Question about Sanitizing Dip Tube in Corny

Does anyone know how to sanitize the dip tube in a corny keg without using gas?

This is my first time kegging. I haven't filled my Co2 tank yet but want to get my brew out of the fermenter and into my keg so I can start a new batch. The only problem is I'm afraid if I don't get my dip tube sanitized, I'll introduce too much bacteria.

I'm trying to wrench off the connector but it is too rounded to get a grip.

Help, please!

Is the beer going into the fridge right away? If so I don't even bother since the refrigeration will keep any bacterial growth minimal over the course of how long it takes me to finish a keg.

If you are planning on keeping it at room temp or taking a long time to drink the keg, I'd fill the keg with sanitizer and then push down the center pin on the out. It will vent the air and let sanitizer flow up the tube.

Liquid Tube Brush - Draft Cleaning - Kegging

There is this little gadget. Then sanitize with starsan.

Yes, when you take the keg apart, by removing the posts, just hold up the diptube to the light and look through it. If it's clean, you can just rinse and sanitize. If it's dirty, use the diptube brush to clean it, then rinse and sanitize. The easiest way to sanitize it is to put it in the keg and pour sanitizer through it, then put the posts back on and cover the keg and then shake the keg and turn it over. That way, it's sanitized inside the diptubes as well as on the outside of the diptubes.

postal_penguin said:

Is the beer going into the fridge right away? If so I don't even bother since the refrigeration will keep any bacterial growth minimal over the course of how long it takes me to finish a keg.

If you are planning on keeping it at room temp or taking a long time to drink the keg, I'd fill the keg with sanitizer and then push down the center pin on the out. It will vent the air and let sanitizer flow up the tube.

Click to expand...

Sorry, but I'm all "ick" over that. No sanitizing or cleaning? You don't take the posts off of the keg and clean out the gunk in the poppets (a 5 minute job)? Sure, the beer is kept cold but that just makes me feel "yuck" about the beer in it. It's like eating off of dirty dishes, because the plate was kept in the fridge. Maybe it's the girl in me, but I even wash my coffee mugs in the dishwasher.

If you have the same keg as me, rounded (starred) in tube fitting a 7/8" wrench (the round not open end) works. Not a perfect fit but if you press down on the wrench with one hand and give the opposite a good tap with your palm it seems to break lose easily.

I need to get a bigger wrench and give it another try. If that doesn't work, I'll try to force the sanitized water up the tube and hope for the best.

Thanks for all the advice!

Easiest way is to fill half with hot Starsan solution, close keg and shake, tip on side and press center of out stud with screwdriver until foam comes out.

While taking them apart is a good idea it isn't really 100% necessary. Fill the keg to the top, press the poppet down, the liquid inside the keg will come out of hole. You can rinse them this way too after cleaning, run garden hose in, let it fill to top, push in poppet and liquid will flow out. In that case you may need to tilt the keg to keep flow going. When clean/rinse/sani each are finished, press the poppet in again with the keg empty, the liquid in the tube will flow out to the bottom of the keg. Simple

You'll want a 12 point socket, or combination wrench for the post. Depending on how much it was tightened down last, you could need to get some extra leverage on the wrench to get the post off.

I would advise getting your CO2 tank filled up before you start. For one thing, you'll want to purge the air from the top of the keg and seal it (seat the o-ring). You need CO2 to do that. For another thing, it's easy to get the solution (StarSan as well as cleaner/PBW) through the dip tube with a little pressure/CO2.

Personally, I clean ever keg when it gets emptied. I do the faucet it was on at the same time. I run PBW through the entire setup (about a gallon of it) and let it soak in the hoses for a while. I then do the same with StarSan solution with a round of rinse water between them. I rinse the keg really well between the PBW and rinse water fills. Doing this with CO2 uses very little IMO. Plus, you can use more pressure to push the PBW through the dip tube to make sure you get it good and clean. Of course, you can also use the dip tube brush, once you get the poppet off, on the inside.

I leave my kegs pressurized after I dump out, or run out from the liquid post, the StarSan. I typically hit them with about 10psi, just to make sure they're sealed and ready for the next fill-up.

If you want a 'cheap' way to use CO2 for this, get a paintball gun bottle and one of the adapters so you can use a normal regulator. Or get one of the regulators made to go onto the paintball bottle. I can get a 20oz bottle filled at the local paintball supply store for $5...

Yooper said:

Sorry, but I'm all "ick" over that. No sanitizing or cleaning? You don't take the posts off of the keg and clean out the gunk in the poppets (a 5 minute job)? Sure, the beer is kept cold but that just makes me feel "yuck" about the beer in it. It's like eating off of dirty dishes, because the plate was kept in the fridge. Maybe it's the girl in me, but I even wash my coffee mugs in the dishwasher.

Click to expand...

All my kegs do get cleaned. Rinse with water, hook up to gas, rinse out dip tube and line with a few gallons of water. Then its the same with Oxyclean Free except I let the Oxyclean sit for about 30 minutes. Then its the same with Star-san. If oxyclean can clean my Better bottle in 30 minutes, it'll clean anything in the poppets out just as easily.

The original poster was asking how to sanitize his dip tube, not how to clean the keg. Taking the whole thing apart to clean it is not needed if the thing is already clean.

While I'll agree that you might not need to break it down every time, you should [probably] do it [at least] from time to time...

postal_penguin said:

All my kegs do get cleaned. Rinse with water, hook up to gas, rinse out dip tube and line with a few gallons of water. Then its the same with Oxyclean Free except I let the Oxyclean sit for about 30 minutes. Then its the same with Star-san. If oxyclean can clean my Better bottle in 30 minutes, it'll clean anything in the poppets out just as easily.

The original poster was asking how to sanitize his dip tube, not how to clean the keg. Taking the whole thing apart to clean it is not needed if the thing is already clean.

Click to expand...

I've taken off my "out" post, and it has tons of crud and hops debris in it. If it's not cleaned, you can rinse it all you want and it's still not clean! I've pulled out a diptube from ONE keg and held it up to the light and seen tons of crud and debris in there. If that's ok with the brewer, that's ok with me. I would never do it myself, but that's where we differ. It'd be like rinsing a dirty bottle, or rinsing dirty dishes and calling it good. Not up to my standards at all. I go to WAY too much trouble with my beers and wouldn't skip a 5 minute job in kegging. Remember you can't sanitize something if it's dirty.

This is a good example of how different brewers do things differently and are happy with their product, so it's all good.

To each his own but I have never seen any gunk on any of my equipment that can survive Oxyclean soaks. It literally strips the dried on krausen off my better bottles, never had to scrub them. I've soaked moldy glass bottles(mold that wont come out with vigorous shaking) from the recycling and the mold floats right on out after 30 minutes. They always come out sparkling. So I figure if it can do that to my glass bottles, it will clean out the dip tube fine. But cleaning it never hurts.

When initially rinsing a keg I usually have my hot water supply hose connected to a beer out quick disconnect allowing the beer out assembly on the cornie to be fully backflushed. This also pressure washes the trub adhering to the bottom of the keg at the same time.
I know this doesn't qualify as sanitizing but its an effective way of initially rinsing a cornie.

Cheers;
BeerCanuck

Bought this wrench and getting keg posts off is much easier.

Sears: Online department store featuring appliances, tools, fitness equipment and more