Cleaning Kegs

Ian Grant · July 21, 2011, 02:11:49 PM

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.

Gil Breau · July 21, 2011, 02:41:46 PM

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.

Jmac00 · July 21, 2011, 02:57:50 PM

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.

Gil Breau · July 21, 2011, 03:03:36 PM

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.

Richard · July 21, 2011, 03:07:26 PM

Quote from: "Jmac00"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.

Jmac00 · July 21, 2011, 03:16:14 PM

Quote from: "Richard"
Quote from: "Jmac00"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.

Richard · July 21, 2011, 03:26:28 PM

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

JohnQ · July 21, 2011, 05:03:04 PM

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

Dean · July 21, 2011, 05:10:54 PM

this what you looking for?

http://www.wikihow.com/Assemble-a-Cornelius-Keg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewQNkjA3sEM

Ian Grant · July 21, 2011, 07:36:43 PM

Thanks guys.

Kyle · July 21, 2011, 09:24:33 PM

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.

Jmac00 · July 21, 2011, 10:07:29 PM

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.

JohnQ · July 21, 2011, 10:09:34 PM

+1

Kyle · July 21, 2011, 10:14:21 PM

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.

Richard · July 21, 2011, 10:20:25 PM

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