When I kick a keg (usually as I’m bottling from it), I will rinse, then fill with an oxyclean solution and seal it back up, shake it up really well, and then run the oxyclean through my dispensing line and beer gun line. I let the oxyclean sit for a few minutes in each, and then blast a little more through. Then I rinse, and repeat with sanitizer.
Since the majority of my problems in homebrewing have arisen due to pure laziness and lack of understanding, I figured I would head this one off at the pass and ask what parts of the keg I am missing by cleaning kegs/keg parts/lines this way.
My thought process (please correct this at will) is that the cleaner and sanitizer are touching/rinsing all of the parts that the beer is touching.
I take my kegs apart every few batches to check the poppets for crud. Other than that, it seems you’re doing everything you need to. I do just about the same process, except I don’t rinse with starsan, I rinse with water, then run starsan through. I make about a gallon or 2 each of oxiclean/pbw sub, gallon or 2 of water, then just a little bit of starsan. Every once in a while, I’ll take a carboy brush and scrub the inside of the keg, but that’s really not necessary.
That’s what I do. OxyClean soak, rinse a couple of times w/hot water, then StarSan.
Run through the diptube at each step. Doesn’t take very long.
Like Beersk said, pulling apart occasionally to clean and lube is a good idea.
[quote=“mrv”]That’s what I do. OxyClean soak, rinse a couple of times w/hot water, then StarSan.
Run through the diptube at each step. Doesn’t take very long.
Like Beersk said, pulling apart occasionally to clean and lube is a good idea.[/quote]
Same process here.
When storing a keg, I leave a little StarSan in it, and pressurize with CO2.
same process I let mine sit full of pbw/oxyclean and the line for a while (minimum few hours, usually overnight), always rinse a few times with hotter water than the soak, then run some star san through and seal up and cover connections with the plastic caps.
Every couple/few kegs I disassemble and give a really good cleaning
[quote=“Pietro”]When I kick a keg (usually as I’m bottling from it), I will rinse, then fill with an oxyclean solution and seal it back up, shake it up really well, and then run the oxyclean through my dispensing line and beer gun line. I let the oxyclean sit for a few minutes in each, and then blast a little more through. Then I rinse, and repeat with sanitizer.[/quote]If I’m reading this correctly, you’re letting the oxiclean sit in the keg for just a few minutes at most? You want to give the cleaner time to dissolve the carbon-based crud
I let mine go overnight after running some cleaner through the beer line to make sure that the diptube and post are wetted.
with homebrewing nothing is a set in stone must do it this way as everyone knows.
More of mine is by judgement, has this keg sat a while or did I go through it in a few weeks etc…80% of the time I let it soak overnight and take apart every few beers
So, maybe I spend more time than others to break down my kegs and clean/rinse/sanitize them with the bucket method; small parts go into a separate bowl with PBW. However, I am getting full coverage of PBW soak on all inside surfaces as well as openings, and to the plastic/rubber collar as well. No opportunity for build-up or beerstone to get a foothold in the kegs themselves, the gas-in tube or liquid tube (both of which get a brush-out at cleaning), or hop/other debris stuck in my poppit valves which would cause foaming to pours of subsequent beers. I also can inspect all my sealing parts (poppit seals and o-rings) to see if any were frayed when twisting them into place with the turn of a wrench, etc. which could lead to a leak, and I can apply the tiniest bit of keg lube to my 0-rings so they are “just right”. And a guaranteed clean exterior top of the keg.
Now mind you, I’m a stickler for getting it done once and then not worry about it, and probably by nature risk averse. Kudos to you guys who just clean, risne, sanitize, refill without taking the kegs apart. You probably go through fewer poppits and o-rings than I do. :lol:
And I normally wait and clean at least two kegs at a time. I’ve gotten pretty darn fast at it, and am not sold that the other method takes considerably less time, say if for some reason you lose a beer to funk, fight foamy pours, or have to deal with build-up later.
Still, some or all of these guys responding are obviously dialed into solid practices, so I guess it’s whatever works for YOU. If I was leaving the poppits sealed, I would still expel cleaner, water and sanitizer out through both the gas and liquid poppits to flush, clean, sanitize them.
