Break down kegs all the way every time?

[trojan]

I have just emptied my first kegged brew, best move I have made so far. I am cleaning my Keg for the first time since getting it from Keg Connection. Since I am new to while kegging process, do we need to remove all the parts when cleaning every time or just after so many brews through it? I realize that we can never be too clean, but just wondering what is necessary.
Thanks!

 

[sketerbuck]

My opinion is that it's way too easy to break them down so why take the chance.

 

[bleme]

I've had mine a year now and I've only taken it apart once, to track down a leak. When I empty it, I rinse it out, put a scoop of Oxyclean in and fill it with hot water. I hook it to CO2 and open my picnic tap for a few seconds, then leave it for an hour. I rinse it out well, then fill with hot water and run that through the line for 10-20 seconds. Then I put a gallon of StarSan in, pressurize and shake well and open the tap just long enough to fill the line.

When I am ready to fill it, I shake that StarSan around a bit and dump out.

I think breaking them down wears out the seals faster and I can't see it getting any cleaner.

 

[trojan]

I just have a picnic tap at this point but how do I clean that without taking off hose clamps? My thought was to fill Keg with sanitizer and pressurize and push sanitizer through the line. Is that the best way?

 

[day_trippr]

With all that was invested, for sure it'd be a total ***** to have the next to last step in a beer's life be the stage that a dumper is born.

fwiw, I completely tear down every keg for cleaning, it takes 20 minutes from start to finish including filling with Iodophor mix and burping the poppets.
I'm totally OC about sanitation and have never had an evident infection, and don't mind spending the extra minutes to keep the streak alive...

Cheers!

 

[bleme]

I just have a picnic tap at this point but how do I clean that without taking off hose clamps? My thought was to fill Keg with sanitizer and pressurize and push sanitizer through the line. Is that the best way?

You need to run a cleaner through, then water to rinse the cleaner, then the sanitizer. Sanitizer alone isn't a very good cleaner.

 

[Yalc]

With all that was invested, for sure it'd be a total ***** to have the next to last step in a beer's life be the stage that a dumper is born.

fwiw, I completely tear down every keg for cleaning, it takes 20 minutes from start to finish including filling with Iodophor mix and burping the poppets.
I'm totally OC about sanitation and have never had an evident infection, and don't mind spending the extra minutes to keep the streak alive...

Cheers!

Everything he just said. I almost quit homebrewing after 2 years of frustration, then I starting getting OC about sanitation and have not had an issue in 3 years.

 

[Sammy86]

I've had mine a year now and I've only taken it apart once, to track down a leak. When I empty it, I rinse it out, put a scoop of Oxyclean in and fill it with hot water. I hook it to CO2 and open my picnic tap for a few seconds, then leave it for an hour. I rinse it out well, then fill with hot water and run that through the line for 10-20 seconds. Then I put a gallon of StarSan in, pressurize and shake well and open the tap just long enough to fill the line.

When I am ready to fill it, I shake that StarSan around a bit and dump out.

I think breaking them down wears out the seals faster and I can't see it getting any cleaner.

This is exactly what I do...only time I broke it completely down was when my son was born and it hadn't been cleaned in 4+ months...haven't had any issues

 

[FloppyKnockers]

That sounds like too much work.

I just rinse mine out after they foam. When it's time to keg the next batch I open up a keg and give it a whiff to make sure it didn't go south of cheese. Fill it halfway with sanitizer, thrown some siphons and such in there, wait a few minutes, turn it upside-down, wait a few minutes, empty, then fill with beer.

About once a year (fiiiine, more like two) or so I'll break down a keg and clean all the parts.

 

[zachattack]

At the very least, pop off the "out" post and run a diptube brush down there, especially if you serve a lot of dry-hopped beer. If you've never done it you'll be amazed at all the hop debris that builds up.

 

[passedpawn]

I do a 5m soak in starsan solution with the posts/poppets every time. Dip tubes just get hosed out. If you drink IPAs, you can get some gunk up in there that can cause you some distress.

Get the tool below at Sears (I got it off the shelf, not online). It fits on both size posts, makes quick work of them. I keep it in my kegging bin (with all the extra seals). Oh yea, if you have older kegs, replace the small oring that goes on the dip tube. They really get compressed, and permantly. I just replaced all of mine when I realized I wasn't getting a good seal from one of them. They were ALL in bad shape. I keep extra seals and poppets - they are cheap. Keg lube is great also when you have a hard time getting disconnects on posts.

One more thing, while we are discussing this: the liquid disconnect should be opened and cleaned out occasionally. I think a lot of brewers don't realize that they can take a screwdriver (or a dime) to the slot on the back and open it up. There's a poppet in there and a lot of area for nastiness to collect.



Craftsman 11/16 x 7/8 in. Wrench, Ratcheting Box-End
| Sears Item# 00942165000 | Model# 42165

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-11-16...p-00942165000P

 

[beersk]

I break the liquid side down every time, not the gas side, unless I over fill the keg and beer comes out there. It's so easy to do, why not spend the extra couple minutes?

