Don't Do That.

[beren]

Here's one that might be good for the noobs.

You've maybe read about this lovely stuff called PBW (powdered brewery wash); relatively cheap, and advertised as great for cleaning your equipment. You may have looked at the price and thought, oh heck no, I can do just as well with storebought oxyclean (scent free please) and other household cleaners. (Never bleach, please and thank you.). I'll be fine!!!

Then, after nine years of homebrewing, you finally decide to buy a 1lb tub of the stuff, just to see what it can do. Leave it on the shelf for a few weeks, because busy. Then one Saturday, that you finally have free, decide to use it to clean some somewhat nasty kegs that you've had for several years. Always rinsed out, scrubbed a bit at the crud inside, but thought oh heck this is fine. That Saturday, you fill a keg with hot water and the prescribed amount of PBW, thinking well, it might do some good. Leave it in for 30 minutes, shaking several times. Then....

You dump it out (or push to the next keg needing cleaning). Pop that keg lid and...you are temporarily blinded by the shininess inside. Without any scrubbing, that stuff did away with several years of scale/beerstone/nastiness. Leaving a keg that looks brand new on the inside. And you put on your old softball cleats, and proceed to kick yourself into next week for not doing this sooner.

I made up ONE 5g batch in hot water, and it proceeded to clean three kegs to a fare-thee-well with minimal scrubbing. Right now it's recirculating through my plate chiller to give that a good cleanout. All for less than $3 per treatment.

Why didn't I do this sooner? Good question. Thought I could do things cheaper, or my cleaning was sufficient.

TL;DR; PBW is your friend. You know, that friend that comes over on a weekend and helps you clean when your in-laws are coming over, and doesn't expect anything in return. DO DO THAT.

Wait until you see how well it does with a decent pump, near boiling water, and sanke kegs . Can run one for 5 or 10 mins on the pump, pull it, start the next, and then put it on cold water for rinsing when done, swap again.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Slicing sourdough accident. Luckily it was only almost deep enough for a medical visit.

 

[IslandLizard]

Slicing sourdough accident. Luckily it was only almost deep enough for a medical visit.

Ouch!
Sourdough can be pungent, but didn't know it could become that sharp...

Were you slicing it?

 

[seatazzz]

Wait until you see how well it does with a decent pump, near boiling water, and sanke kegs . Can run one for 5 or 10 mins on the pump, pull it, start the next, and then put it on cold water for rinsing when done, swap again.

All of my kegs are cornies, so don't really have a setup to recirculate unless I want to buy more stuff. Shaking every few minutes worked just great. The leftover solution did a number on my plate chiller though, lots of brown flakes came out of it after only 30 minutes recirculation each way. I'm definitely a fan now. Got my spare carb stones soaking in some now.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Ouch!
Sourdough can be pungent, but didn't know it could become that sharp...

Were you slicing it?

Surprisingly bread crust can cut you, in my early twenties I worked a temp job for on shift at a commercial bakery, packing Italian bread and hero loaves into boxes. To keep up the pace I’d grab 2 loaves in each hand and pack them. The employer didn’t provide gloves (probably a health code violation even back then) and I finished the shift with little bloody cuts on my cuticles. Ewe.

Yes, serrated bread knife, bouncing off the crust, so that my thumb was no longer a safe distance from it. About 40 years ago a hand saw blade skipped across the same thumb. /// light scaring as a reminder to “Don’t do that!” Again. The picture above was taken the day after.

 

[BandonBrewingCo]

Wait until you see how well it does with a decent pump, near boiling water, and sanke kegs . Can run one for 5 or 10 mins on the pump, pull it, start the next, and then put it on cold water for rinsing when done, swap again.

Pbw says to rinse with the same temp water. Is that not necessary?

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Pbw says to rinse with the same temp water. Is that not necessary?

I think it's the most optimal but whatever temp works.

 

[Agent]

What the heck was in that bottle?

Brew on

That was from a wine barrel aged imperial honey blonde, itself now nearly 7 years aged.

 

[Snuffy]

That was from a wine barrel aged imperial honey blonde, itself now nearly 7 years aged.

How was it?

 

[Agent]

Certa

How was it?

Certainly past its prime.
But I'm not passing judgement on it; I've looked in the mirror recently.

 

[refect]

Thought it would be a good idea to put pressure on the FV and open the top port so co2 was pushing out and no o2 could go in while I attempted to dump pumpkin spice into the beer. Created a cloud of pumpkin spice as it blew everywhere.

Don't do that.

 

[Snuffy]

Thought it would be a good idea to put pressure on the FV and open the top port so co2 was pushing out and no o2 could go in while I attempted to dump pumpkin spice into the beer. Created a cloud of pumpkin spice as it blew everywhere.

Don't do that.

Your beer was defending itself.

 

[refect]

Your beer was defending itself.

It probably was