Moldy coney kegs

I bought 3 corney kegs from a guy for dirt cheap butttt they have mold on the inside. what are the best tools and solutions to get them cleaned up and prevent this in the future?

Thank you

Barkeepers friend and elbow grease followed by a starsan rinse.

I pull the posts off, fill the keg with PBW and soak everything overnight. Then a good scrubbing, rinse, and let it soak in starsan for a while. May want to replace gaskets if they look suspect.

if you have a pressure washer it will really scrub the hard to clean stuff.
After cleaning I would soak them in sanitizer overnight and you should be good to go.
It would be a good idea to replace ALL the o-ring seals on those.

if there's noticeable mold i'd probably go a little more nuclear than just scrubbing and star san.

if it were me i'd do a (strong) caustic wash and acid wash, with the good stuff (NaOH and Nitric Acid). Not for the faint of heart though. This stuff can hurt if not handled properly.

strip down the kegs then a 30 minute soak with bleach water as per the instructions on the bottle

daveMN said:

I pull the posts off, fill the keg with PBW and soak everything overnight. Then a good scrubbing, rinse, and let it soak in starsan for a while. May want to replace gaskets if they look suspect.

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I'll second that, except I'd replace "may" with "must" and replace all gaskets. If using bleach, more is not better. Follow the directions regarding concentration or you can corrode the stainless.

schematix said:

if there's noticeable mold i'd probably go a little more nuclear than just scrubbing and star san.

if it were me i'd do a (strong) caustic wash and acid wash, with the good stuff (NaOH and Nitric Acid). Not for the faint of heart though. This stuff can hurt if not handled properly.

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Why though? stainless is not porous mold will wipe right off and the starsan soak will kill anything microscopic. theres just no justified need IMHO. theres no NEED to replace the gaskets either unless they are damaged or the mold is embedded in them somehow and doesnt wipe off.

I take it some of you guys have never worked in the food service business or took the food safety courses? you dont need caustic acid cleaners to clean a little mold off of a stainless surface. its totally overkill.

Scrub with something mildly abrasive, like a green scrubbie (AKA Scotchbrite) sponge. Chemicals are optional.

Do a good job and then soak with starsan. I have to vote with Augie on this one. You can use chemicals if you want, but scrubbing will do the job in a few minutes.

As pointed out, stainless is really easy to clean.

For the price, I always replace poppits and gaskets on a used keg. A small leak will cost you way more in CO2 than swapping out those parts.

Thank you everyone, I am going to get started on this right away. I will be changing the gaskets just to be safe. Cheers!!

I bought a corny with some mold in it. Removed the posts and dip tube. I soaked it all in oxy and phosphate free cleaner overnight. It looked good. Rinsed then soaked it all overnight in star san. Filled with beer. Two weeks later moldy tasting beer. Dumped the beer. Disassembled again this time removing all the gaskets and the poppets. Yep mold in the post and poppets. Even after a couple of overnight soaks in pbw the poppets were good but the gaskets still smelled moldy. Replaced all the gaskets. Star san soak, filled with beer. Three weeks later beer is good. Oh yeah don't forget the dip tube brush!

bigdaddybrew said:

I bought a corny with some mold in it. Removed the posts and dip tube. I soaked it all in oxy and phosphate free cleaner overnight. It looked good. Rinsed then soaked it all overnight in star san. Filled with beer. Two weeks later moldy tasting beer. Dumped the beer. Disassembled again this time removing all the gaskets and the poppets. Yep mold in the post and poppets. Even after a couple of overnight soaks in pbw the poppets were good but the gaskets still smelled moldy. Replaced all the gaskets. Star san soak, filled with beer. Three weeks later beer is good. Oh yeah don't forget the dip tube brush!

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Stainless (metal in general) is easy to deal with - but once rubber is contaminated its's shot.

Every used keg I recondition gets the 'factory' poppets thrown out and replaced with the universal types. Easy to clean, they take an O-ring to seal so replacement is easy, and disassembly is a piece of cake compared to the original style.

Costs a couple of bucks but to me it's well worth the price.

Yes, replace all rubber parts! You can clean them, but IMO for the price it's better to get new anyway.

I vote PBW and Star San, and replace all the o-rings.

Vinegar usually works to clean and sanitize the silicone orings in the case where they actually are mouldy and but hey whatever gives you piece of mind. If they really have been sitting a while it can be a good idea to replace them just because they may not seal well.