 

[jmark]

I do the same thing as passedpawn with the posts... I found that tool at Sears a few years back when looking for just one size of wrench... when it turned out to handle both sizes of posts, it was a nice bonus! With the kegs, I built one of those Scrubmaster 3000 contraptions as I was using it for my conical at the time as well... let it rip for 10 mins on the PBW solution and it's beautiful! Quick rinse and then spray down with sanitizer ready for the next batch.

 

[mclardass]

Just a +1 for passedpawn's approach, I'm pretty OC about sanitation and clean out all of my connections each time a keg kicks (including breaking down the quick connects). I also use a DIY pump (got the design somewhere here on HBT) to pump BLC through my lines then break down each Perlick tap. I've never had an infection or chunkies (mold buildup) in my pours so will continue to obsess.

 

[mongoose33]

I've used a different approach. I bought the Mark II carboy cleaner which also allows one to do kegs. I invert the keg on it while running a solution of PBW up into it; the way I have it set up I can also run that solution through the posts and into the dip tubes inside, which cleans them. I set it up for maybe 15 minutes and let it run while I do something else.

Here are a couple pics showing how I do it. If you look carefully you can see a "T" fitting taking cleaner and feeding both a gas and liquid QD. If i run both the gas and liquid qd's at the same time, I get most of the pressure up the gas side; I let that run for a few minutes, then disconnect it so the remainder can clean out the liquid side.

BTW, people make DIY versions of these as well.

 

[mongoose33]

I'm going to throw this in here since I suspect some will run into this problem. I bought 5 used kegs and first thing, I disassembled them all to clean and lube the seals and whatnot.

I just could not get one of the posts to come loose. Those nice round kegs don't lend themselves to leverage; I'd hold that keg between my legs and it would spin as I tried to unscrew the post.

Finally came up with a way to hold the keg in place while I unscrewed the post:

 

[Murphys_Law]

I never break them down. I'll fill with hot PBW, hook up to CO2 and run a gallon through a picnic tap... sit over night.

Rinse well, fill with star san and run another gallon through picnic tap.

 

[Morrey]

I just have a picnic tap at this point but how do I clean that without taking off hose clamps?

My version of cleaning a picnic tap.....

When you hold the quick disconnect (QD) portion in your hand, note the slot in the top of the QD which is a cap that you put a flat bladed screwdriver (or similar) into said slot. Unscrew and take apart. You'll find a clear center stem, a spring and a washer to seal the cap you just removed, so take note of how they came apart for reassembly. Hold the disassembled QD against your faucet so water will be forced thru the picnic tap while keeping the tap open with your other hand.

 

[PlexVector]

I do a 5m soak in starsan solution with the posts/poppets every time. Dip tubes just get hosed out. If you drink IPAs, you can get some gunk up in there that can cause you some distress.

Get the tool below at Sears (I got it off the shelf, not online). It fits on both size posts, makes quick work of them. I keep it in my kegging bin (with all the extra seals). Oh yea, if you have older kegs, replace the small oring that goes on the dip tube. They really get compressed, and permantly. I just replaced all of mine when I realized I wasn't getting a good seal from one of them. They were ALL in bad shape. I keep extra seals and poppets - they are cheap. Keg lube is great also when you have a hard time getting disconnects on posts.

One more thing, while we are discussing this: the liquid disconnect should be opened and cleaned out occasionally. I think a lot of brewers don't realize that they can take a screwdriver (or a dime) to the slot on the back and open it up. There's a poppet in there and a lot of area for nastiness to collect.

Craftsman 11/16 x 7/8 in. Wrench, Ratcheting Box-End
| Sears Item# 00942165000 | Model# 42165
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-11-16...p-00942165000P

Just ordered the wrench...thanks! BTW the link didn't work but the item# and search worked at the sears site.
Edit: And obviously I break mine down all the way.

 

[kh54s10]

I take the posts off and rinse. I drop them, the lid and the lid o-ring in sanitizer. I hose out the dip tube, and rinse out the keg. I stick my arm down there with a rag to loosen all the debris and rinse it out. Re-assemble, sanitize, dump the sanitizer, then fill...

 

[Braufessor]

My opinion is that it's way too easy to break them down so why take the chance.

My thoughts on the subject as well. I always break mine down to clean/sanitize between uses.

Often, I will "clean" 4 kegs or so at a time, leave them disassembled (keep parts together) and then when it comes time to use one I can sanitize it and reassemble it quickly to fill.

 

[Braufessor]

One more thing, while we are discussing this: the liquid disconnect should be opened and cleaned out occasionally. I think a lot of brewers don't realize that they can take a screwdriver (or a dime) to the slot on the back and open it up. There's a poppet in there and a lot of area for nastiness to collect.

+1...... I actually just did this for the first time not that long ago.... holy crap..... Definitely a haven for undesirables that should get attention on a regular basis.

 

[christyle]

I've had gunk get stuck in the poppets of posts, so I fully break down every time. O-rings are cheap and plentiful, it's easy to disassemble everything, and i'd hate to have gunk screw up a new brew. IPAs definitely get some gunk in the posts.

Take the chance, if you want to save 5-10 mins and risk off flavors or infection, but maybe spend another $2 a year on o-rings, that's your choice really. Seems like a no brainer to me...