Keg Cleaning

[mmmBeer...]

I finally got a kegging system and am really enjoying it. I have 3 5-gallon kegs and 2 taps so that I can rotate and never ever be out of beer!

Anyhow, as I will be nearing the end of one keg, I wanted to know how people cleaned their kegs to prepare for the next batch?

What cleaning agents do you use? I have heard the TPS is good.

How often do you take apart the keg posts…if ever?

I picked up a package of keg lube…how often do you use it, and on what parts.

Thanks!

[b3s]

well, i'm totally new to this and have not completed my first keg yet so i'm pretty interested in this subject, too.

i do take apart the outlet post when i sanitize so i can make sure i get all of the iodophor out of the line-out.

my thoughts were warm water and a small amount of soap and lots of rinsing...then maybe every 3rd usage of the keg, use the PBW again just to be safe.

[YamahaXS]

I use hot water and bleach. However, Bleach and SS don't go well together so do not leave the bleach/solution in the kegs for any significant length of time. I am sure some people will say do not use bleach at all. However, I haven't had any problems.


Procedure:

I rinse the kegs throughly after they float, before i sanitize and again after I sanitize. I also think it is important to pressurzie the kegs and draw sanitzer solution through the drop tube/beer line, and then again with rinse solution.

Once they are sanitized, then you can close and pressurize until you need to rack the next batch. very convenient to have clean/sanitized kegs just sitting around waiting for the next batch.

Oh. And you need to label your kegs of course. CLEAN & SANITZED, UNSANITIZED, SODA-SANITIZED etc.... I can usually keep my beers straight with out labels (given enough samples) BUT its easy to forget which kegs are sanitized and which aren't. I use note cards inside clear plastic sleeves held in place with packing tape.

[brewmonkey]

PBW works very well and follow that with a sani. If you are going to be using the keg within a few days after sani I go ahead and put on about 20lbs of head pressure and then put it back in the beer fridge. This purges it of any oxygen, keeps it in a sani environment and keeping it cold will help reduce foaming when you rack to it.

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by brewmonkey
PBW works very well and follow that with a sani. If you are going to be using the keg within a few days after sani I go ahead and put on about 20lbs of head pressure and then put it back in the beer fridge. This purges it of any oxygen, keeps it in a sani environment and keeping it cold will help reduce foaming when you rack to it.

That's a good tip - putting it back in the fridge.

[toneyc]

But to reduce foaming? I don't understand, flat beer doesn't foam unless you shake it up or something. Normal racking from the secondary to the keg produces no foam. What am I missing?

:D
Toney.

[BucksBrew]

I rinse out the keg, fill with Hot Tap water and 1 tsp. TSP per gallon of water, I fill to the top. I depress the Out Poppet to let the solution get in there. The pressure is enough that it squirts out. I'll lean it to the gas side since it is so short.

I'll leave it in there for 1-5 days. I also add pressure to dispense cleaner through my beer line since I'm still using a picnic tap.

Then I'll rinse, then sanitize. Same procedure as above. Then rack from secondary.

I had some bad poppets, so I had the pleasure of replacing those. No big deal. I used soap and water and Q-Tips to clean inside. It was a little gunked up.

Once my wedge is made for my Freezer, this will change how I clean. Something new to learn!

[danno]

i've recently changed my keg cleaning procedure, too... I used to take everything apart every time i emptied a keg. Pulled the posts, poppets, etc... I think that may be a bit of overkill, but at the same time I realized I'm probably not cleaning my beer lines and taps often enough...

so now, when I empty a keg, I leave it together, rinse, and fill all the way with a hot PBW solution. I'll run all that pbw solution through all my beer lines, then follow up with a clean rinse. Now, I've cleaned out my keg, and cleaned and rinsed out my beer lines, and have an empty keg purged with co2...

I'll probably get voted off the island for this, but I don't usually sanitize my kegs, just clean them. my beer already has the alcohol in it, and I'm storing empty kegs purged, and transferring with co2, so exposure to nasties is extremely limited, IMO...