My First “pre-Owned” Corny Kegs – Seeking Prep Advice – Newby to Kegging

I am picking up my first ball lock corny keg (6 to be exact) tomorrow and will begin my adventure into kegging. The kegs I am purchasing were originally soda kegs then used for homebrew. The seller stated they are structurally sound and hold pressure. He did tell me they will need to be cleaned.

Having never kegged before, I’m not sure what that means. I would think they would have been cleaned after their last use but……

Here are some of the statements made by the seller:

They are your typical used kegs that used to be used for soda distribution. I purchased them and have used them for homebrewing. Everything is sturdy and serviceable.
They are standard 5 gallon Cornelius kegs. Not the short or squat ones.
They hold pressure but I’ll pressurize them before we meet to make sure.

Here's a pic of the kegs from the seller.



This being said, I’m hoping I can get some solid advice (or a pointer to the right thread, website, etc) that will tell me what I should do after getting these kegs:

1) Do I need to replace the O-rings even if they hold pressure?
2) Any particular cleaning steps I need to take since they were not mine?
3) Etc?

I appreciate any help you can provide

 

Nice score on the kegs. Great deal you got there.

1. You may not need to but I would. O-rings are cheap.

2. Disassemble, put a 1/2 gallon or so hot water in the keg and scrub all the crud off. Rinse out. Clean with 2 gallons of hot oxiclean, soak all the parts in same. Rinse off oxiclean with water.

3. Sanitize everything ( I fill my keg with about 4 gallons of starsan, soak all the parts in Starsan for a few minutes before reassembly). I push the starsan out with CO2 leaving a little in the keg to be swished around immediately prior to pushing it out with CO2 and filling with beer at a later time. This way I know my keg is sanitized, sealed and CO2 filled. Ready for beer.

A long narrow bottle brush for cleaning the out tube is useful, as are the correctly sized socket wrenches. (Got mine in HD and brush from LHBS)

The important thing is to make sure all the crud is off the posts and poppets and the o-rings are sound before you go to sanitize.

 

O-rings are cheap and there is no reason not to, you don't know what they've been through. I've had problems with a few poppets and a couple PRVs in the past, so those get replaced as well.

I am local to RiteBrew (great stuff, great prices), so it's about $10/keg for a complete refurbishment.

As far as cleaning, I own Mark's Keg Washer. A great investment if you are going to be washing kegs often. Pump some PBW through there, then rinse, then starsan.

 

I agree you probably do not need to replace the o-rings. But order a couple sets of spares just to have on hand. You will need them eventually.

Clean as described previously and sanitize before transferring your beer into them.

Good luck. Kegging is so much easier than bottling. But get a bottle filler of some sort, you can then fill a few bottles to take where the keg will not go.

 

keg lube!!! buy keg lube!!!

nice score!! You'll love kegging.

WARNING!!! put your car keys away until the novelty of beer on tap wears off...

 

I would highly recommend keeping all the keg parts from each individual keg together. When I first scored my kegs few years back I grabbed all the parts and put them in a nice warm pbw bath. When I went to reassemble them Parts were not fitting correctly, threads, dip tubes ect. I would just clean one at a time, I ended up losing 1 keg because of it.

If they have been used for beer before you are really good to roll. Rinse, Hot PBW or what ever cleaner you want, Rinse again. I let mine air dry and store. Ill do the starsan when im ready to use it. I also leave the connecters loose to allow everything to drain when I let them air dry upside down.

 

+1

Very important for certain kegs. I have a variety of ball locks. I don't interchange parts. You may be able to but don't assume you can.

 

Excellent advice and instruction folks. Appreciate it a great deal.

I assume I should use keg lube on the O rings each time I clean the keg?

 

yes, keg lube is your friend. A tiny bit goes a long way.
after a couple off flavour issues I now disassemble my kegs completely every clean. tiny bits of gunk can hide in the tiniest spots. Don't forget to lube the tiny o-rings on the poppet too

 

Thanks!

 

I went straight to kegs and didn't bother with bottles. When researching I did learn a story where someone was making a beer and batch after batch was getting infections until they realized it was their keg. You HAVE to clean it really good after every use. There are plenty of YouTube videos on how to take them apart its very simple. Also make sure you burp the keg always before opening even if you know its not carbonated you want to keep that habit. All in all, you will really enjoy your new kegs.