I do think there should be a sticky for New homebrewers on whats really needed and not though as far as sanitation and cleaning... Its come to my attention in more than a couple threads that likely due to some bad advice from OCD people many new brewers mistakenly think they need to remove, clean and sterilize everything in thier brewery whether hot or cold side including all their weldless fittings, mash paddles and such and all of this completely unnecessary work can be avoided with a little knowledge on things like the differences between cleaners and sanitizers and how temps over 170 degrees kill the bugs they are trying to avoid in the same way boiling the ingredients does the same thing...


after I do this when purchasing, I rarely pull my kegs apart and clean the individual seals and poppets between refills. I have about 23 kegs or so and have NEVER had an infection other than a batch that went bad on me once in the fermenter when using a used conical I just bought on craigslist. This I believe was from an unsanitary weld in the conical which I ended up sealing with a small portion of JBweld in the seam to prevent anything from getting in there and growing.. that was it for infections and Ive brewed, bottled and kegged hundreds of gallons of beer without any problems.

I only use starsan on things that contact the beer after its gone through the chiller... star san is a mild acid so if the keg is half filled with properly mixed starsan solution and left upsidedown for a while, and you have ensured that some staran is allowed to travel up and out of both the poppets, despite what people claim, you will not get infections in your beer once the starsan does its job. this is of coarse when reusing kegs that are empty but still sterile inside with just residue from the previous beer. This is also how some are able to reuse filters for filtering their beer even though they cannot be completely rinsed clean.

pbw is NOT a sanitizer.. its a cleaner.. it will NOT necessarily remove chance for infection like a properly used sanitizer.

Common sense comes into play here of course... if you let your kegs sit open or expose them to mouldy /slimy buildup them thay should be cleaned AND sanitized..

I disassemble kegs after each batch. They are always gunked up. Always. Dip tube especially. It might be sanitary gunk, but that doesn't mean I want to drink it.

billl said:

I disassemble kegs after each batch. They are always gunked up. Always. Dip tube especially. It might be sanitary gunk, but that doesn't mean I want to drink it.

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There really shouldn't be any gunk in a freshly used keg anywhere but maybe yeast at the bottom...

i flush hot PBW through the dip tubes... problem solved.

augiedoggy said:

There really shouldn't be any gunk in a freshly used keg anywhere but maybe yeast at the bottom...

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I disassemble every time and there is always gunk somewhere. When you blow a keg, everything at the bottom is headed up the dip tube and through that poppit. There really is no substitute for actual cleaning.

Yes but since the keg is freshly spent and is sealed that beer or yeast is still wet and rinses away fairly easily.. Regardless my point was the poppets and such do not need to be disassembled and cleaned at this point. It's not going to effect whether the beer gets infected or taste or anything else at that point unless the keg is left for a long period without use and the contents turn nasty. The poppet is flushed clean when you put some starsan in the keg, seal it and shake it up and release some starsan out of each of the poppets..

Try that. Then disassemble and see what's left. I've done it and that is precisely why I clean everything now.

But yes, you won't get infected magically by having gunk in your kegs. If the bacteria isn't in the keg, it doesn't appear by itself.

I've built a keg washer out of a sump pump that cleans the inside via a rotating spray ball and pushes cleaner through the posts with some pretty strong force. I use a 1oz/gallon (3 gallons of solution) concentration of PBW in hot water. After 3-5 minutes of circulation, the inside of my kegs are spotless. I've disassembled to double check and everything is spotless inside the posts and diptube.

That being said, I cold crash and fine prior to kegging, so the beer is clean and clear going into the kegs. I was never a fan of crashing in the keg precisely due to the cleaning issue.

billl said:

Try that. Then disassemble and see what's left. I've done it and that is precisely why I clean everything now.

But yes, you won't get infected magically by having gunk in your kegs. If the bacteria isn't in the keg, it doesn't appear by itself.

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I have a few kegs to fill this weekend and I will make a point to do that. Ive honestly never had an issue.. No weird flavors or otherwise by not doing this each time and ive been kegging for almost 4 years now.

The_Bishop said:

That being said, I cold crash and fine prior to kegging, so the beer is clean and clear going into the kegs. I was never a fan of crashing in the keg precisely due to the cleaning issue.

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In fairness, this may have something to do with my experiences too since I use conicals and prefilter my wort going into them at fermentation time as well as cold crashing before kegging...

