# How To Give Kegs A Deep Clean



## Gout (20/7/09)

about 4 years ago i move to the uk for work, and now i am back. When i left i washed most of my 10 kegs and left them upside down with the lids off. these look mostly fine althou need a good clean

sadly the night i left i had mates over to drink the last of my kegs..... i woke with a sore head and bags to pack. Hence i must have forgot to wash one keg, i found it was not washed (but sealed) to be honest it was not as bad as i thought. yeast and a goey skin on top (didnt stink really much) 

Anyway - I want to really clean these ones before i think about using them. 

I have phos. acid (with labs acid/surfactant), saniclean, a little sodium percarbonate cellarman(beer line cleaner) then the bleach caustic and etc but i think would be bad on the SS.

Will a sodium P soak and scrub, then either phos acid be enough.

Lastly i have cellarman beer line cleaner, does this harm a keg over time? My packet is old and the instructions are no longer on the packet, nor did i find much on the net

cheers


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## Fourstar (20/7/09)

strip them all down (atleast the ones that where not cleaned before). Pull off all the posts and soak them in sodium percarbonate (nappisan) with 60+ deg water. give them all a scrub and do a second soak for good measure if they where gunky.

Clean all the kegs with sodium percarbonate and 60+deg water, soak and rinse. if they had allot of grime, do it twice as above.

when cleaning my kegs after brewing i clean the lids with a nappisan solution, then i give the kegs a rinse, add a tsp of nappisan to them and a kettle full of boiling water. i reseal the kegs, give a good old shake and leave for 20 mins~. (in between this i force some of the solution through the posts with CO2 or natural pressure from the heat.)

After i rinse and repeat (if necessary). i then foce clean water through all the posts with CO2, drain and fill with a star san solution under a CO2 blanket to store, ready for kegging again. 

then its a simple drain, purge with CO2 and fill with my next batch.

simple really!


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## Gout (20/7/09)

Wow Top marks Fourstar - thank you

How long is it safe to keep starstan in there? eg 6 months?

Do you think its worth rebuilding/replace all the seals when i do this (given they are apart - and they are say 6 years old - (seals not kegs))

I might look at doing a make over on the kegs now i am back to using them often it might be worth it.


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## Fourstar (20/7/09)

Gout said:


> How long is it safe to keep starstan in there? eg 6 months?
> some say not too long, ive gone 4 months with no issue. as long as its under a co2 blanket, i'd say it shoudl have no issues with it breaking down.. its acid based so it might pit the kegs.. i havnt heard of that happening however.
> 
> Do you think its worth rebuilding/replace all the seals when i do this
> ...




See above in red. :icon_cheers:


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## Wortgames (20/7/09)

Hi Gout, good to see you still kicking!

Fourstars tips sound perfect to me. The sanitiser in a sealed, clean, pressurised keg should keep the keg safe indefinitely.

One word to the wise, try and resist any temptation to strip everything down together and start again with a bucket of parts - I found out the hard way that there are often stupid little differences between identical-looking kegs, and when you go to rebuild them you'll be pulling your hair out trying to work out why you've got leaks around the posts and/or pressure valves.

If you know a keg is good, then strip and rebuild it as a unit and keep the parts together.

Otherwise it's a fine way to make 2 good kegs out of 10 good ones!


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## Gout (20/7/09)

thanks guys - simple yet very smart advice.

WortGames - you are right, i will do one at a time (i didnt think about it as you put it but it sounds good to me)

I must say after hearing what fourStar does with his kegs i feel like a lazy brewer.

I normally wash the keg then store, then when needed rinse and use starsan, boiled water and then beer fill.

I will print out the cleaning methods and tighten up my cleaning game.

Thanks Brewers

P.S i found the cellarman data and spec sheet

Cellarman fact sheet

Cellarman MSDS


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## Fourstar (20/7/09)

WortGames said:


> If you know a keg is good, then strip and rebuild it as a unit and keep the parts together.
> Otherwise it's a fine way to make 2 good kegs out of 10 good ones!



Ha! Yeah ive been there before! It's usually the lids that wreak havoc! Ensure you keep them matched up and you are usually safe.


