FILTHY Cornies needs some TLC

[JetSmooth]

I picked up four ball lock cornies from fellow forum member Path over the weekend. He lucked into a bunch and I was driving through his neck of the woods so we made a gas station exchange on my way through.

The corniess all seem to be in pretty good condition, though they were FILTHY. He said they still had soda in them that was carbonated. Considering the tags on one of them said it was filled in 2000, that's pretty impressive.

The tops appeared to have mildew or something on them. I popped the tops on them rinsed the insides pretty well and then dunked them topside-down in buckets of oxyclean solution to loosen stuff up. (Stick a racking tube into the top before you dunk them over and it'll let the air out so they'll sink. Duh!) I was able to use a brush to get much of the worst gunk off the tops, but am concerned about anything down in the cracks and seams of the rubber tops. Some of them are cracked around the posts.

I'm happy to give them all the TLC they need, but am looking for advice on what to use. There was some spray paint overspray on one top and what looks like molten metal, or at least liquid solder flaked ont o one of them. What's the best thing to use to deep clean and refresh the rubber? Two are 7-Up kegs, so the tops are blue and the bottoms are black. The other two are black top and bottom.

I want to clean out and then kill anything living down in these things. Definitely planning a soak in Star San for them, but how to really clean them well before hand?

I'd also like to polish up the steel sides. Any threads for that?

Also, if I can't detect any soda small in the o-rings and they seem supple and not worn, can I go ahead and give them a shot? They all seem to be in pretty good shape to me.

Even though I don't have a kegerator or CO2 setup just yet, I'm planning on fermenting, seconding and storing Star San in these.

 

[TipsyDragon]

well i'm telling you right now. remove and replace all o-rings. you can find them online.

unscrew the poppets and dip tubes and soak them in PBW or Oxyclean. fill the keg with HOT water and your cleaner of choice and just drop everything inside and let soak for quite a while. then rinse and clean to your hearts content. reassemble the keg and refill with hot water and cleaner. then close the lid and turn upside down. again let soak then clean clean clean.

 

[masonsjax]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/O-ring
That wiki page lists the mcmaster product numbers for all the o-rings you'll need. They're super cheap, just replace them all. Like TipsyDragon says, just fully disassemble them and soak in oxiclean, then rinse thoroughly and put some starsan in them. Good to go.

Welcome to kegging!

 

[JetSmooth]

So, no real need to be concerned too much about anything living in the rubber caps? I want to make sure I've erradicated the mildew (or whatever it was) before I start using these for beer.

 

[masonsjax]

The inverted soak in oxiclean should be enough. Just rinse them well. I do the same when I get new kegs. I lightly go over the entire outside with a scrubby pad to loosen up dirt before rinsing. They won't look factory fresh, but they're clean enough for me.

 

[JetSmooth]

Awesome.

Now I just need to scrape together for the keezer and CO2.

May be some time before I really get to use these for anything other than storing Star San and fermenting.