Keg cleaning and sanitizing

[new2brew1221]

I have cleaned my keg using OxyClean, and rinsed in hot water several minutes. I am not planning on filling it with my brew until Monday night or Tuesday night. My question is, will the keg be safe for adding beer, if I just rinse it with StarSan immediately before filling?

 

[Golddiggie]

Make sure you get every nook and cranny hit with StarSan before filling it. I would also double, or triple, check to make sure you removed ALL of the oxy residue. It can be a real pain to get completely off. Its one of the reasons i use PBW to clean my kegs and other gear.

I usually pour 3-4 quarts of StarSan solution int my clean keg, shake the F out of it, run that through the beer line and tap then drain until needed for another batch. I also keep it sealed with a few psi in it (5-10) until its going to be filled. Just be sure to drain the StarSan before you set the keg aside for more than a few days. While it shouldn't do anything, better to be safe.

 

[Pappers_]

I have cleaned my keg using OxyClean, and rinsed in hot water several minutes. I am not planning on filling it with my brew until Monday night or Tuesday night. My question is, will the keg be safe for adding beer, if I just rinse it with StarSan immediately before filling?

Yes. You got it right - clean it (which you did) and then sanitize immediately before using.

 

[h22lude]

Make sure you get every nook and cranny hit with StarSan before filling it. I would also double, or triple, check to make sure you removed ALL of the oxy residue. It can be a real pain to get completely off. Its one of the reasons i use PBW to clean my kegs and other gear.

I usually pour 3-4 quarts of StarSan solution int my clean keg, shake the F out of it, run that through the beer line and tap then drain until needed for another batch. I also keep it sealed with a few psi in it (5-10) until its going to be filled. Just be sure to drain the StarSan before you set the keg aside for more than a few days. While it shouldn't do anything, better to be safe.

I have been storing my kegs with a gallon of star san in them under pressure. It doesn't seem to have a negative effect on anything. I think I might start storing with no star san and still under pressure and just hit it with star san right before racking.

 

[PondScum]

I usually take the whole thing apart and soak the parts in PBW for an hour or so. I also fill up the keg with a strong mix of PBW and HOT water and let that set over night.
Rinse everything off really well and store it until I'm ready to keg.
I think you absolutely must sanitize everything just prior to kegging the beer. No point in working so hard up to this point to infect it in the keg.
Put it all back together and put in the Starsan solution and shake the F out of it for a few minutes like Gold said. Run that solution through your lines and you are ready to keg some goodness.

 

[krenshaw]

i don't usually use too much cleaner in my kegs unless there is something stuck on the surfaces for some reason.. i'll give them a good rinse then a good soak in idophor and slosh it around along with the posts and draining some out.. haven't had a problem yet

 

[Pappers_]

I have been storing my kegs with a gallon of star san in them under pressure. It doesn't seem to have a negative effect on anything. I think I might start storing with no star san and still under pressure and just hit it with star san right before racking.

Why do you store them under pressure?

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

There's more than one way to skin a cat, so here's how I skin mine:

When a keg is empty, I wash it pretty much as soon as it's out of the kegarator. That prevents the yeast cake from drying off at the bottom of the keg (akin to dried off yeast in bottles).

My steps:

1) Open keg, spray the bottom with a strong stream of water, about 1/2 gallon. Dump out.
2) Put 1/2 gallon of hot water into keg, add 1/2 scoop of oxyclean. Shake for a minute.
3) Pressurize, flush out through the dip tube using a picnic tap or similar.
4) Drain out.
5) Fill with 1/2 gallon of water, shake for a minute.
6) Pressurize, flush out through the dip tube.
7) Drain out.

As this point I'll consider them "ready to be sanitized and used".

Before filling, I will repeat the steps above using my favorite sanitizer, and yes I do rinse with fresh water.

I seldom ever take a keg apart as I find it overkill. Unless of course I have a reason to do so.

MC

 

[h22lude]

Why do you store them under pressure?

Make sure it doesn't have a slow leak and to keep the lid on as tight as possible to keep it from getting crap in it.