Check my logic on this...

[duskb]

I'm about ready to keg a batch that happens to be the same beer (with the same parent yeast strain) as the batch that I just emptied out of a fresh empty keg.

It occurred to me, since the beer is the same, the yeast is the same, and the keg was fully sanitized when I kegged it the first time; how bad of an idea is it to cut corners and transfer this new batch straight into the keg of the batch before it without cleaning?

Technically, no bacteria has worked it's way in there the first time so I'm not sure why one would go to the headache to scrub, clean, sanitize if it's only going to be opened long enough to dump more of the same beer into it.

There's probably is some leftover sediment at the bottom of the keg. Not sure how that affects things.

Thoughts?

 

[djsethall]

Once a beer has been boiled, sanitation is key. Would you risk dumping 5 gallons down the drain just to save 15 minutes of light work?

 

[duskb]

Once a beer has been boiled, sanitation is key. Would you risk dumping 5 gallons down the drain just to save 15 minutes of light work?

Probably not which is why I've never done this. Then again to the best of my knowledge the keg is already sanitized, is it not?

EDIT: Come to think of it, it's not much different than throwing fresh wort on a yeast cake in a used fermenter.

(Now I'm really looking for an explanation)

 

[djsethall]

Thats the beauty of homebrew, trying new things. It's just something I would never do. I do reuse yeast, but I harvest it from the fermenter, make a yeast starter and then re-pitch into a clean sanitized fermenter. Thats me though. If it works for you, then do it. I m just not willing to risk 6-8 hours of brewtime to save 15 minutes of cleaning. Kinda like tripping over dollars to pick up pennies. Just my 1/12th of a shilling.

 

[Slipgate]

I've done it before with no problems when I am feeling lazy. 9 times out of 10 though I do a fuill cleaning of the keg between batches with starsan and all.

How long does your beer sits in the keg. If it takes you 3-4 months to drink it all, it is probably time to clean the keg, especially if it was empty for awhile. If you blow through kegs quickly, then you could get away with it easier. Technically, there is no reason not to do it.

 

[duskb]

I've done it before with no problems when I am feeling lazy. 9 times out of 10 though I do a fuill cleaning of the keg between batches with starsan and all.

How long does your beer sits in the keg. If it takes you 3-4 months to drink it all, it is probably time to clean the keg, especially if it was empty for awhile. If you blow through kegs quickly, then you could get away with it easier. Technically, there is no reason not to do it.

For the record I always scrub, oxyclean and then idophor the keg to get it sparking clean. (Though I've discovered recently that the dip tubes have matter in them I cannot remove which is a long term issue I'll need to sort out). This is the first time when I've been tempted to try this. I'm not willing to sacrifice it though...

In this case the beer has been in there for just over a month. The new batch should be ready in a few days. I was curious if there were consequences to make the transfer as is.

 

[ksbrain]

I haven't yet done what you're proposing, but I still say go for it. I think it would work.

The only issue I see is that the yeast that's in there from the first batch is just getting older. Maybe that leads to autolysis flavor?

Actually, never mind. It is really easy to rinse and re-sanitize the keg. Not worth the risk. Just do a skimpy job of scrubbing, but at least dump out the old crap leftover at the bottom of the keg, and sanitize again. At worst, this adds like ten minutes and the cost of a capfull of Iodophor.

 

[HSB]

(Though I've discovered recently that the dip tubes have matter in them I cannot remove which is a long term issue I'll need to sort out).

I'm avoiding the main question you had and jumping at the parenthetical, because I had a similar situation.

The story: My buddy gave me a pinlock that he had. He had aquired it a few years back, and then just never got into kegging. Being a cool cat, he handed it over to me. However whoever gave it to him did not clean it prior to the transaction. This thing was NASTY. Literally made me gag when I opened her up.

