Reusing a corny without resanitizing?

[ZBrewMan]

Feeling lazy today, and wondering if it's possible. If the first time I used the keg I thoroughly sanitized it, is there a reason I need to resanitize it again before racking the next batch?

Appreciate any feedback!

 

[SCHUWEET]

No lifeguard on duty.

Keep some starsan mixed on hand for just this occasion.

 

[lumpher]

using a piece of equipment without sanitizing it every time? the main 3 rules of homebrewing:
1: sanitize
2: SANITIZE
3: SANITIZE

 

[COLObrewer]

. . . . is there a reason I need to resanitize it again before racking the next batch?

Appreciate any feedback!

Bacterium is everywhere including the air, chances are you will be fine, you're still going to have air after you sanitize. You'll still have beer even if it gets infected. . . . . . . It is pretty easy to run some sanitizer through though. Your choice

 

[prosper]

using a piece of equipment without sanitizing it every time? the main 3 rules of homebrewing:
1: sanitize
2: SANITIZE
3: SANITIZE

Actually, sanitization is far less important than simple cleaning.

 

[jppostKW]

its possible if your feeling frisky do you force carb in 3 days or set and forget or do you do it with sugar? next question how long does it take to kill a keg less than a week you should be ok more than that i would start to worry just my thoughts

 

[ZBrewMan]

Ya. After I posted I figured I was just bein' a bit tooo lazy. I mixed up some starsan and did my duty. Thanks for the posts.

 

[jkreuze]

My brother's been brewing beer now for the better part of a decade. We were talking brewing up at one of the local watering holes last month when he was in-town and he tells me that he doesn't bother sanitizing kegs that run dry, he just rinses them out and refills them with new beer from a fermenter, and he says he's never had an infection.

(He's an MIT-trained chemical engineer working for a huge pharma company, so he is pretty meticulous about details.)

So there's a fairly extensive set of data points for our graph--he has been kegging for a number of years and presumably has kegged a lot of kegs. On the other hand, is saving yourself a couple of minutes and a few cents worth of star-san worth risking five gallons of beer? Probably not.

 

[finley]

I have been using a system where I keep my starsan in a keg that isn't being used. After a keg is used up, I clean it out real good and put in a touch of pressure to keep the lid in place. When I am going to Keg, I clean all of my transfer equipment, and then throw it in an empty keg. I then fill the keg with hoses and autosiphon in it from the starsan keg.

The keg that had the starsan in it, no becomes the keg I will put my beer in. After the transfer equipment has had a bit of a soak, I pull it out, put the lid on the keg and hit it with a touch of CO2 to keep the lid on.

It means I've got 1 keg out of commission, but the process means that I really don't have to worry too much about it whether it's necessary or not, and I've got to keep my premixed starsan somewhere.

 

[DrawTap88]

I do pretty much the same thing as finley, except mine is in a bucket so I can easily get at the Starsan on a brewing day. I use the bucket since I have to sanitize my autosiphon anyways. Might as well do sanitize the siphon twice (bucket to keg, keg to bucket, beer to keg).

 

[malkore]

I've done it once, no ill effects. I also don't clean my tap lines between every keg refill.

Ideally if its a closed system and cleaned/sanitized first, and the beer going into it wasn't infected, yep its safe.

Skipping it once adds some risk factor but its not guaranteed. Plus the fact that its kept cold, is going to slow down any nasty bugs that might be present.

 

[Baldy_Beer_Brewery]

What I often do has been touched on in several of the replies in this thread.

I've been known to pull a keg from the kegerator and just rack right into it if is a similar beer using the same yeast. If they are not similar or are from different yeasts then I'll rinse. If the keg has been sitting at room temp for any time I'll break it down, clean and sanitize.

I also always force carbonate. If I was priming I likely wouldn't do it this way.

 

[ZBrewMan]

Great bunch of responses. Certainly clarifies my thoughts. A little embarrassed at the question, but I think it was mainly my curiosity that made me ask. Closed system, original beer not infected, purging any new air introduced, should be fairly safe right?

All in all, I'll definitely keep sanitizing though... just silly to try and skip such a simple step.

Thanks again for all the replies!

 

[Nugent]

using a piece of equipment without sanitizing it every time? the main 3 rules of homebrewing:
1: sanitize
2: SANITIZE
3: SANITIZE

Nuff said.

 

[Wellshooter]

I tear my kegs down, rinse thoroughly, dry and then spray the inside with a Star San mixture. When it's time to keg I rinse again and dry before transferring the beer. As for the kegerator lines, I rinse them out once in a while, if there is no beer waiting to be served.

 

[brewingkitty]

i back purge the leg, lines and perlicks with starsan after every single blowout. because i have been lately going from primary to keg at 10 days to clear/carb whilst i wait for it... so i have a wee bit of settled slurry in there waiting for a hot water soak.

 

[Yooper]

I guess my question is "Do you resanitize a bottle every time you fill it?". If you rinse a bottle and just refill, then I guess it's fine to just rinse a keg and refill.

My feeling is that it takes 5 minutes to sanitize a keg. A bit longer, like 15 minutes, if you completely tear it apart first. After spending 5+ hours and $25+ on making the beer, I can spare the 5 minutes to sanitize the keg.

 

[gxm]

I've been amazed at how much crud accumulates at the bottom of a kicked corny keg (say that 3 times fast , so I feel better after scrubbing the kegs with hot PBW and then rinsing with star san.

I've also been considering brewing some batches that push the limits of sanitation. Not sure I'll ever do these...
1 - Spit in a batch before pitching
2 - Open fermentation in my not pristine basement
3 - Not clean a specific keg until it gets an infection

The problem for me is that the penalty (dumping 5 gallons of beer) overrules my desire for knowledge

 

[Daybis]

The steps I use for my kegging
1.) Rinse out old beer
2.) Put about a gallon of warm water in the keg, toss in some oxyclean. Shake the hell out of it, and run the oxyclean through the lines and tap.
3.) Take apart fittings and valves, soak in oxyclean and scrub lightly with a brush. (Replace o-rings if necessary).
4.) Rinse out the keg very well.
5.) Rinse fitting and valves with clean water and attach them back to the keg.
6.) I put a few gallons of clean water in the keg. Shake the hell out of it again, and then run the clean water through the lines and tap.
7.) Gallon of starsan, shake and run the oxyclean through the lines and tap.
8.) Fill keg with more beer.

I always do this to insure that everything is perfectly clean. This way, if I have any off flavors, I know it's from the brewing or fermentation process and not from the kegging process.

 

[j1laskey]

I thought the whole process of making beer (cooking, racking, cleaning, sanitizing, kegging, notice how I omitted bottling...terrible) was supposed to be fun...Laziness should never be associated with fun...just my 2 cents....