Sanke fermenter issue

I've been fermenting in snake kegs for a while now, but I think I may have an infected beer. I didn't try to taste it since I was heading into work. It had lots of white stuff on top. Not what my other beers have done in the past. So, I'm guessing that my cleaning and sanitizing isn't good enough. Would it be better to spend my money to pt a 4 inch triclover on the keg so I could get in and scrub the crap out of it, or buy a pump to make a keg/fermenter washer?

 

What has your sanitation technique been? Maybe there are ways you can improve your process before you go out and spend a lot of money.

 

I run boiling wort through my CFC for 15 minutes, and flush it with water after use. I slosh 2 gallons of Star San in the Sanke fermenter. I'm guessing that a small amount of schmutts built up over time from having some trouble cleaning them out after fermentation. Soaking them to listen up the kreuzen has only given me moderate success.

 

How do you clean them after fermentation? A carboy brush should fit through the opening so maybe a good PBW or oxyclean soak and a good scrubbing might help. A sanitation technique that has been suggested to me is to fill the keg with a few inches of water and boil for 5-10 min. The heat and steam should kill most anything still living in there. Those are my only ideas. If a hot soak and scrubbing with a good cleaner followed by steam sanitizing doesn't work I'd look in to building a keg washer.

 

I did an oxyclean soak for a few days with lots of rolling the keg around. I'll try the brush.

 

It's hard to know how clean you are getting a Sanke keg.

I started using a inspection mirror on a telescoping wand with and a light to inspect them internally.

I was surprised how much of ring I was leaving behind even after brushing with cleaner.

 

That's why I'm wondering if it'd be better to add a triclover ferrule on top to give me better access to get in there chisel it out if I have to.

 

If you put a gallon of water in there and put it on your burner, heat it up until steam shoots out like a volcano for 10 minutes or so, then do an oxiclean/PBW soak you won't have any krausen ring left in there.

 

Ok. Ill give that a shot.

 

Ditto what wyzazz is saying. You mentioned StarSan before, but nothing else. StarSan isn't a cleaner - it is only a surface disinfectant for already clean surfaces. You need to do PBW and/or the burner method to get the soiled material off the surface.

 

My bad. I use oxyclean.

 

If you are only rinsing a counterflow chiller with water, it is gross in there. By using heat to sanitize, it's possible you're killing most everything, but water alone will not clean it so you're building up gunk every time you use it.

 

Ok, so you run PBW through yours?

 

I run 180 - 200 degree oxy clean through mine entire system.

 

Do you do that before AND after brew day? Do you water tinge after the oxyclean?

 

I just run hot water after brewing. I oxyclean before brewing and rinse.