O-Rings - To Clean or Not to Clean

[Razorback_Jack]

Obviously the o-rings need to be replaced from time to time, or when they’re damaged. Each time I’m cleaning, though, and soaking the posts in brew wash, do I need to remove the o-rings and soak them separately? I don’t want residue to build up, but they can be hard to remove without tearing. If I remove them I might need to replace o-rings every time I clean a keg. I mean, they’re cheap enough on Amazon but still... seems wasteful. What do you all do? I do remove the lid o-ring and the gaskets from both tubes because those are easy. The keg post o-rings are harder to get off without ripping... at least in my limited experience.

Jackson

 

[Robert65]

I do as you do, remove and clean the internal o-rings (lid and tubes.) I never do this with the post o-rings. First, I don't see the need since they never touch beer. And as you note, it just shortens their service life. I do keep them lubed, and that lengthens service life. Replace when necessary.

 

[crazyjake19]

I remove and clean my o-rings every time. Use a plastic o-ring removal tool and you'll never accidentally tear one. If I do damage one in any way, then I replace it.

 

[cubalz]

I do a complete disassembly of my kegs and clean my o rings every time I empty one. Been doing it for a long, long time and never tore an o ring.

 

[augiedoggy]

I am going to assume we are talking about soda kegs here..

I pull the large oring seal from the lid and wipe it down with a wet cloth and throw it in star san... I dont disassemble poppets unless there a problem which would be rare since I dont disassemble my poppets . I do sometimes lube the main seal. I got many of mine from soda distributors often full of soda and never have I found any keg lube on the seal from them. It help through as the seal becomes weak.

I do have a box of spare orings and poppets for rebuilding if there is an issue. I push starsan through them and short of the periodic removal and cleaning of the diptube I never pull poppets apart. my kegs are sanitary when I open them to clean them and they stay sealed and infection free until the next cleaning and sanitation so... I dont put hops/adjucncts or trub into my kegs, only beer If I did it would be a different story. Personal choice but I see no logical reason to be removing the orings from the poppet area personally. it does not need to be done to clean and sanitize them even if one chooses to do that. as others mentioned they are not even subject to beer exposure. after seeing how sanke kegs are cleaned even though the seals do see beer contact it reinforces this belief.

I find the orings on the lid hold up great until they no longer seal due to forming a memory from being compressed for a long time. the oring seals on the lids I use are all easily removed by hand without special tools.

 

[balrog]

I do remove post o-rings every so often. Gas side not so much but beer side will definitely get beer on them with removal/reattachment of the QD. I often switch QD and kegs around so I am connecting/reconnecting liquid QD more than those who put keg in freezer, hook it up and forget it until empty.

As with @augiedoggy , I do not disassemble poppets but never thought those o-ring on tiny poppet heads even came off.

 

[augiedoggy]

Well to be fair, I meant the orings under the poppet posts..

 

[balrog]

 

[augiedoggy]

View attachment 664363

Well yeas that one and the one thats often mounted around the base of both the gas tube and beer diptube under those posts... some people disassemble everything every time they use it... Then again some people disassemble all hot side fittings and sanitize them after cleaning as well for unknown reasons between each use. Totally fine. just not needed.
Now when it comes to cleaning sankes at breweries, all the seals and spring loaded ball are not disassembled each time. They are just cycled with cleaner, water and an acid or sanitizer.

 

[day_trippr]

Over the last couple of years I've taken to not disassembling kegs and simply run them through my Mark II, rinse them thoroughly, pressure test them and fix whatever leaks, then set them aside with ~15 psi on them until needed, when I'll do a Star San purge before filling. I did a spot check full tear-down on a keg just to see if I was missing anything but it was clean as a whistle.

I will say I'm fairly obsessive about keeping crap out of my kegs in the first place and have literally never clogged a poppet...

Cheers!

 

[MikeCo]

I only remove the post o-rings when I need to replace them. Sometimes I remove the posts from the kegs when cleaning and soak the entire assembly in cleaner solution. Other times, I run cleaner solution through the kegerator to clean faucets, dip tubes, poppets, and poppet o-rings. I don't remove the o-rings from the poppets.

If I don't remove the posts from the keg, I just wipe the post and o-ring with a damp cloth and spray with starsan.