Have a refurbished keg; how much cleaning is necessary?

[nibiyabi]

Here is the cleaning method my main homebrewing book gives:

1. Rinse the keg with hot water and inspect. Put the lid in a pan of hot water.

2. Fill keg halfway with hot water then add one-quarter ounce of BTF [Star San in my case]. Install the lid and shake the keg to coat all surfaces.

3. Pressurize the keg with 5 psi of CO2, shake again to recoat surfaces.

4. Run about a cup of sanitizer out through the dispensing line. Shake again.

5. When the keg has had twenty minutes of contact with the sanitizer, remove all lines, relieve the pressure, open the keg, and pour off the sanitizer. It may be saved and reused.

6. Depress the "out" poppet to drain sanitizer from the pickup tube.

7. Rinse once, then fill halfway with clean, hot water. Reseal, pressurize, and run some water through the dispensing line, then remove the line.

8. Relieve the pressure, open the keg, and drain. Keep the keg upside down until cooled. It's now ready to fill.

Does this seem a bit excessive? Less work went into making the beer.

 

[woodstone]

I have 4 used kegs...never replaced any of the disposables except the washers on the ball lock itself. When just purchased, pull each one apart (by itself so you don't mix componets between kegs), clean, put together, fill with hot water and cleaner, let sit for awhile, drain through the beer out and depress gas in, rinse, test pressure, should be good. I've had no problems, no leaks, and all of them REAKED of syrup to start with!!!

For my current kegs, I now simply rinse when empty (eyeball and scrub when necessary), store with water and Idophor, rinse, and fill. I only fully pull apart and scrub every third or forth brew. I've had no issues. Good luck!

 

[alohanole]

I recommend using a cleaner of some sort before the sanitizer. I use oxi clean for a good soak and then use the star san. I also replace all the o-rings from the start. They are cheap and often the old ones need replacing anyway.

 

[Blender]

If you just got the keg I would clean it real well. If it is refurbished then I assume there are new O rings installed. A sanitizer is not a cleaner. I clean my kegs with PBW and then sanitize them before filling.

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

HOT water bath/soak, including dip tubes and post. Soak/rinse of starsan solution (or your favorite sanitizing solution) and new O rings. I do the same when I go to use it again, minus the O rings (unless I see excessive wear or nicks).

 

[Bobby_M]

It only sounds like a big deal because you haven't done it before.

There's a big difference in my cleaning process depending on whether it's a newly aquired keg and if it's a quick re-use. If I just got it, after an overnight soak filled with hot oxyclean water and then everything comes apart. I scrub the inside of the keg with a dedicated keg cleaning toilet brush. I run a 1/4" x 24" long brush down the diptube a few times.

If it's a quick reuse, I rinse it with hot water and then do the OP's routine with iodaphor.

 

[david_42]

Remember, there will be 5 gallons of homebrew in each keg.

It's worth the effort.

 

[nibiyabi]

Alright, you guys convinced me. Off I go.

 

[GreenwoodRover]

My first keg all i did was the starsan routine and i got some really funky off flavors that i later attributed to the kegs previous occupant.
I then dissassemebed it and did a hot oxtclean soak overnight drained and rinsed with hot water and let air dry before the starsan routine. Then the syrup flavor was gone.

 

[nibiyabi]

To my surprise, the place that sold it to me did a thorough cleaning job before I got it. That thing was sparkling inside. Just to be safe, I filled the keg with Star San, boiled the lid, fitted the lid, shook it, and when I get my CO2 later today I'll finish the cleaning.

 

[Brewsmith]

It's not the inside of the keg I would be worried about. It's the posts, poppets, pressure release valve and lid that will be the biggest place for crusty gunk to hide and not get cleaned. Take them all apart and use a scrub brush.

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

NEW RINGS! Would suck to have 'Cola' flavored beer...

Mcmaster has them mad cheap; let me know if you need the part numbers.

 

[nibiyabi]

All the other parts were not refurbished -- they came brand new in sealed plastic bags. I did boil the lid, however.