Keg sanitation ?

[MR BEER]

I have been homebrewing about 10 years now. I've been doing 10-15 batches a year. I have been kegging right since the start and always use Sanke kegs. Reading all the threads on this forum I see everyone going through all the different sanitation processes to clean and sanitize there kegs. I cleaned rinsed and sanitized the first few kegs. Then I said to myself, why go through all that work if the finished keg is not opened and exposed to the elements and stays under 12 PSI of Co2? After that, and right up till now when I need to keg a beer, I take a Sanke keg out of stock, (I have 5) let the pressure out of it, open it, rinse it real good and immediately rack my fermented beer into it. I then force carbonate it either quickly at 30 PSI if I need it shortly or slow, 12 PSI for 2 weeks or more if not needed immediately. I have never had a problem with infected or off tasting beer. I have probably kegged near 100 beers this way without a problem. Wondering what everyone thinks about this? Have I just been crazy lucky or do others also do it this way? By the way people love my homebrew.

 

[Kickass]

This is my standard process. I’ve been kegging for about 12 years now. No noticeable infection yet. Now that I put it in writing, I’m sure I jinxed myself.

 

[whoaru99]

If I brewed that often I might give it a go. But, mine can sit for quite a while so given the infrequency of brewing and long dwell time, I perceive too much risk for me.

 

[MR BEER]

If I brewed that often I might give it a go. But, mine can sit for quite a while so given the infrequency of brewing and long dwell time, I perceive too much risk for me.

I have had some of mine sit for months without a problem. I do not let them sit outside in the sun.

 

[sampling6391]

I use a PBW cleaner and either Starsan or saniclean depending if I’m manually shaking or using my cleaning pump and bucket.

Sure it might be overkill for a keg that previously had non-infected beer but I mean there are also people that rack off one beer and dump new wort in a fermenter without cleaning and sanitizing it first too but I feel like it’s cheap insurance if I’m going to drop a lot of hard earned money on my ingredients or a kit beer.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Samsies... Break the seal, give it a good rinse, filler up, and back into service it goes. I generally clean all of my kegs once a year. If it smells south of cheese after I open the bale, it get's a 'dirty' tag and sits in the corner until cleaning time.

Never an infection, off flavor, golden globe award, or any other problem.

 

[day_trippr]

Y'all are freakin' me out over here

 

[whoaru99]

...

 

[passedpawn]

Yea, I like them clean. I use PBW and a SS Brewtech gadget that gets them really clean without removing the posts. Then before use I blow starsan and CO2 through them.

 

[Whisky River]

I have been homebrewing about 10 years now. I've been doing 10-15 batches a year. I have been kegging right since the start and always use Sanke kegs. Reading all the threads on this forum I see everyone going through all the different sanitation processes to clean and sanitize there kegs. I cleaned rinsed and sanitized the first few kegs. Then I said to myself, why go through all that work if the finished keg is not opened and exposed to the elements and stays under 12 PSI of Co2? After that, and right up till now when I need to keg a beer, I take a Sanke keg out of stock, (I have 5) let the pressure out of it, open it, rinse it real good and immediately rack my fermented beer into it. I then force carbonate it either quickly at 30 PSI if I need it shortly or slow, 12 PSI for 2 weeks or more if not needed immediately. I have never had a problem with infected or off tasting beer. I have probably kegged near 100 beers this way without a problem. Wondering what everyone thinks about this? Have I just been crazy lucky or do others also do it this way? By the way people love my homebrew.

I think it all depends on your risk tolerance. When I first read your post I thought, to myself, would I be comfortable going to a restaurant and watching them take someone else’s used plate run it under the faucet to knock the leftover food off of it and then put my food on it? Realistically there’s probably a pretty small chance of any kind of infection, but would I “feel good” about it? If you don’t mind the risk then your process is right for you. I do think the risk of contamination in the keg is probably pretty low but 100 brews is also a pretty small sample by most measures. There’s probably a reason commercial breweries who sell tens of thousands of kegs have a robust cleaning regimen, if 1 out of every 100 kegs they sold had an off flavor they would go out of business pretty fast.

In the end we can all decide to depart from the “best practices” as much as we want but that doesn’t mean the practice isn’t there for a reason.
If your system works for you then enjoy.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I like your analogy, but I won't eat off of someone else's plate. There's too many contaminats to mention. I can think of several NSFW analogies that are on par with yours, but still misses the mark. Kegs are a whole world apart.

I don't think the point of this threat was to question the threshold of risk, but what others do and have had ongoing success with.

 

[sampling6391]

I agree that I think risk is a big part of it… Maybe it comes down to people that can brew much more often are going to be less devistated from an infected brew than those of us that love the hobby but rarely get a brew day ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[lumpher]

When 1 of my kegs blow, I rinse it out, scrub it really good, and fill it with Starsan water. When I'm ready to use it, I dump out the sanitizer water and fill it with barley water. I give them a good cleaning about every 3-4 uses. Yep, I'm a veritable ogre...

 

[Kickass]

would I be comfortable going to a restaurant and watching them take someone else’s used plate run it under the faucet to knock the leftover food off of it and then put my food on it?

This is a very illogical analogy. Fun to read but irrelevant.

Would you, in your own home, put an apple on a plate, cut it up, eat it, rinse your plate under water then make a sandwich and eat it off of said plate?

 

[hottpeper13]

I eat the sandwich first then an orange and apple!

 

[mac_1103]

Would you, in your own home, put an apple on a plate, cut it up, eat it, rinse your plate under water then make a sandwich and eat it off of said plate?

No. The sandwich would get wet.

 

[sodbuster]

Heck I wasn't even rinsing kegs but the yeast bed was getting out of hand. I always leave them in a keezer or kegerator or they get the full service.