Two kegs dedicated to cleaning?

[OpenSights]

Went in on a Craigslist deal with a friend on some kegs. Turned out they were pin lock, I use ball lock. Two are mine, the rest of everything for a kegerator build went to my buddy.

Was toying of using them as fermenters, but think I’ll use them as cleaner and sanitizer kegs. I have everything to make the system work but have a few newbie questions.

How long is PBW good for? How long is Star-San good for? I have 6 ball lock kegs and only room for three in my kegerator, so for now my needs are met for cycling.

I was thinking fill a ball lock keg from a pin lock through the outlet, let it sit for a week, transfer back, rinse then transfer sanitizer for a day then transfer back to the pin lock. Obviously rinsing one a keg goes dry.

Good idea? Bad idea?

Thanks in advance.

 

[probablynotnick]

Mostly lurking here.
Are you going to pump the PBW or use CO2? I would think that pumping the pbw in a cycle through the keg would only take 15 minutes or so, but heck you could leave it running as long as you wanted. It lasts quite a while, however you do lose the oxygen "scrubbing" eventually and it will take longer to clean if you just leave it to soak. This is negated if you're keeping the solution moving though, as the movement does the scrubbing for you.

Starsan depends on its pH to work, so you'd have to check it every so often. You might also consider using Saniclean to avoid foaming between transfers

 

[OpenSights]

I had thought of co2, but I like your idea of a pump system! Thanks!

 

[OpenSights]

I’ll have to check it out at my local store, but this is a contender.

https://www.harborfreight.com/110-HP-Transfer-Pump-63317.html

 

[whiskeyjack]

I was thinking of doing this with a keg of starssan and another with beer line cleaner. Wasnt sure if leaving these in a keg would hurt the keg long term

 

[OpenSights]

Only thing I could see bad about it is if the chemicals eat away at the gaskets.

 

[angry_gopher]

IIRC Starsan is acidic and it's not very nice to stainless steel. Is it possible to replace the pin locks with ball locks?

 

[OpenSights]

Here I am a plumber and have to constantly scold my customers for trying to use acidic drain cleaners....

Good point! I wonder how stainless holds to acid.

I asked the store manager at my LHBS about converting them. He said it can be done, but it doesn’t always last or even work at all.


On a side note on kegs... I have a property management customer who’s been brewing for years. Not really big, only has two kegs. I dropped off a bill to him and we started talking about brewing so I told him about my pin lock deal. Turns out he uses pin lock and was given two ball lock kegs 3 years ago and hasn’t touched them and he’d drop them off at the office next week for me. Asked him if he wanted to trade for my pin locks. He said no, his wife would be thrilled to have the space back!

He has no idea if they’ll hold pressure or much of anything, but I can rebuild them anyway which way.

 

[probablynotnick]

That pump looks perfect for the job! And great score on the kegs!
Let us know what you end up with and how it works.

My cleaner is just a DIY of the "marks keg washer" essentially just a fountain pump with some PVC inside of a bucket. Works great but I can't really store the PBW for future use like you're intending to do

 

[beernutz]

You could also convert your pin lock kegs to ball locks. This kit is only $10.
https://www.homebrewing.org/Keg-Post-Conversion-Kit-pin-lock-to-ball-lock-916-18-Thread_p_1808.html

 

[mj1angier]

My system is: when a keg kicks, I take it off, open it, rinse out crud, fill with PBW/ water, put lid on it, put on empty line, flush line, drain line, let keg sit over night with PBW. I have a keg in rotation with Sani-star, put it on line and flush line, drain line, put next beer on tap. Next day I bump PBW in sink and rinse out keg. then push Sani-star from second keg into 1st keg. 2nd keg stays pressurized till time to fill with beer that way no O2 in keg. I have about 10 kegs I rotate for my 5 taps.

Flow chart, lol

Keg on tap->keg w/PBW- >keg with Sani-star- >empty keg with CO2- >keg ready to tap- >repeat..