deoderizing kegs

[apo09283]

What is the best method for neutralizing odors in kegs? I just bought a bunch of used cornys and three still had beer in them. The beer had gone bad and I suspect it was in there much longer than the two years claimed by the previous owner. Each keg had dozens of hard water deposit rings around the inside top of the kegs where I imagine the guy let them soak with out the lids over an extended period of time allowing the water to slowly evaporate. I scrubbed all the hard water rings out of them but the three that still had beer in them smell bad.

I soaked and scrubbed each keg with Powder Line Cleaner (sodium metasilicate) for 24 hours. I rinsed well and sanitized the kegs that had no odor with Iodophor. I was thinking about using vanilla, lemon or sodium bicarb to deodorize the three bad ones but thought I would check here first.
Cheers,
Bill

 

[lumpher]

i had the same situation with some of my kegs. let the nasty kegs sit in iodophor water for 3-4 days.

 

[buzzkill]

I break mine down and scub them out with a green scrubby and some Dawn dish soap with hot water. or soak them with hot water and Oxy free. I got some PBW but have yet to try it.

 

[prosper]

Acidified bleach ought to do it very quickly. Clean the kegs first - oxyclean or PBW really works well here, and does most of the grunt work for you, but feel free to use a scrubby and soap if you like. Then, rinse, fill with warm water, add 1oz each of bleach, then vinegar (but don't add the bleach to the vinegar, then to the water!). Let it sit for an hour, then invert the keg in a bucket to take care of the top. Naturally, you'll want to disassemble the posts, poppets, tubes, and pressure release, and soak them in the sanitizer as well. When using bleach (or iodophor) on stainless, DON'T let it sit for more than about an hour!

Then rinse, sanitize, and use.

 

[samc]

Hot water & oxyclean has always done the job for me. Toss out the rubber O-rings and buy new ones as they are really the only parts that will hold the smell. I've never had to scrub corny kegs, but then again they were soda leftovers, not beer stone. If you have any beer stone you might have to go back to the line cleaner soak or scrub with BarKeepers Friend.

If you still have odor, Sodium Bicarb might do the trick, but lemon/vanilla would only be masking the smell and then you are going to have lemon/vanilla beer.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

Hot oxy soak, and replace all the o-rings. Take the liquid and gas connectors off, and soak the poppets in hot oxy. Use a dip tube brush and scrub out the liquid tube. Also, take the pressure relief out of the lid and soak it, too.

I have used that method to clean badly infected kegs full of carbonated vinegar.

:rockin:

 

[Beerrific]

Stainless cleans pretty easily and does not hold odors. If it still smells, something is not clean. I would repeat the cleaning follow the above recommendations.

 

[Battery_BreweryNJ]

I break mine down and scub them out with a green scrubby and some Dawn dish soap with hot water. or soak them with hot water and Oxy free. I got some PBW but have yet to try it.

Never ever use any type of dish soap for nething that is used for brewing, especially kegs or bottles. soap contains wetting agents and will ruin head retention. Back to the topic, Five star chems make something called sani-clean that is similar to starsan but cleans as well as sanitizes. Its was made to remove odors. Pricey stuff but works awesome

 

[buzzkill]

hot water rinse,then cold water rinse. never had a problem.

 

[jmkratt]

I will re-hash the hot water, oxyclean free, rinse, sanitize solution. Has worked every time for me.

I built a corny cleaner out of a bucket, irrigation extension, and sump pump and leave the keg in each solution 20-30 minutes (except the Starsan). Works great and is so easy it's not even funny. Not necessary at all though I just am lazy and hate scrubbing

 

[apo09283]

I appreciate the responses. I agree with the poster who said not to use dish soap as it does affect head retention. I have already disassembled the kegs after 24 hours of soaking. (12 hours on each end) Every part was disassembled, soaked, scrubbed and rinsed. Keg lube was applied to all popetts, gaskets, seals and relief valves. Three of the kegs continue to smell bad so I'll give oxyclean a try then Saniclean if that does not work.

One question for the oxyclean crowd......how much do you use an how do you use it? My container does not have any info regarding its use as a deodorizer.
Thanks,
Bill

 

[jmkratt]

I usually use a half scoop of OxyClean Free. If it's real bad I'll toss in a whole scoop, but I don't think it's necessary.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

1 scoop = 5 gallons of water.

I go with a scoop per keg.

 

[Wayne1]

Back to the topic, Five star chems make something called sani-clean that is similar to starsan but cleans as well as sanitizes. Its was made to remove odors. Pricey stuff but works awesome

I'm not sure where you got this information, but you are mistaken. Despite it's name, Saniclean is NOT a cleaner. It is a sanitizer. It is pretty much the same thing as StarSan (an acid anionic sanitizer) but it is low foam. It was developed to use in CIP systems in dairy and brewing use where the foam produced by StarSan would cause cavitation in the pump systems.

To the OP, first off get rid of ALL o-rings and seals. That is where the smell is coming from. You cannot remove the smell from the rubber. They are cheap enough to replace.

Here are the McMaster Carr part numbers for the o-rings that fit the ball-lock kegs:

Dip Tube O-Rings
5/16" ID x 1/2"OD x 3/32" width
9452K172 BunaN #109
Pkg 100/$1.89 (yes, these are the same ones the shops sell for fifty cents EACH.)

Post O-Rings
7/16" ID x 5/8" OD x 3/32" width
9452K23 BunaN #111
Pkg 100/$2.15

Lid O-Rings
3 1/2" ID x 4" OD x 1/4" width
9452K218 BunaN #417
Pkg 10/$12.50

Once you have replaced ALL the o-rings, soak the keg and lid with posts disassembled in Oxyclean or PBW for a day or two. DO NOT USE BLEACH. Bleach WILL put pin holes in stainless steel with extended contact. Use warm to hot water to mix the Oxyclean or PBW to avoid excessive foaming.

After soaking, rinse well. Warm water would be best, but cold works well. Rinse repeatedly. 3-4 times. Rinse and assemble all the parts to the keg. Fill the keg up with cool water and add either Saniclean or Starsan. This solution can be reused and transferred from keg to keg. Allow at least 5 minutes contact time. Drain or transfer the sanitizer. DO NOT RINSE. Seal the keg up. You are now ready to fill it up or store it.

 

[camiller]

If there is "beer stone" you may need to use some sort of acid based cleaner to break it up. Or soak with an extra strong star-san solution. First clean as well as possible with oxi-clean/pbw/whatever then if the "hard water deposit rings" persist use the acid wash. Muriatic acid(Hydrochloric acid) from the pool supplies section or masonry section of your local hardware store might be cheaper, handle with care.