 

After you clean and reassemble the kegs (with lube on all the O-rings of course!) you should check that you don't have any leaks. Pressurize with a small amount of CO2 and spray the posts and lid with starsan. If you see bubbles, add more lube and try again. If you do this with the keg mostly full of water, and you'll use a lot less CO2.

 

Don't buy a keg washer, make one that's better. I love mine!

If this link is broken, lookup 'homebrew keg and carboy washer' for a video how-to.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPwP-qIxNsk[/ame]

Welcome to the keg club; prepare for friends that won't leave and wasted days cause you "walked by the tap more than once before you pulled a pint"

 

Know what makes cleaning kegs super super easy? One of these and a couple feet of vinyl tubing and a hose clamp. Thread the swivel onto the faucet in the laundry sink and it makes a pretty versatile little hose for cleaning.

Bonus: use it as a siphon to drain a full keg. Just put the hose in the keg, fill the hose with water from the tap, and unthread it - voila, siphon.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1450296510.013695.jpg

 

I don't need it usually. If a poppet is being a bit of a diva I'll dab a bit on.

A lil' dab'll do ya.

One of the benefits of storing kegs pre-sanitized and under pressure is that you will have no doubts about their sealing after you fill them with beer.

Especially if you fill them this way as you don't open the lid.

 

The inlet and outlet posts look very similar but they are different. Make sure you note which is which or you will be like me when i cleaned my first couple kegs and cussing at the outlet QC for not wanting to go on the post..... then cussing even more at it when it won't come off.

Also the quick dissconnects have a screw on lid... make sure to take them apart and sanitize clean when you get them.

 

For thourough cleaning, I just take mine apart, throw all pieces in the keg, fill with warm water and a scoop of oxyclean free, let soak for 12-24 hours. Comes out sparking clean every time.

Would probably recommend this before your first use. Never saw a need for a keg washer or scrubbing brush. Same thing for cleaning carboys after primary.

 

I didn't see anyone mentioning cleaning the outsides... If you want your kegs to look brand new (and aside from the rubber handles, it's possible)...

1. Scrape the stickers off with a razor blade. It's tedious and sucks but get as much as you can.
2. Spray kegs liberally with Goo Gone all over, but heavily where adhesive remains. Allow to soak in maybe 10-15 minutes.
3. Get a green/yellow scrubby and using the abrasive side, scrub away at remaining adhesive. This might take more than 1 round of goo gone depending upon the severity.
4. Wash keg with standard dish soap to remove the goo gone (it's oil based).
5. Apply paste of Bar Keepers Friend to entire stainless surface. Allow to set for 10-15 minutes.
6. Buff BKF with the grain of the stainless (i think its up to down on kegs). Don't make circles. Rinse clean.
7. Might require additional dish soap washing and spray down for really dirty kegs.

Done! You'll have beautiful shiny stainless steel kegs.

 

Man I love this site! So much helpful advice!

Picked this up today and I ordered my Triprite Dual Body Regulator and some other "stuff".

It's no big deal but you guys appreciate more than my wife does! LOL!

10# refurbished and filled!

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1450309384.348333.jpg

 

I made a pretty cheap spray system for cleaning kegs (and carboys when I use them)

(1) 5 gal bucket, $0 i assume everyone has some
(1) 5 gal bucket lid drilled in a pattern $0
(1) 1/3 hp pump ~$60
Misc stainless npt fittings <$15
(1) spray nozzle $50
Something to hold a keg, like a carboy stand

PBW for about 15-30 minutes and then a rinse

Couple more fittings and you can use it to clean a couple tap lines at once as well.

 

I highly suggest extra o-rings. I replaced mine right away to be safe. The ring on my lid has been great but the rings on the dip tube and gas tube need get sliced a bit every time I tighten the posts down. I replace them every batch or three depending on how bad they got. Using keg lube should help prevent that.

 

As others have said, get at one comlete set of replacement poppets and o rings. They may not wear out right away, but when you need them you need them NOW!!!


Here's my first kegging puzzle/lesson. We've all been there, brother.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=553619

 

Poppers too huh? Will do. Thanks for the advice and sharing your lesson!

 

Oh yeah, definitely. I had the kind with the three feet on mine. Like an idiot, I tried to pop them out for cleaning. That was a bad idea. The one broke and needed replaced. I ordered a pair of universal poppets from a supplier and picked up a few from the LHBS the next day so that I could get have spares.

 

Picked up 2 universal poppers.

 

This looks really nice and easy.

 

http://www.homebrewsupply.com/learn/kegging-101-from-cleaning-to-pint.html

Here's my write up