Cleaning corny kegs between brews

[Sam.]

Just a quick one for the beer brewers on here. How are you guys cleaning your corny kegs between brews of beer? I have done it a couple of different ways in the last 5 years but I still always find cleaning the kegs an offensive job :evil:

I would like to hear the comments from the guys on here as distillers usually have a more lax way of brewing than the beer guys and it always seem when someone asks a question like this on a beer forum the answer is "you need to kill every living organism by nuclear destruction...." or something like that :laughing-rolling:

I have been using fairly basic and easy methods but just wondering if someone has an easier alternative?

All ideas very much appreciated.

[JustStillin]

Napisan, that'd clean the gunk off a two week old road kill.

I bought some demijohns that had been sitting around for years and were covered inside and out in dried wine. I filled em with Napisan and water, left them over night, then rinsed them out. The came up crystal clear. Works just as good on kegs too.

[JustStillin]

But you still need to sanitise after the Napisan, i just use bleach in a low concentration, then rinse out really well.

[maheel]

if you got fridge space
i leave em "empty" but uncleaned untill needed in the fridge
wash with hot water (from my hot tap) 2 or 3 times
put in about a liter of hot water
hit it with a little co2 and flush the dip tubes
dump out the water
make up some starsan and let em soak 5 mins
hit with a bit more co2 and flush the lines
fill with beer and force carb.

if i dont have fridge space to keep em cold
rinse with hot water as above
this time i boil the jug and dump it in flush the disconnects and turn upside down
dump the water
throw in some star san mix and put the lid back on, shake it like a idiot
hit with co2, flush the disconnects and leave the starsan in there under pressure untill i need it

once typed it seems more complicated than i feel it is :)

gotta love kegs :)

[R-sole]

I rinse mine with hot water from the tap three or four times and leave them upside down to drain. Put the lid back on and store.

When i want to use them i rinse a couple more times and then use a litre of cold water with two caps of milton, hold the lid on loose so some splashes out and shake all round to coat. Soak twenty minutes, rinse, drain and fill with beer.

If they are skanky with dried stuff use anything with sodium percabonate (or pure sodium percarbonate). The active ingredient in napisan. Fill with hot water, add 1/4 cup of the strongest strength sodium perc laundry powder you can find cheap and leave for a time...few hours...overnight.

Be aware that it's corrosive to stainless..same as bleach, so not to be left for months.

[Frank]

"you need to kill every living organism by nuclear destruction...." or something like that :laughing-rolling:


:laughing-rolling: no.. NO NUKES!! :handgestures-thumbdown:
So (apart from the always :handgestures-thumbupleft: advice above) the SUN is a fantastic "secondary" steriliser. Its free and readily available (to me, at least)
and if the issue is with a plastic fermenter letting skankies in ....then always be careful what you stir ingredients with per brew (to really keep fermenter insides scratching to a minimum, of course) AND replace the rubber grommets/seals as often as is reasonable ....and post sterilsation too as above IMHO

[Sam.]

:laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: Thanks for the replies guys. I think I have been doing very similar to most of you. I will rinse a keg thats been sitting for a while with a few half fills of the hose then chuch a kettle of boiling water in and run through the keg line leaving CO2 in it. Then when I go to keg I sanitise with starsan. I think its a good idea leaving them under pressure because that way you know all the seals are intact when you have to bleed the pressure off to open the lid after a few weeks!

About every year I try to give the kegs a good soaking in somethin, either keg cleaner or brew powder.

After thinking about it last night I watched some youtube videos of guys ripping apart their kegs every time they clean and sanitise them! fucking amazing, I wish I had nearly enough time to fuck around like that :laughing-rolling: