Corny with rootbeer smell...

[Yeastie Boy]

I'm ready to keg my first batch, customized my freezer, got my lines and fittings and temp control, my faucet looks nice and pretty, all good to go.....except the used cornies I got from the LHBS. I soaked with starsan but darn if they don't still smell like rootbeer inside. Any suggestions? Mostly, I just wanna drink my beer.......HELP!!

[zoom6zoom]

Did you replace the seals and o-rings? Ones that have been used for soda will retain odors/flavors.

[BrewDog]

Originally posted by Yeastie Boy
I'm ready to keg my first batch, customized my freezer, got my lines and fittings and temp control, my faucet looks nice and pretty, all good to go.....except the used cornies I got from the LHBS. I soaked with starsan but darn if they don't still smell like rootbeer inside. Any suggestions? Mostly, I just wanna drink my beer.......HELP!!

StarSan is a great sanitizer, but its not a cleanser.
Another product from the StarSan people is called PBW (Powdered Brewery Wash). Many of us use it to clean cornies. It does a great job, and will certainly get the soda smell out of yours, but like zoom6zoom says, you need to replace the O-rings first.

[steveh]

Root beer is one of the most difficult residual aromas/flavors to remove. Our local had Sprecher root beer on tap and switched to bottles to free up the tap for beer - bad mistake of putting Blue Moon on it - it didn't sell at all! They switched Guinness to the line and almost a year later the Guinness is just starting to taste normal again.

S.

[Yeastie Boy]

I've got the new seals and o-rings. So that shouldn't be the problem. As far as star-san goes, I shouldn't be "cleaning" with it....just sanitizing? Should I be using something else to clean my equipment, then using star-san as another step in the process? Is there anything "household" I can use to clean the cornies until I can get some PBC? I don't think I'll make the LHBS this weekend. (The HBS isn't actually that L, if ya know what I mean!) Any help is appreciated, thanks

[BrewDog]

I guess the best thing you can do is make sure you take the whole thing apart and clean it really well. Maybe a little bit of mild dish detergent, but be sure to rinse and rinse and rinse.

I also wonder if adding a little bit of baking soda to warm water might work?

[Yeastie Boy]

I usually subscribe to the "Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew" school of brewing. But I've got to admit, this whole corny thing has got me a little on edge.

Do you guys use something like a carboy brush to scrub out your cornies?

If there's some small amount of "crud" left that I miss, will the star san eliminate the chance of it contaminating my beer?

Should I be cleansing and then sanitizing - 2 separate steps?

Set me at ease gentlemen, I hate to loose a batch of my Stout Chocula! thanks

[fuji6100]

Star san eliminates microbes on CLEAN SURFACES. If there is crud left, that provides a hiding place. If you use PBW and give it a good soak, you won't really need to do much scrubbing (I've never had to scrub with PWB) as it will loosen the gunk up so well that it comes off with a good rinse.

And, YES, cleaning and sanitizing are two separate steps. You cannot achieve sanitation if the surface has crud on it.

[crashbobo]

I usually give my cornies a half hour soak in generic oxyclean. It works great for getting old soda syrup out of the keg and old beer stuff out of a keg. It gets rid of all the smells inside of the keg. And replace your O-rings. I don't let the oxyclean soak for an extended period of time because I have heard of someone having problems with this. toneyc?

[YamahaXS]

2 more cents.

when you are cleaning and sanitizing, make sure you run a bit of each through the out line to clear the dip tube.

if you don't want to pressurize, you can probably get by with simply depressing the valve on the out post. this will let the air out and the liquid with come up and out of the post. depress the valve again when you have drained the keg to get all the liquid out.

[danno]

Originally posted by Yeastie Boy
Set me at ease gentlemen, I hate to loose a batch of my Stout Chocula! thanks I love that name! I won't use it for contests or anything, but just an FYI that I may steal it for home use... :D

[brewmonkey]

Any keg that has had rootbeer in it is pretty much worthless for kegging beer. Even after the smell is percieved to be gone it can have an effect on the beer.

Don't ask me why but it is what it is. Ask any brewer in a pub who mkes rootbeer and they will tell you they have kegs for soda only and they never see beer. All the cleaning in the world does not seem to help and changing o-rings and valves is useless.

Now for some reason it only seems to be this way with th actual rootbeer and not soda mix.

You should also never serve rootbeer (or any soda really) through lines that will have been going through them. The lines will also hold the flavor and you will not be able to use them for beer again.

[fretlessman71]

Probably for the same reason that you'll sometimes see this rusty hole beginning to form on the platform just below the Coca-Cola spigot at an old soda fountain... I'll bet root beer is even more caustic than Coke!

[mchitiea]

Go to your local Microbrewery and get a couple of cups of CAUSTIC tank cleaner. Put the lid inside the kegs, pour the caustic in and fill with water. DO NOT GET IT ON YOUR SKIN, FACE, EYES, CLOTHING....ANYTHING! After a day or two, pour it out in a "proper" place. RINSE WELL.