I’ve cleaned kegs, and sanitized w Star San. Gave a quick water rinse, left some foam in there, put lid on keg and pressurized at 20 psi with CO2 for about three days. Question- is it okay to leave foam in keg, pressurized for three days, and then go ahead and transfer the beer right into it? Or do I need to do anything prior to transferring the liquid? Thanks!
If it’s sanitized and sealed up it’s ready to receive beer.
Just to confirm though…
You didn’t do this after the star san right? You shouldn’t rinse after star san. Just dump it out and go.
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I did give a quick water rinse after the star san, i understand the small risk, I quess I was just concerned because the instructions say air dry , then you’re good. but I didnt have time to let the kegs air dry before popping the lid on and pressurizing so i gave it a very “small” rinse (1/2 gal for the 5 gal keg, and there was still foam left in there afterwards). i guess the question becomes: is it okay NOT to let it air dry and still pop the lid on and pressurize? thanks!
If you pressurized it immediately after and let it sit for a few days it would dry. Having said that I’ve never let star san dry before using the sanitized equipment. Star san is food safe and sanitizes due to it’s pH. Drying seems irrelevant.
Charley Talley founder of 5 star addresses it in this podcast about 43 mins in.
My Standard practice is to dump and clean the keg, then I put 1/4 - 1/2 gal star san in, put on lid, and shake all around to get all surfaces. Then I pump it out through my tap lines to push sanitizer through them as well. Then I leave the keg sealed and pressurized with CO2 until I’m ready to fill with a new beer. Typically there will be a tiny bit of Star San in the bottom of the keg when I open it again so I dump that out just prior to refilling.
Rad
I’ll add/emphasize that Star San is a wet sanitizer. When equipment that has been sanitized with the Star San solution dries and then left exposed to the environment, the sanitized surface is no longer protected. Star San is only working as a sanitizer when the surfaces are wet. I would think a keg that is sanitized and then sealed with CO2 pressure would remain moist with Star San solution keeping it sanitized. If cleaning missed some crud inside the tank around fittings and O-rings there is the potential bacteria can remain there waiting for the next fill up with beer.
thanks all!
