Confession Time

[Onkel_Udo]

This is a confession now? In that case, oops. Sign me up.

Torques the crap of some folks...even worse when I realized it had been months since I did more.

Still have not cleaned the lines in over 10 batches...maybe 20.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Torques the crap of some folks...even worse when I realized it had been months since I did more.



Still have not cleaned the lines in over 10 batches...maybe 20.

Guilty as charged both offenses lol

 

[Zepth]

Still have not cleaned the lines in over 10 batches...maybe 20.

Are you me? Stop being me, one is enough!

On one of my lines I've got some build-up that comes off in small powdery looking but textureless and tasteless pieces. Guess it'll be the first cleaning as soon as the keg kicks.

 

[kombat]

I do the keg thing too. I don't know why people get so hung up about cleaning and sanitizing the heck out of kegs after every batch. The beer that was just in there was fine, was it not? It wasn't infected, right? So there was just good beer in there before, all you're adding to it is new, good beer, so what's the problem? Where is the infection going to come from if the stuff that was in there before wasn't infected?

 

[nDub]

When I kick a keg and I'm ready to fill it right away I just boil some water and pour it into the corny and put the lid on. Then wait for the steam to build up a little pressure so the lid seals and I shake the tar out of it to sanitize. Then I hook it up to my tap and there is usually enough pressure to push the hot water out and clean my tap that way. Works ok so far. Of course I found the cold to hot loosens the fittings so usually I need to check those.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

When I kick a keg and I'm ready to fill it right away I just boil some water and pour it into the corny and put the lid on. Then wait for the steam to build up a little pressure so the lid seals and I shake the tar out of it to sanitize. Then I hook it up to my tap and there is usually enough pressure to push the hot water out and clean my tap that way. Works ok so far. Of course I found the cold to hot loosens the fittings so usually I need to check those.

Technically, the steam cannot build if the thermal mass is less than boiling temp. what you are feeling is the pressure just from the temperature imbalance in the sealed container...think a good contico coffee cup.

So you are adding say 8-16#'s of boiling to an 8-12# keg (assuming no other liquids)...you are above "tepid" but not much more over "hot tub" once you slosh it around. Soooooo...what have you gained?

 

[ThatVideoKid]

Technically, the steam cannot build if the thermal mass is less than boiling temp. what you are feeling is the pressure just from the temperature imbalance in the sealed container...think a good contico coffee cup.

So you are adding say 8-16#'s of boiling to an 8-12# keg (assuming no other liquids)...you are above "tepid" but not much more over "hot tub" once you slosh it around. Soooooo...what have you gained?

Exactly what I though, steam doesn't build pressure(unless its becoming steam in the container i.e. a boiler). The opposite is actually happening, a loss is pressure from the cooling of the water, like how jars seal when you boil, screw the lid on, and then cool them.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Exactly what I though, steam doesn't build pressure(unless its becoming steam in the container i.e. a boiler). The opposite is actually happening, a loss is pressure from the cooling of the water, like how jars seal when you boil, screw the lid on, and then cool them.

It works a little different if you are, in my example, adding 2/5ths of volume 212 water to 3/5ths 70 degree air, even with conductive loses of the SS jacket, you will create pressure. It will not be steam (for the most part) but it is positive pressure.

 

[ThatVideoKid]

It works a little different if you are, in my example, adding 2/5ths of volume 212 water to 3/5ths 70 degree air, even with conductive loses of the SS jacket, you will create pressure. It wil nt be steam (for the most part) but it is positive pressure.

Okay, I don't claim to know anything about physics(coulda, shoulda, woulda, but I chose TV broadcasting as a career instead for some reason, even though I was in the top of my organic chemistry class in HS) just going by what I observe in life, and the physics I do know. I assume you are correct, but if it were left to cool down to 70(not that this is anywhere in the example, I just want to validate myself), it would create negative pressure from the gasses and liquid shrinking in volume, correct?

