cleaning keg first time?

[heckofagator]

I did a little reading and found out that most don't fully break down their kegs in between each fill.

I've got 2 kegs, still in the fridge, that just ran dry and I need to transfer new beer in. For cleaning, is it as simple as spraying it out, maybe running some clean water thru and then running thru some starsan? Should I soak and run thru some Oxyclean? Or is the Oxyclean only necessary every couple batches?

 

[kombat]

I Oxyclean every time, I just don't break everything down every time. I give the keg a good rinse with hot water, then fill it up about halfway with hot Oxyclean, seal it up and give it a good shake, then dump it, rinse twice with hot water, then pour in some StarSan and shake it up, then dump out the StarSan and immediately fill with the next batch of beer.

 

[lumpher]

i rinse it out, soak it in sanitizer ( i use iodophor usually ) for a few minutes - mostly to sanitize my autosiphon, dump it out, then refill with the next batch. no need to do an intense cleaning every time, since the keg is already sanitized. must be, if the beer you just finished was still good

 

[kesslerr1]

Here is what I do and have never had a problem. I usually pop the top off rinse it out real good then take my carboy brush and scrub anything that is sticking to the sides. Next I fill it up with a gallon or so of Star-san water and close it up and shake and roll it around on the ground a few times. Then I hook up the CO2 and my out line and drain the star san into a container where I can reuse it. Once this is done I fill it up with more beer!

You can run some oxyclean or PBW through it if you want, just make sure you rinse it out well.

:beard:

 

[m00ps]

here's my routine:
rinse with very hot water several times until completely clean (looking)
add ~1L of starsan
shake incessantly
run ~500ml through the beer/out diptube
seal purge several times, let sit until ready to fill
run the rest of the starsan out the diptube before filling

every like 10 times, I will break it apart entirely but its hard to keep track with 9 kegs

 

[heckofagator]

thanks for the thoughts guys. Sounds easy enough. I'll worry about breaking down the kegs after a few more times. I got a cleaning kit (pressure bottle with threaded attachment, line brush, etc) with my keg kit, so I need to read up on how to use all that, but I'm sure it's not rocket science.

 

[Sammy86]

Here is what I do and have never had a problem. I usually pop the top off rinse it out real good then take my carboy brush and scrub anything that is sticking to the sides. Next I fill it up with a gallon or so of Star-san water and close it up and shake and roll it around on the ground a few times. Then I hook up the CO2 and my out line and drain the star san into a container where I can reuse it. Once this is done I fill it up with more beer!

You can run some oxyclean or PBW through it if you want, just make sure you rinse it out well.

:beard:

This is exactly what I do! :rockin:

 

[FortMillBrew]

I made this for very little $ and it is amazing.
Star San will not touch organics. I scope of OXY-FREE and then plain water to rinse. I wash 1-5 kegs removing nothing but the lid.

If the link below does not work, just you tube 'home-brew keg and carboy washer'

 

[DrinksWellWithOthers]

I work in the beer industry and spend a fair amount of time working with draft units in the trade. After seeing what I've seen out there I break down my kegs and connectors after every use and soak with oxy clean then sanitize with Star San. I also clean my lines and faucets every 2 weeks with oxyclean, BLC then rinse with water.

 

[j1n]

i break it down every time and clean everything. its not that much work.

 

[DU99]

when the keg empties,give it a rinse out to remove the old beer/trub,half fill the keg with hot water and some sodium percarbonate.,roll a few times then let stand upside for awhile then reverse,every 4th use (have 4 kegs) will strip down....i sanitize the keg when i am going to fill with beer

 

[Yooper]

i break it down every time and clean everything. its not that much work.

Me too. It takes like 5 minutes.

I didn't used to, but then I took the "out" post off after "cleaning" by sending cleaner and star-san through it. I lifted up the long diptube to eyeball through it, and it was gross. I can't believe I drank beer out of that- and the post had hops debris and yeast around the poppet. After that, I started taking it apart after every keg.

There isn't any reason not to- I mean, it takes 5 minutes- and you can clean, sanitize and inspect all the o-rings and lube them too.

Just like I don't wash my dishes after every third meal, I don't wash my kegs after every third keg.

 

[j1n]

Me too. It takes like 5 minutes.

I didn't used to, but then I took the "out" post off after "cleaning" by sending cleaner and star-san through it. I lifted up the long diptube to eyeball through it, and it was gross. I can't believe I drank beer out of that- and the post had hops debris and yeast around the poppet. After that, I started taking it apart after every keg.

There isn't any reason not to- I mean, it takes 5 minutes- and you can clean, sanitize and inspect all the o-rings and lube them too.

Just like I don't wash my dishes after every third meal, I don't wash my kegs after every third keg.

LMAO!!!!! i was thinking that earlier when i posted in the thread.

 

[heckofagator]

Hmm, its that easy to take it apart, huh? I guess I better go pull up a youtube video and see what it takes.

 

[BigTerp]

I also completely break down my kegs after each use. It's amazing what gets stick in the poppets and dip tubes.

I remove the lid, each post and dip tubes. Rinse the liquid dip tube really well and throw everything else in a little Tupperware container filled with a hot oxyclean solution. I then rinse the keg really well with hot water and then fill with a hot oxyclean solution and toss my liquid out tube in the keg. I let that soak for 20-30 minutes while I clean the line that keg just came off of. Then I scrub the keg with a carboy brush and rinse really well with hot water. I then scrub the poppets and post with a small brush and then rinse really well. Reinstall everything and apply keg lube to every o-ring. Fill with a bit of star-san, shake and then seal up the keg. If I'm not immediately filling with another batch I pressurize the keg with 30 psi for a few seconds and label it "SANITIZED". When the next batch is ready all I do is de-pressurize, dump the star-san and fill.

 

[Gavin C]

i break it down every time and clean everything. its not that much work.

+1 here also.

I then sanitize all the bits, fill it with starsan and push all but 1/2 gallon of starsan out. It sits like that till I need it, sealed and under pressure.

When I go to fill it, I slosh the remaining starsan about for a bit and push that out too. Depressurize, then fill the keg with beer via the liquid out post (just started doing the closed filling via the post, slower but not a problem).

 

[pigroaster]

Get a plastic syringe and take a dremel or small knife and put v's on bottom where needle is attached. Do not install needle! This action will allow you to fill unit (syringe) with Star San and then push down on the out post. This will allow you to flush out the dip tube if you do not do a tear down each time. I also pressurize kegs with star san in them, so when I go to fill them I will know if I am going to have any sealing issues if pressure is no longer on lid.

 

[BigTerp]

I also pressurize kegs with star san in them, so when I go to fill them I will know if I am going to have any sealing issues if pressure is no longer on lid.

This is the main reason I store my cleaned and sanitized kegs pressurized.

 

[rmarshall100]

Here is what I do and have never had a problem. I usually pop the top off rinse it out real good then take my carboy brush and scrub anything that is sticking to the sides. Next I fill it up with a gallon or so of Star-san water and close it up and shake and roll it around on the ground a few times. Then I hook up the CO2 and my out line and drain the star san into a container where I can reuse it. Once this is done I fill it up with more beer!

You can run some oxyclean or PBW through it if you want, just make sure you rinse it out well.

:beard:

My buddy and I take this a step further. We created a Tee hose with one Ball lock output connector (black) feeding a Tee of an input connector (gray) and another output connector (black). These are both connected to the keg to be cleaned, open the pressure relief and connect CO2 to the keg containing cleaner or sanitizer. That way the dip tube and the connectors are cleaned and sanitized. We generally do several kegs at a time to conserve solutions.