Anyway, I came up with a ridiculously silly, yet effective, way to get the gag inducing crap out of the dip tube. First step was an overnight soak in oxyclean (nothing new there). Next step was to wad up paper towels and create a spit-gun contraption with the high pressure stream from my back yard hose. I shot my wads (uhhhh, I know that doesn't sound right...can't come up with less suggestive wording at the moment, homebrew is killing my grammaticals) through the dip tube untill the little blobs of paper towel remained white after their flight into my yard. The thing looks like a mirror in there now.

I hope that all made sense. It probably sounds strange, but it was really effective for the most horribly contaminated keg I have ever seen.

 

[ChandlerBang]

Next step was to wad up paper towels and create a spit-gun contraption with the high pressure stream from my back yard hose. I shot my wads (uhhhh, I know that doesn't sound right....

Dip. Tube. Brush.

 

[boo boo]

Actually, never mind. It is really easy to rinse and re-sanitize the keg. Not worth the risk. Just do a skimpy job of scrubbing, but at least dump out the old crap leftover at the bottom of the keg, and sanitize again. At worst, this adds like ten minutes and the cost of a capfull of Iodophor.

Actually sanitizer won't work well on dirty surfaces, so unless your rinse actually cleans the keg, sanitizing won't happen.

 

[duskb]

Actually sanitizer won't work well on dirty surfaces, so unless your rinse actually cleans the keg, sanitizing won't happen.

That's what I thought. Honestly if I can't realistically keg straight onto the old yeast there's no point in going any further. It's easier to just rinse and sanitize. Not that I have an objection to it. I was curious what sort of academic objections existed to my idea.

Also, I bought a .22 ga cleaning kit this weekend (needed a spare anyways) in hopes that the cotton brush and the cleaning rod would fit into the dip tube. This might be a good way to clean out the tube (short of spit balls). If it works I'll report back.

 

[-TH-]

Regarding your original question, I still am not convince it would be a bad idea. I am in no way an expert in sanitation and also relatively new to kegging, but I don't see why drinking a batch over a 2 month period and then racking another like batch into the same keg which is then consumed over a 2 month period is all that much different than drinking one single batch over a 4 month period.

 

[djsethall]

Regarding your original question, I still am not convince it would be a bad idea. I am in no way an expert in sanitation and also relatively new to kegging, but I don't see why drinking a batch over a 2 month period and then racking another like batch into the same keg which is then consumed over a 2 month period is all that much different than drinking one single batch over a 4 month period.

Mmmmmmmmmmm 4 month old kegged beer.

 

[rexbanner]

I'm about ready to keg a batch that happens to be the same beer (with the same parent yeast strain) as the batch that I just emptied out of a fresh empty keg.

It occurred to me, since the beer is the same, the yeast is the same, and the keg was fully sanitized when I kegged it the first time; how bad of an idea is it to cut corners and transfer this new batch straight into the keg of the batch before it without cleaning?

Technically, no bacteria has worked it's way in there the first time so I'm not sure why one would go to the headache to scrub, clean, sanitize if it's only going to be opened long enough to dump more of the same beer into it.

There's probably is some leftover sediment at the bottom of the keg. Not sure how that affects things.

Thoughts?

I never clean my kegs. I unscrewed everything and cleaned them with PBW when I bought them used. Ever since then, I simply pour a bit of starsan in, shake it up and pour it out, and repeat this a few times. I then look inside to make sure no yeast is caked on the bottom. Then I run some starsan through the tap, clean the posts, and then I rack my beer in.

35 batches. Zero infections.

 

[duskb]

Also, I bought a .22 ga cleaning kit this weekend (needed a spare anyways) in hopes that the cotton brush and the cleaning rod would fit into the dip tube. This might be a good way to clean out the tube (short of spit balls). If it works I'll report back.

Following up on this.

I did discover that the standard .22ga rifle cleaning kit with the cotton swab end will fit nicely into the dip tubes in a keg. All for $7.95 at Wall Mart.

There were alot of residual oils on the rod so I had to rub it off with alcohol several times at first and sanitize.

My dip tubes are now as clean as my shotgun barrel. Can't believe what was left in there.

Take it FWIW.