Do you clean/sanitize your kegs

before racking the next batch? I finished my brown ale last night, tonight my honey porter in secondary will be ready for kegging. Should I clean and sanitize the keg?

calman said:

Should I clean and sanitize the keg?

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Of course! I use idophor for my kegs because i usally use bleach as my sanitizer. I also store empty kegs with the idophor solution inside so when i am ready to use them they are ready as well.

Hammer,
Why do I have to sanitize the keg, if it was used for a similar beer (no noticable off flavor if little left over) and always some pressure of CO2 in the keg?
Thanks.

calman said:

Hammer,
Why do I have to sanitize the keg, if it was used for a similar beer (no noticable off flavor if little left over) and always some pressure of CO2 in the keg?
Thanks.

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In this case you should be fine with simply "refilling" the keg. I have heard a few people say that they do exactly that and clean/sanitize once in a while only.

Kai

I have three kegs and my process is... I start with one-step cleaner in the first keg... then pump that into the second keg and fill the first keg back up with star-san and then continue the process until you get down to the last keg. Each keg w/ solution gets some shaking and sitting before transfering on... then once i get done with the row of kegs, I pump the final cleaner and sanitizer out through my kegerator lines... that way it cleans them also... jsut the way I do it...

Jester

I've been experimenting with this myself. I left two kegs in the fridge after I drained them (hoping that keeping them cool would keep the nasties quiet) and then only rinsed them well with hot water from the tap before filling them with the new beers.

It's been over two weeks for one and three for the other and I haven't noticed any off flavors or anything indicating the new beer was going bad. I figure I'll sanitize them every third round or so or if I need to take them out of the fridge for any length of time.

calman said:

Hammer,
Why do I have to sanitize the keg, if it was used for a similar beer (no noticable off flavor if little left over) and always some pressure of CO2 in the keg?
Thanks.

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I dont trust it. if it were a beer that i would consume in a week or two fine, but when i have a heavy beer that i dont drink very quickly i would get nervous. I have a porter that i am aging for at least a couple of months and i do not trust a refilled keg to be sanitized. I dont want to lose a 5 gallon batch because of a silly 20 minutes of cleaning and sanitizing. I could just be parinoid though.

I always scrub and sanitize as well. I'm just leary of it--all that work potentially down the drain (literally) because I was too lazy to take 5 minutes and scrub a keg? Nahhhhhhh.

I clean them when empty and store them under pressure with a little sanitizer. After all that work making a batch, why try saving a nickel and 15 minutes?

Go in with the new brew, you will be fine. I have been doing it for over 10 yrs and never had a problem as a matter of fact I will be doing it this weekend...

flhrpi said:

Go in with the new brew, you will be fine. I have been doing it for over 10 yrs and never had a problem as a matter of fact I will be doing it this weekend...

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Thanks for posting, flhrpi. I'm glad someone has had lots of success going this route. All the negative responses were starting to get me worried that my new brews weren't going to hold up in the un-sanitized kegs.

So after how many refills do you sanitize yours?

If I go a couple of weeks without one ready then I will just rinse it real good and re-sanitize it, I also make sure it stays in my cooler (I have one of those 2door sliding glass coolers) until I am ready.