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Okay, I don't claim to know anything about physics(coulda, shoulda, woulda, but I chose TV broadcasting as a career instead for some reason, even though I was in the top of my organic chemistry class in HS) just going by what I observe in life, and the physics I do know. I assume you are correct, but if it were left to cool down to 70(not that this is anywhere in the example, I just want to validate myself), it would create negative pressure from the gasses and liquid shrinking in volume, correct?

As long as you vented some air while it was pressurized, yep. Your canning example, the lids are on loosely to allow the contents to expand and "vent" air. You tighten the lid (normally just the sealing ring) while still hot and the cooling creates the vacuum hence popping the lids down.

I learned a lot as kid doing canning with my parents as my dad was a research AG professor and mom a former high school Home Ec teacher (with a minor in Chemistry). Amazing that we figured that process out so many decades ago before modern science...just like old time brewers figuring out differential volumes for step mashing (add x gallons of boiling water to x gallons of 70 degree water to get your strike temp) before modern thermometers.

 

[kombat]

If you put boiling water into a room temperature keg, seal it, and shake it, you will most definitely get positive pressure inside the keg, even though the water is technically cooling rapidly as it contacts the keg. This is because sloshing it around rapidly heats the air inside the keg, causing it to expand. Since it cannot actually expand, instead this manifests as a pressure increase.

 

[biochemedic]

Go Physics Derail!!!!! (Better than economics by far!)

 

[ThatVideoKid]

Yeah I just had to think about it for a second longer, I wasn't thinking about the cold air in the keg, just thinking about hot water cooling down. Thanks for the physics lesson though! Don't do nearly enough learning in TV, besides lots of technical stuff

 

[nDub]

...you are above "tepid" but not much more over "hot tub" once you slosh it around. Soooooo...what have you gained?

Huh? Is this one of those "well actually..."?

I agree with kombat that the hot water heats the air in the keg and expands creating pressure -not steam. But I don't rely on the hot air to clean or santize, I shake the boiling water (or near boiling water now) until the whole keg is hot to the touch. I then pour the content out through my tap. Water is still too hot to touch. I do this whole process in less than five minutes.

What I've gained? I'd say at a minimum I'm cleaning the keg and ideally sanitizing the inside with (near) boiling water. And I"m cleaning my tap line and tap.

 

[ThatVideoKid]

Huh? Is this one of those "well actually..."



I agree with kombat that the hot water heats the air in the keg and expands creating pressure -not steam. But I don't rely on the hot air to clean or santize, I shake the boiling water (or near boiling water now) until the whole keg is hot to the touch. I then pour the content out through my tap. Water is still too hot to touch. I do this whole process in less than five minutes.



What I've gained? I'd say at a minimum I'm cleaning the keg and ideally sanitizing the inside with (near) boiling water. And I"m cleaning my tap line and tap.

Yeah, if it cooled down to "below hot tub" that fast, we wouldn't have all invested in wort chillers!

 

[Onkel_Udo]

What I've gained? I'd say at a minimum I'm cleaning the keg and ideally sanitizing the inside with (near) boiling water. And I"m cleaning my tap line and tap.

Most of that post was indicating you were not creating steam in keg as you initially stated...did not want others to take that and run with it.

I agree completely on your comments about it cleaning and even some limited sanitizing action (really depends on a lot of factors but mostly contact time over 180 f or at least 165 f). The line cleaning part I am bit dubious about as you pumping the crud that settled in the keg though the lines unless you are rinsing that out before putting in your boiling water but I a sure does have the effect of purging the prior beer from the line.

But mostly...it was a comment about "what have you gained" over a hot tap water rinse since it appeared you were responding to my comment about just rinsing my kegs and refilling...the dancing banana was to acknowledge it was all in fun.

 

[thadeus_d3]

I never use hydrometers. I stopped after breaking my second hydrometer and don't really miss it.

I also rinse out my kegs after they've been tapped. I do soak in PBW or oxyclean after every 3 batches or so. Along the same lines, I don't clean my beer line with each brew either.