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## Barramundi (20/7/09)

fourstar , be careful with the o rings on the posts theyre a different size to those used in industry i tried to get them at work but the sizes we had there were all close but slightly different to those on the ball locks, too big an o ring and you might be finding it tough to get the connectors off


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## Fourstar (20/7/09)

Barramundi said:


> fourstar , be careful with the o rings on the posts theyre a different size to those used in industry i tried to get them at work but the sizes we had there were all close but slightly different to those on the ball locks, too big an o ring and you might be finding it tough to get the connectors off




commited to memory. i'll measure the OD/ID before i pop them on for testing.


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## Gout (20/7/09)

I will look to the retail teams that support this website i assume they have kits and advice. I have use a few to great effect


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## stillscottish (21/7/09)

Barramundi said:


> fourstar , be careful with the o rings on the posts theyre a different size to those used in industry i tried to get them at work but the sizes we had there were all close but slightly different to those on the ball locks, too big an o ring and you might be finding it tough to get the connectors off



I got some replacement O rings from the States when I got my kegs. I'm sure they came from the same guy that sold the kegs. They wew yellow and you would need a bloody crowbar to get the disconnects off.
All since replaced with nice Aussie black ones.

Campbell


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## c0z (21/7/09)

I leave my kegs with sodium percarbonate, then just iodopher them just begfore adding my beer.

I dont think percarbonate long term is good for kegs (maybe fourstar can chime in here)

but my kegs are usually only empty (containg percarbonate) for a week or so.


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## Leigh (21/7/09)

Not sure I like your sanitisation methods 4* h34r: 

I don't understand why people like leaving things "wet"...I clean with PBW tip upside down and allow to dry. Once dry I seal them up and store...when it comes to use, I sanitise with starsan and then fill with beer.


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## Hutch (21/7/09)

Leigh said:


> Not sure I like your sanitisation methods 4* h34r:


 :lol:


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## fraser_john (21/7/09)

I too wash them and store them when dry, upside down, but without lid on. I pressure steam sterilize mine before putting beer in them.


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## Hutch (21/7/09)

Leigh said:


> Not sure I like your sanitisation methods 4* h34r:
> 
> I don't understand why people like leaving things "wet"...I clean with PBW tip upside down and allow to dry. Once dry I seal them up and store...when it comes to use, I sanitise with starsan and then fill with beer.


I like the idea of drying them out upside down before storing them , but I seem to be getting cockroaches in just about everything these days that I can't fathom the idea of leaving a keg open to the elements before sealing up ready for next use. Anyone else having problems with 'roaches in the brewery?


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## Fourstar (21/7/09)

Leigh said:


> Not sure I like your sanitisation methods 4*
> I don't understand why people like leaving things "wet"






Hutch said:


> :lol:



Hilarious...  :lol: 

Its just been something ive always done basically since i started kegging. i think my reason was because its almost always impossible to get it to fully dry out so one day i decided to leave my iodophor solution in the keg (around 500ml), purge with CO2, give a shake and store. i left it for a few weeks before kegging and found the iodophor was still amber in colur compared to the other kegs that usually go clear within a week. 

My thought was, if the iodopor is still viable under a blanket of CO2, i might as well keep it in there. this has now rolled on to my star san process once i ran out of iodophor. So far.. 20~ brews that have been kegged. None have been hit with post fermenation staling, poor aging and or infection. 

Until this happens, i cant see myself changing my process. *Fingers crossed*.

with the rate i brew these days, the kegs stay 'wet' for around 2-3 weeks before they are filled at most.


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## Hutch (21/7/09)

Fourstar said:


> Hilarious...  :lol:
> 
> Its just been something ive always done basically since i started kegging. i think my reason was because its almost always impossible to get it to fully dry out so one day i decided to leave my iodophor solution in the keg (around 500ml), purge with CO2, give a shake and store. i left it for a few weeks before kegging and found the iodophor was still amber in colur compared to the other kegs that usually go clear within a week.
> 
> ...


