New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association
Brewing => Technique => Topic started by: Ian Grant on July 21, 2011, 02:11:49 PM
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What's the best way to go. I just gave them a cleaning with dish soap and brushed the sides but i don't feel like its getting as clean as I want.
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I bought Oxyclean and it works really well.
Just throw a gallon of water in, use a carboy brush and brush away.
Rinse a few times afterwards and voila.
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what i do first, is completely dissassemble the keg.....put the small parts in a small container and soak with hot water and oxyclean....then fill the keg up with hot water and oxyclean and let it soak for a day or so. Remove all the o-rings and replace them. Reassemble and pressurize, and check for leaks.
P.S. when taking apart the kegs, don't mix and match the posts and poppets from multiple kegs.
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I read carboy for some reason...>.>
Not that I do much different, cleaning the insides the same. The main difference is in that I force through the keg all the cleaner at the end to clean the smaller bits. Basically, clean, lock up, pressurize (I use my beer line pump cleaner now, used to pump CO2 in), then let the cleaner flow through both posts (involves tipping upside down for the in post). Clean up the outside of the posts a bit after with more cleaner. Then sanitize like a madman, repeating all the steps I just did in order to ensure both all the cleaning agent is gone and that the sanitizer touches everything.
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completely dissassemble the keg
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Reassemble and pressurize, and check for leaks.
I'd appreciate if someone could take a few pictures on doing this with ball-lock kegs.
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completely dissassemble the keg
[...]
Reassemble and pressurize, and check for leaks.
I'd appreciate if someone could take a few pictures on doing this with ball-lock kegs.
i'll try to remember next time i'm doing mine. But small word of advice...get a good wrench and you'll be good to go. I suggest not doing this with an adjustable, or vice grips, or pliers, etc....a good wrench..open at one end, box at the other. Not all posts are the same size....and some gas posts are 12pt. If you have two different size posts over various kegs.....you'll need two different wrenches..i'll get the sizes once i confirm them instead of posting wrong sizes.
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Much obliged - will be in need of this myself soon as tomorrow I'll have my regs, line, taps, clamps etc. Will be serving my two most recently brewed beers from kegs, hopefully :D
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I highly recommend a deep socket for the posts, there is a size that has (I think) 12 points that fits the ones with the starry type of nut head, as well as the 6 sided. I'll try and remember to look at it when I get home.
It does all but one keg that I have that actually had different size nuts entirely and it was a standard smaller size.
JQ
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this what you looking for?
http://www.wikihow.com/Assemble-a-Cornelius-Keg (http://www.wikihow.com/Assemble-a-Cornelius-Keg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewQNkjA3sEM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewQNkjA3sEM)
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Thanks guys.
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For several years, I never disassembled the kegs when cleaning and the beer was fine. Then, for about 1 year, I did the full disassembly and detected no difference, except for the fact that I realized when kegging four batches at once one time, that the fittings which I jumbled together in a bowl of cleaner were not completely interchangable, and I had no way of telling if I had a wrong fit until a lake of beer formed on my floor.
Now I am back to not taking them apart, I do the following:
Open, visually inspect using flashlight, including under top area.
fill with warm, water, scrub anywhere I see crud
dump, rince
fill with tepid water and starsan
give quick scrub
push in ball locks momentarily with fork to make sure cleaner /sanitiizer gets in the tubes
top up to brim with water
disassemble lid, scrub, place in a seperate star-san solution
wait 10 minutes
good to go.
I also put my auto-siphon in the keg to get it clean.
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I guess i should of stated....only time i usually do a complete dissassemble is when its a new to me keg...either from someone else or from pepsi with pop inside...the rest of the time its similar to what kyle just posted.
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+1
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Oh, yeah, with a keg I've never used before, that gets the full disassemble, O-ring replacement and 2 day starsan bath, scrub, and rince, before the regular procedure.
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Yeah I wanted to know how to dis/re-assemble them for general purposes; specifically for the first clean - I threw some oxiclean in and did that to get rid of the bulk ick, but was concerned about the dip tube.
I've always bottled, and will find it hard to escape the satisfaction of the last-mile that is bottling. Just always seemed very zen to me, guesstimating number of bottles and going through the motions.
That said though I suspect I will find convenience alone to be enough to work me out of old habits :D
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For the larger posts you'll need a 7/8 or 22mm deep socket or wrench(box end/open end).
For the small posts, you'll need a 11/16 deep socket or wrench.
Its all personal preference, but i prefer the wrench.....minimal tools...and 12pt at the box end for the gas fittings. But its all preference...if you already have a socket set, then use it.
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Sorry for hashing up old posts, but for those using kegs I'd suggest you make a special tool called "the fakr double ended dongledo":
-2 feet of pressure or beer line
-1 ball lock gas fitting
-1 ball lock liquid fitting
-a couple of hose clamps.
Put a fitting on either end of the 2 foot line. Fill your first keg with a gallon or two of star san solution, cap, and pressurize to 10+ psi. Shake well, let sit a few minutes, then attach the liquid fitting to the out valve, and the gas fitting to the next keg. The pressure from the first keg will push all the solution through to the second keg. (keep the pressure release valve open on the second keg). When the first is empty, you can open and rinse with water. Pressurize the second keg and repeat the instructions.
You can make your star san solution a bit stronger if you'd like, and you can make a couple of gallons of solution last through several keg cleanings in a row.
When you're on your last keg, hook it up to your tap, put a bucket under your tap and open it wide....this will also clean your beer line and tap.
All this without getting your hands wet. Well, except for when you open the kegs and rinse.
Note: pre rinse kegs with water before doing all this.
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Cunning. I'd been doing something similar, but not as a closed-system: I have picnic taps on mine, so I just pump it out of the first and into the open lid of the second by jamming the tap open and dumping it in the second keg.