Just got my Keg's in Cleaning questions..

[ohill1981]

Ok so i got my kegs in and they look to be in pretty good shape. They smell a little bit like soda pop and the in and out The Gas in and the Beer out is kind of crusty and dirty..

Currently i am following the instructions on the PBW container and i have mixed 3/4 oz of PBW in 1 gal of water (120F) I shook the gallon vigorously in side the keg and allowed it to sit for 30 minutes. I have read on line people soaking it over night and soaking it over an hour, but once again the PBW container instructions say 25 - 35 minutes. So that is what i am doing. I have rinsed the keg with 120f potable water and now put the gallon of PBW solution back in the keg and turned it up side down. and letting it sit for 30 min. I read this on a how to clean a keg website.

So after doing this to both kegs i plan on dissembling them and cleaning what ever i can get my hands on ...

Can someone offer any advice. on how to clean the Gas in and Liquid out ?

 

[DUNDASJ]

All you need is an adjustable wrench to take the keg connections off from there its easy to clean. Just be careful they sometimes have small parts that can be lost or if your not paying attention when taking it apart you wont remember how it goes back together.

 

[mrduna01]

Also make sure to put the out and in post back on the right sides... They are different diameters or something. I get them mixed up every time and I have to swap them which pisses me off. It's no big deal but something you might not think about.

 

[Surly]

Those small parts DUNDASJ referred? After I soak them in cleaner I soak them in my star San before reassembling. I do this with all my loose parts.

I then use a food grade petroleum jelly and coat all the rings.

After assembling I then add some Star San, shake, turn over, shake and then run the Star San out using CO2.

 

[DUNDASJ]

Also make sure to put the out and in post back on the right sides... They are different diameters or something. I get them mixed up every time and I have to swap them which pisses me off. It's no big deal but something you might not think about.

Good call. I wrote in silver sharpie on my kegs a G on the gas side and a B on the beer side.

 

[ohill1981]

ALso i have the Keg Lines .. They look new .. but i did not run PBW through them... Should i be doing anything to them?

 

[mrduna01]

ALso i have the Keg Lines .. They look new .. but i did not run PBW through them... Should i be doing anything to them?

For the first use just sanatize them and you will be fine.

 

[terrapinj]

grab a dip tube brush - either online or at your LHBS - got lots of crap out of my diptube that a PBW soak didn't remove

i'll second be careful with the small parts - lost my gas diptube down the drain the other night - unfortunately it was one of the narrower plastic ones and not the standard metal ones so I had to order a replacement online, thankfully I wasn't planning on need that keg till next week

 

[copyright1997]

You might also consider replacing the o-rings. On my first couple of kegs, I didn't do so, but now make it a practice unless I know for sure what's been in the keg. I figure for $3.50 a kit (from my lhbs) it's a cheap way to ensure no off flavors (from root beer) or even worse (if used for solvents or some other crap). If you have a bunch of kegs, you might want to look into this ebay listing with 10 kits AND a couple of poppets. I ordered one (haven't gotten it yet) just because it's good o have some around if needed.

 

[Jhenjum]

Also make sure to put the out and in post back on the right sides... They are different diameters or something. I get them mixed up every time and I have to swap them which pisses me off. It's no big deal but something you might not think about.

On most kegs there are dimples on the top of the handle on the gas side.

 

[Lost]

My kegs have an"in" and "out" stamped on the keg itself but you still need to keep the posts straight as they are not the same size and are not interchangeable. The gas side usually has either slits on the base where you put the wrench or the base has a weird flower like circular base. The liquid side has a typical looking six point base.

I take the posts apart and soak in oxyclean and then starsan to clean. A brush for the liquid dip tube is also a good idea.