 

[Firewalker11]

If you put boiling water into a room temperature keg, seal it, and shake it, you will most definitely get positive pressure inside the keg, even though the water is technically cooling rapidly as it contacts the keg. This is because sloshing it around rapidly heats the air inside the keg, causing it to expand. Since it cannot actually expand, instead this manifests as a pressure increase.

Hmmm, I was thinking it would do this:

https://youtu.be/JtqHsCSU3AY?t=69

 

[Toejam792]

My keezer as been up and flowing since 12-2014 and I've never cleaned the lines. The beer is still great that comes out.

 

[splyn]

While trying to reduce the amount of trub into the fermenter, i used a stainless steel scrub pad around my kettle inlet as a strainer. After about a gallon it clogged and i couldnt free it with tongs, paddle, etc. So i just reached in with my unsanitized hairy arm and pulled it out. In the end, i still had a mighty fine tasting DIPA and no detectable infection.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

While trying to reduce the amount of trub into the fermenter, i used a stainless steel scrub pad around my kettle inlet as a strainer. After about a gallon it clogged and i couldnt free it with tongs, paddle, etc. So i just reached in with my unsanitized hairy arm and pulled it out. In the end, i still had a mighty fine tasting DIPA and no detectable infection.

FYI...use at least one oz of whole hops for at least a 30 minute boil and the odds of this happening greatly reduce. This is still my process 20 years after my first plugged dip tube.

Also, clearing a clog by blowing into the drain hose can be just as effective...

 

[DrunkleJon]

FYI...use at least one oz of whole hops for at least a 30 minute boil and the odds of this happening greatly reduce. This is still my process 20 years after my first plugged dip tube.

Also, clearing a clog by blowing into the drain hose can be just as effective...

But be sure that the wort is properly chilled first. I would not want to see pictures of someone with horrible burns all over their face from trying this and having hot wart blast them in the face.

 

[starsman20]

Big time confession. I hadn't brewed in 2 months so I ran some water through my system to be sure all the valves and pumps were working. At the end of the trial I opened a manual over ride valve to pump the water from the BK to the front yard. 90 minutes later at the end of the mash time I start to sparge. I adjusted the outflow from the MT to the BK to match the inflow. 3 minutes later I couldn't figure out where all the wort had gone to. Turns out the over ride valve never got closed and before I realized it 10 gallons of good wort fertilized the front yard. ahhhhhhhhhh

 

[GHBWNY]

I finally have my own brew space. Traded my wife a new laundry room upstairs for her old one downstairs. My problem [confession] is that I haven't had time to brew in it. But I do walk into it every couple of days and *imagine*.

 

[NothingRhymesWithCurtiss]

Turns out the over ride valve never got closed and before I realized it 10 gallons of good wort fertilized the front yard. ahhhhhhhhhh

So you quickly planted hops in the wort-soaked area, right? I mean, hops go in beer, wort turns into beer, it only makes sense...

 

[starsman20]

So you quickly planted hops in the wort-soaked area, right? I mean, hops go in beer, wort turns into beer, it only makes sense...

I was too busy crying to think of that.

 

[Pyg]

...Turns out the over ride valve never got closed and before I realized it 10 gallons of good wort fertilized the front yard. ahhhhhhhhhh

I don't usually laugh at someone else's misfortune, but yeah I laughed hard at this!
Thanks!

 

[VApatriot]

I confess, I'm not fond of dry hopping in a glass carboy. Fortunately I'm placing my order for my 7 gallon Chronical today and future exploits of dry hopping is expected to be much easier. :rockin:

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I confess that has 20+ years of using a hand crank PhilMill 2, and pontificating about how it really is not that hard...I was lying.

I can now admit this as my renter bought me a Cereal Killer so I would brew more, so he could drink more of my beer without being tasked with hand cranking the dinosaur every other batch as payment.

 

[Hamaki]

I confess that has 20+ years of using a hand crank PhilMill 2, and pontificating about how it really is not that hard...I was lying.

I can now admit this as my renter bought me a Cereal Killer so I would brew more, so he could drink more of my beer without being tasked with hand cranking the dinosaur every other batch as payment.

Forced to hand crank every other batch in exchange for free homebrew? The horror!