Just revving you up 4*  
I'm perhaps a little lazier, only giving them the Sodium percarb + Starsan treatment prior to kegging a batch. As long as you make sure the cleaning and sanitising solutions get into the dip tubes and ball-locks, and have enough time to do their respective jobs, then I don't see any problem with leaving the yeast dregs for any length of time between batches - sitting under pressurised CO2, I don't see what could happen over long-term storage, other than a bit of autolysis.

...having said that, I recall that Jamil once found maggots in the dregs of a spent keg. I hate to think how they managed to survive!


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## Ducatiboy stu (21/7/09)

Sodium percarbonate will not damage the kegs..

Bleach will damage the stainless and plastics if left to soak over a period of time.

Phos wont damage the stainless either...thats why they use it in stainless dairy equipment


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## haysie (21/7/09)

Gout said:


> Will a sodium P soak and scrub, then either phos acid be enough.
> 
> Lastly i have cellarman beer line cleaner, does this harm a keg over time? My packet is old and the instructions are no longer on the packet, nor did i find much on the net
> 
> cheers



The soak overnight would be ample, then rinse, apply heat as mentioned above, easy peasy. Shoot the diptube`s with steam. Any visible scum left, do it again. I wouldnt run wet kegs, let em drip dry then as mentioned heat em up.


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## Darren (21/7/09)

Fourstar said:


> Hilarious...  :lol:
> 
> Its just been something ive always done basically since i started kegging. i think my reason was because its almost always impossible to get it to fully dry out so one day i decided to leave my iodophor solution in the keg (around 500ml), purge with CO2, give a shake and store. i left it for a few weeks before kegging and found the iodophor was still amber in colur compared to the other kegs that usually go clear within a week.
> 
> ...




I would suggest that leaving sanitiser in a keg for extended times is bad practice. Sanitisers work in the most by causing oxidation to contaminating microbes. Overtime sanitisers WILL cause corrosion to stainless steel.

Better to leave them dry and sanitise before use.

cheers

Darren


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## Fourstar (22/7/09)

Darren said:


> Overtime sanitisers WILL cause corrosion to stainless steel.



hmm, looks like i mgiht clean from now on and leave them open to the elements to air dry then seal, purge with CO2 and leave the PRV open so the keg breathes and doesnt go stale. ( i store inside so there shoudlnt be any contaminants getting in). when i know im going to keg within the week i might give a wet soak when convenient.

cheers


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## Gout (22/7/09)

I am glad i followed your advice and stripped down the kegs (only one so far) as its very yucky in the posts etc. I will give it a good clean then sani it and its back in to service - cheers


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## Fourstar (22/7/09)

Yeah.. its alot better than your beer passing by all that gunk on the way to your glass.... not to mention infecting the rest of your beer!


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## BungalowBill (29/8/09)

Hi , I have gone through this topic but does not answer my question. I have 7 empty kegs  , I have 2 brews to keg, so today I rinsed them out with hot water and mixed about 3 litres of keg cleaner, poured it into one keg, made a little fly over connection and ran it through from one keg to the next, giving a swirl in between. I tipped that out and put clean hot water in the first keg and repeated the process. Getting down to the question , I have some liquid sanitiser, Phosphoric Acid, which I sprayed into the kegs and seals and lids, the directions say to "drip dry" , does it have to be dry, dry orcan it be a little wet? I would like to seal up the kegs so that they will be ready for the next batch in a fornight without me going through the whole process and maybe a quick spray around the top, fill, seal and burp.


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## Zwickel (29/8/09)

Hello BungalowBill,

dont worry about the cleaning process too much. You dont need em to sanitize as far as youve cleaned them well enough.

Since 9 years already Im doing the same process with all of my kegs, actually I have 18 kegs in circulation and never had any issue.

My way to do it: after a keg gets empty, Im rinsing it a little bit with hot water, just to get rid of the slurry.
Then fill in about 5 to 8 litres of hot water, add a little bit caustic soda, close the lid, shake it, pressurize it by compressed air and stand it upside down over night.
Next day drain off the caustic solution through the outlet post, rinse it with a little bit water and fill in 5 litres of water with a little bit citric acid, just to remove the remaining caustic layer on the surface of the metal. Drain it and keep it upside down standing on a dry and clean place until needed again.
Thats all.

Cheers :icon_cheers:


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