What do I need to clean?

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Torchiest

Torchiest

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I'm about to keg my first batch, and I want to make sure I keep everything properly sanitized. Do I need to disassemble the ball lock mechanisms in order to sanitize them, or will they get taken care of when I sanitize the interior of the keg? I've read some guides and they talk about taking the valves apart for cleaning, but it sounds like that is for removing residues and such.
 
I'd take everything apart for cleaning the first time, and replace all the o rings (unless it is a new or reconditioned keg. It only takes about 10 minutes, but don't get the input and output posts mixed up as they are slightly different sizes. After that, I dismantle 1 keg per month for a thorough cleaning (thats about once every eight brews).

-a.
 
Sanitize the keg (including inverting it for a bit to ensure the gas tube & lid are done) and blow the sanitizer out the beer tube. I use about 1/2 gallon of one-step solution.
 
Here's how I clean my cornies... and beer lines & taps

1. Rinse out cornie and add oxyclean & water... seal & shake.

2. Hook up gas line & pressurize the cornie. remove gas line.

3. Hook up beer line and open tap... running all the solution through line and tap

4. Rinse cornie completely with clear water. Add a gallon of clear water....seal & shake.

5. Repeat steps 2 and 3

6. Add a couple of quarts of StarSan or Isophor solution to cornie....seal & shake.

7. Repeat steps 2 and 3

8. I leave some sanitizer solution in the beer line and cornie until I'm ready to use again
 
It's been posted on this forum in the past that sanitizing solution should not be left in the keg for extended periods of time because it can cause pitting to the metal.
 
+1
This is what I do, works good for me.

vtchuck said:
Here's how I clean my cornies... and beer lines & taps

1. Rinse out cornie and add oxyclean & water... seal & shake.

2. Hook up gas line & pressurize the cornie. remove gas line.

3. Hook up beer line and open tap... running all the solution through line and tap

4. Rinse cornie completely with clear water. Add a gallon of clear water....seal & shake.

5. Repeat steps 2 and 3

6. Add a couple of quarts of StarSan or Isophor solution to cornie....seal & shake.

7. Repeat steps 2 and 3

8. I leave some sanitizer solution in the beer line and cornie until I'm ready to use again
Click to expand...
 
I finally got my set up and dont have any StarSan on hand is there something else that could be used?

P.S. Might want to sticky this thread, I lucked out and found it (after a 1/2 hr)and I can only imagine all the keg noobs like myself that need this info.
 

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