I actually just built a filtration system since I had the pump from the quickcarb unit I just build so im not expecting much of anything on the bottom of my kegs going forward unless they sit out in warm conditions for a while and the last bit is left to ferment further

billl said:

I disassemble every time and there is always gunk somewhere. When you blow a keg, everything at the bottom is headed up the dip tube and through that poppit. There really is no substitute for actual cleaning.

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I agree with you. For me especially with Hefeweizens there is a small amount of yeast that gunks up at the end and sits on the bottom. IPA's and specialty beers also have their leftovers. I rinse out my kegs after they are spent. I have a keg washer so I then run PBW through it and the dip tube and then rinse, and then run Sani Clean through it before it gets filled with new beer. Never have any issues with off flavors and never an infection. Edit: forgot to mention, the PBW is to get rid of beer stone. I do not want beer stone to form on my kegs, so that is why I use the PBW to clean and then I sanitize with the Sani Clean. Star San works just as well but it foams too much with my pump in my keg washer.

John

I usually cold crash before kegging, but rarely fine or filter. Usually mostly IPA's and belgians on tap, so definitely more gunk prone than average.

Obviously, most breweries have clean-in-place systems, so if we are talking about a similarly designed high pressure cleaning system that's a different animal. I'm talking about the traditional "push some cleaner through with CO2"

"Ive honestly never had an issue.. No weird flavors or otherwise by not doing this each time and ive been kegging for almost 4 years now."

Yeah, I never had an issue that way either. No infections or off flavors. Then i read a thread with someone insisting there was still usually gunk left, so I tried it. Yep. Gunk for me. Now it's a mental thing and I clean it even through I never tasted an issue before.

billl said:

I usually cold crash before kegging, but rarely fine or filter. Usually mostly IPA's and belgians on tap, so definitely more gunk prone than average.

Obviously, most breweries have clean-in-place systems, so if we are talking about a similarly designed high pressure cleaning system that's a different animal. I'm talking about the traditional "push some cleaner through with CO2"

"Ive honestly never had an issue.. No weird flavors or otherwise by not doing this each time and ive been kegging for almost 4 years now."

Yeah, I never had an issue that way either. No infections or off flavors. Then i read a thread with someone insisting there was still usually gunk left, so I tried it. Yep. Gunk for me. Now it's a mental thing and I clean it even through I never tasted an issue before.

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Well thanks for ruining my ignorant bliss on the subject!

Star San will not kill mould.

I would a clean with elbow grease and a surfactant+ oxidative cleaner e.g PBW. Then use peracetic acid @ 1%, a 30 min soak will be enough. Rise and replace all the seals.

Clean and soak posts and lid separately in the same way.

Avoid bleach as it will damage the stainless.

Queequeg said:

Avoid bleach as it will damage the stainless.

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I agree, stainless and chlorine bleach is not a good combination as the stainless will corrode.

With that being said, I would avoid prolonged contact with chlorine and rinse well. Chlorine is a wonderful mold buster, and not everyone has par acetic acid on a shelf.

Years ago I left some bleach cleaning solution in a stainless pump sprayer for a week or so....next time I tried to pressurize it it was like a sprayball with about 40 pin hole leaks lol

HNY

Anyone have a source to buy peracetic acid? Did a little looking around but no dice.

I had to repair some bar sinks at a restaurant I used to work at with jb weld temporarily and replaced them due to bleach being used in the and lots of pin holes in the bottom.

Peracetic acid is easy to get here in the uk (looked on Electronics, Cars, Fashion, Collectibles & More | eBay) no luck.

As already noted you can use bleach as long a you rinse. Peracetic is better because you don't have to worry about residue affecting your beer so much and its classified as a liquid sterilizer.

Other options are chlorine dioxide, hydrogen peroxide, hypochlorous acid

billl said:

Try that. Then disassemble and see what's left. I've done it and that is precisely why I clean everything now.

But yes, you won't get infected magically by having gunk in your kegs. If the bacteria isn't in the keg, it doesn't appear by itself.

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Billl,
I just wanted to update that Ive been pulling my last three kegs apart after cleaning them with starsan and forcing it through with co2. To check like you have suggested.
so far they have been completely clean like the pics I took from the last one so I dont know maybe because I recirculate and filter the solids out so well before the beer goes into the conicals but I have not shared your experiences yet with trub and gunk being trapped in my poppet area.. I do get yeast at the bottom of my kegs though. the kegs below are from a keg that had an esb in it and sat empty (but sealed) for at least two months before I cleaned it and took these pictures.

This has been my experience as well.