake the living hell out of it and let sit for 30minutes
With rubber stopper still in turn the keg upside down and let the hot pbw water clean the "other" half of the keg.

Since we ferment using two of these at a time we just use the hot pbw water from the first one to clean the second one.

Then we rinse/repeat with Star San.
 
Some of my brew partners ferment in 15.5gal Sanke's and here is how we get them clean.

Remove the spear
Add 8gallons of water and bring to a boil
Add PBW and insert rubber stopper
Shake the living hell out of it and let sit for 30minutes
With rubber stopper still in turn the keg upside down and let the hot pbw water clean the "other" half of the keg.

Since we ferment using two of these at a time we just use the hot pbw water from the first one to clean the second one.

Then we rinse/repeat with Star San.

oh wow, that's cool! How do you put an airlock in it?
 
I'd imagine just another one of those rubber stoppers, but with a hole drilled in it then the airlock shoved in. What size stopper goes into one of those?
 
I am failing at the very first step: "To remove the tube, you first must remove the retaining "spring". I did this by pushing it around with a flat screwdriver until the end was visible through one of the holes in the fitting built onto the keg. "

Ok, I see now.

Based on my misreading of this picture:
MovingRetainingRing1.jpg


I thought he was drifting the upper collar around so that it met up with the ends of the retaining ring. The way the shadow falls under the screwdriver makes it look kinda like he's got the screwdriver resting on a tab in the collar.

I finally got enough light on the thing to see that what I thought was a rotating collar is in fact a unmovable welded/rolled/whatever part of the neck of the filler hole. In the pic I think he is drifting the retaining ring by applying force on the "raised" end of the ring. The ring is drifted around _under_ the collar. Note: that's not how I got the ring out... :drunk:

Duh.

I have been beating the living crap out of this thing, using a torch, mallet, hammer, block of wood, steel pipes. I am sure the neighbors hate me because hammering on a keg is LOUD. I had earplugs in the whole time.

Anyhow, I had butchered the neck bad enought that I had to fight to get the spear out. But it's out, the keg is cleaned and ready to have the lid cut off.

I am some kind of hardware moron. Just thought I'd share. I am going to take a shower now because I am dripping with sweat and angst.
 
No, just smelled like old beer (like it did when bleeding the pressure out). The spear and what I could see of the inside with the flashlight looked fine. Will be easier to see and scrub out once the top is liberated.
 
No, just smelled like old beer (like it did when bleeding the pressure out). The spear and what I could see of the inside with the flashlight looked fine. Will be easier to see and scrub out once the top is liberated.

I think the worse smell so fr of old beer was out of the Guinness keg...peee-you! (I dunno how to spell that)
 
oh wow, that's cool! How do you put an airlock in it?

Exactly what EvilTOJ said.

I'd imagine just another one of those rubber stoppers, but with a hole drilled in it then the airlock shoved in. What size stopper goes into one of those?

I'd need to double check. We use two different stoppers, but they both are the same size. One is solid (which we use when we clean them) and the other has the hole drilled thru it (which we use when we ferment w/ a standard airlock).
 
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