corny keg gloat

[texasliam]

I just had a scrap guy drop off 10 used 5 gallon cornys. any advice on reconditioning and cleaning them?

Liam

[corkybstewart]

Most of the big online homebrew shops sell rebuild kits complete with all the O-rings and gaskets you'll need. You'll just have to figure out what kind of Cornies you have. I suggest buying the socket to help take the posts off, if your kegs are pinlock. I have no experience with ball lock.
Soak the kegs with a strong PBW solution, and while the kegs are taken apart run a line brush thru the dip tube. If you don't have a brush, maybe a .22 rifle cleaning tool would work.
Before you do anything I'd fill them with water and pressure test them before you waste money on rebuild parts.

[texasliam]

Originally posted by corkybstewart

You'll just have to figure out what kind of Cornies you have. Before you do anything I'd fill them with water and pressure test them before you waste money on rebuild parts.

They are pinlock.
how do you do a pressure test?

[corkybstewart]

Fill them with water, hook up the gas and see if they hold pressure. For instance, set your regulator on 30 psi and see if it'll stay there. If water shoots out the side or bottom, the keg is bad.

[texasliam]

what is PBW?

I read somewhere on the web to change out the conection posts, but my book says just change out the gasket, and 4 o rings, then clean with TSP.

I'm also unclear on how to sanitize the posts innards. Would you mind giving me your "how to" on cleaning then sanitizing the corny (I usually use no rinse iodine) . Do you clean out the keg every time with pbw?

and, I have a couple of coke cornys as well. Can these be changed out to the pin lock style easily?

thanks for all the good info.
Liam

[corkybstewart]

The posts cannot be interchanged, but you can use the screw-on flare fittings to easily change from Coke to Pepsi, as long as you have the ball-lock fittings.
When you take the keg apart to replace the gaskets the poppet will fall out of the post. Soak it in a very strong PBW(Powder Brewery Wash) solution, and that'll probably clean it enough. Of course scrub everything you can get to, but poppets can't be scrubbed. If they're really nasty replace them.
Once everything is clean and re-assembled, all you have to do to sanitize is put a couple of gallons of your favorite solution into the keg, seal it and use CO2 to push it back thru the beer out, into the next keg. Repeat until all your kegs are sanitized.

[texasliam]

I take it then that you could do a bunch of cornys. And then you could just let the sanitized ones sit for months untill needed, and they would still be sanitized?

and

When filling the tank with beer, I assume that the level must be below the in tube. The reason I'm asking is, when force carbinating (at 20psi ?) you would need to bleed the tank through the in valve later (to 5 psi ?) for dispensing.

thanks

Liam

[corkybstewart]

They won't be sanitized after a day, but I usually try to keg 2 batches(4 kegs) at a time to save money on sanitizer.
I cut my gas tubes in half for that very reason. I got tired of being sprayed.

[texasliam]

cool, thanks

are my presures in line, 20psi to carbonate and 5psi to dispense?

Liam

[corkybstewart]

I've had best results with carbonating at serving pressure, about 12 psi, assuming 5' of 3/16" beer line. It takes longer but by carbonating at the serving pressure, you'll avoid a lot of foaming problems.

[BrewDog]

I agree with Corky, it's a guessing game trying to force carb too quickly with high pressure. I always ended up either too foamy or not carbed enough. I just set the thing on 12 and let it go by itself. Keep the pipeline full and you need patience.

[MrNate]

Originally posted by texasliam

When filling the tank with beer, I assume that the level must be below the in tube. The reason I'm asking is, when force carbinating (at 20psi ?) you would need to bleed the tank through the in valve later (to 5 psi ?) for dispensing.


I always used the pressure relief valve on the hatch... I assumed that's what everyone did.

[HogieWan]

I just leave it at 12 psi also. If you are in a hurry - rock the keg back and forth lengthwise for about 20 min and you'll be almost fully carbonated (if the beer is a serving temp). Leave it overnight and you're ready to drink.

[zoom6zoom]

I use OxyClean to clean kegs. For scrubbing out inside, a toilet bowl brush works well (I shouldn't have to tell you to buy a new one and only use it for kegs, right?)

[corkybstewart]

Originally posted by MrNate
I always used the pressure relief valve on the hatch... I assumed that's what everyone did.

Firestone kegs lids don't have pressure relief valves and Pepsi used Firestones. I've replaced about 1/3 of my lids with the ones with relief valves but they're pretty expensive.

[texasliam]

How many days to carbonate if I don't agitate, at 12 psi?

and while were at it,
how often should the lines be cleaned, and what is the proceedure

If somebody ever writes a tutorial on this, or something else, I'll host it on my web site.

Liam

http://home.houston.rr.com/striker/slab/xhow.htm

[danno]

a week or so at 12psi works for me...

I clean my lines once a month or so, which is probably too long, but it works for me. I've used two methods, if you have four empty and clean cornies, push a keg full of PBW and then a keg full or rinse water with co2. (four cornies so you are pumping from one into another). currently, I built an adapter that has an extra corny beer post to a 1/2" hose barb, and I'll use my pump to move PBW and then rinse water. saves co2...

[BrewDog]

Originally posted by danno
a week or so at 12psi works for me...
I built an adapter that has an extra corny beer post to a 1/2" hose barb, and I'll use my pump to move PBW and then rinse water. saves co2...

Great idea. Any ideas on ganging up cleaning shanks?

[danno]

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking me, (must be your pacific accent :D ) but if it's how I built my adapter, I took my beer-out post down to my mega hardware store, and soon found out that a flare fitting uses the same threads. I don't remember if it was JIC or SAE, but I'm betting SAE since it wasn't a hydraulic fitting, just a brass one.

and remember, you need the poppet in place in your adapter to open up the QD.

[corkybstewart]

I just fill a corny with beer line cleaner, pressure it up and hook each tap to it and run some BLC thru, usually about a gallon per tap. Then I rinse the keg, fill with warm(not hot) water and again run it thru the taps.