Corny Keg sanitation

[Soma]

How do you sanitize your corny kegs between batches? I believe my past couple of beers were contaminated in the keg, possibly from some beer getting stuck in the connections.

My plan now is to fill the corny keg with some brewers wash solution, force some through it with c02, then repeat with starsan. Do you think this will be sufficient?

Also, how do you prevent oxidation in a corny keg? Mine doesn't have a bleeder valve on top to expel oxygen. Any tips here? Appreciate the help.

 

[Apoxbrew]

here's what i do -

fully disassemble.

fill with your choice of oxygen cleaner (whole other debate on that one) and let soak for 20 minutes. i just throw all of the keg parts in the keg for the soak. 15min through the soak i flip the dip tube since it sticks out a little bit.

drain and "scrub" as needed (i just use a wash cloth at this point as the oxyclean does a great job.

rinse well then repeat exact same process, except with starsan (5 min soak is more than adequate at this point). drain half starsan off and reassemble (lube orings as necessary). once buttoned up, shake well to ensure full coverage. then drain.

fill with beer.

if you're not refilling the keg immediately, just complete the cleaning process (leaving it disassembled) and cover the top with a shopping bag to keep crap out while you store it. then when you're ready to use, do the starsan soak.

 

[Yooper]

It takes like 5 minutes to take off the posts and clean them and pull out the diptubes and clean them. To see if there is any crud in the long diptube, take off the "out" post and hold the long diptube up to a light and look through it. I make lots of hoppy beers, and the stuff I've seen in there is really gross! I've also picked pieces of debris out of the poppit. If you've never broken down your keg, NOW is the time! I do it each time.

I remember having this conversation not long ago and I asked, "Ok, you clean your keg every third time? Do you wash your dishes every third time you eat?" Just a thought!

 

[Yooper]

As far as oxidation goes, you can give the keg a blast of co2 before and after you fill it. Then purge it and give it another shot.

I fill, and then give it a blast of co2. Purge, and repeat twice more. Then I move it to the kegerator. If you don't have a pressure relief valve, you can use an instrument (like a chopstick) to press down on the "in" (gas) post.

 

[Boleslaus]

If you didn't rinse/clean your keg soon after it kicked, its possible that some crud is in your dip tube. Letting it soak and rinsing it could clean it out, but you may have to clean it better. After you check it, if it is dirty, you can go to a music store and buy a cleaning brush for a trumpet or some similar smaller brass instrument. Looks like a smaller more flexible bottle washing brush.