OT: Do commercial breweries remove the keg spear to clean?

[browntown52]

I got an old dented keg as part of a bulk craigslist homebrew supply purchase. I depressurized and removed the spear just to see what was involved. Because of all the dents, this will not become a keggle, so I reassembled, and I'll probably just trade it as a deposit on my next commercial beer keg run. The way they do keg purchases at bars around here is that you give them a $30-40 deposit on the keg, OR give them an empty (doesn't matter what brewery the empty came from as the bars get their emptys bought back from whichever wholesale supplier).


My question is:

Do commercial breweries always remove the spear when they clean? Just out of curiosity I was wondering what the cleaning procedure was. I assume most of the time they just hook them up with couplers, fill with pressurized pbw, and then purge the same way. They must disassemble the spears occassionally, but under what circumstances?

This keg was so old the spring for the ball was weak, the gasket falling apart, the ball was dull, and there was caked on brown sludge all over the spear. I'd hate for it to go back into circulation and just sprayed out and refilled. The keg itself is perfectly functional for bar use, I just hope they replace the spear (older design where the spring cage hooks on the bottom of the valve instead of the newer designs)

 

[zmanzorro]

At least the small breweries I volunteer at (and I assume all other breweries too) have a systems that rinses and cleans kegs by a hook up through the ball valve. No disassembly required. Actually a pretty easy and simple process.

 

[browntown52]

I should totally volunteer at a brewery, I didn't know that was something you could do. I know (kind of) one of the owners of a small local brewery, I should ask him about that.

Back on topic, under what circumstance would they pull the spear though? If under fill there was a leak, or say, if visually the top ball looked suspect?

 

[Doctor_M]

No they dont. Like stated above most use keg washers like this http://www.kinnek.com/products/keg_...1ZVjPRlb-LLr5gw_YzYp-n9rMcLCxBQmG8aAlI28P8HAQ

 

[pcollins]

Yeah, that link is what most places are using, or something similar. The kegs are turned upside down so that the chemicals used in cleaning/rinsing are sent up the spear and cascade down the inside walls of the keg to clean. They then exit through the gas in ports and are recirculated.

The only time they would disassemble the spear would be to periodically inspect after cleaning to make sure that the process is doing what it's supposed to do.

 

[Brettomomyces]

It's most likely designed to be able to replace the gasket as well if it gets damaged.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Snake kegs are actually engineered around cleaning. Their shape is designed to be cleaned with a machine without disassembling. Usually hot water, caustic and then a rinse and some kind of sanitizer. A saniclean type non-foaming or something like paracetic acid.