How Often Should I Clean Keg Parts?

[Truman42]

I have a couple of random questions about kegging that i would appreciate some advice on.

1. How often do you guys pull apart your kegs to clean all the seals etc? After every brew or just every now and again?

2. If I have my beer sitting in the beer line inside my fridge for a few days or even a week is it okay to drink this or do you pour it out until fresh beer from the keg starts to flow through? I assume its okay as the line is sealed from the air.

Thanks heaps gents.

 

[Adam Howard]

I have a couple of random questions about kegging that i would appreciate some advice on.

1. How often do you guys pull apart your kegs to clean all the seals etc? After every brew or just every now and again?

2. If I have my beer sitting in the beer line inside my fridge for a few days or even a week is it okay to drink this or do you pour it out until fresh beer from the keg starts to flow through? I assume its okay as the line is sealed from the air.

Thanks heaps gents.

I hardly ever pull my kegs apart. After they blow I rinse them out with real hot water then chuck about 5L of close to boiling water in with PBW, shake the **** out of it and run the solution through the beer out then empty and rinse with hot water. Sanitise and re-fill. If I was going to naturally carbonate in a keg and the beer was going to be sitting at room temp for a while I would pull it all apart and clean thoroughly just to be sure.

The volume of beer from the beer out post to the tap spout is pretty minimal, if it's been a couple of days between pours I usually fill half a glass and discard. This also helps to cool the tap down for a good pour without a shitload of head.

 

[Florian]

From the previous five threads on exactly the same topic I have gathered that everyone does it differently. Some pull everything apart before every fill, some have actually never pulled their kegs apart at all.

Your assumption on your second question is correct, but do what works best for you, try the beer and tip or don't.

 

[Screwtop]

When empty hose out and rinse. Add 2L of water and a teaspoon of Sod Perc. Shake then attach gas and add a little pressure, let some out through the Beer Out post, tip upside down and push the gas in pin and let some out through the Gas In post. Shake a few times and leave for a couple of days.

Hose out and give the keg top and lid a clean with a dish brush clean under the seal, rinse out. Add 2L of Starsan Solution add some pressure and let some solution out via each post again. Mark the keg as clean and store. Prior to filling just empty out the sanitiser.

Screwy

 

[adryargument]

I put new seals on all kegs i purchase.
Then once i use them i leave them pressurized until i need them again. Wash with hot water. Use.

No bad kegs yet... 1.5 years...

 

[stux]

I have a couple of random questions about kegging that i would appreciate some advice on.

1. How often do you guys pull apart your kegs to clean all the seals etc? After every brew or just every now and again?

2. If I have my beer sitting in the beer line inside my fridge for a few days or even a week is it okay to drink this or do you pour it out until fresh beer from the keg starts to flow through? I assume its okay as the line is sealed from the air.

Thanks heaps gents.

When I obtain a new (ie old) keg I do a complete tear down, full soak and scrub of all parts in PBW and replace and lube seals.

In 3 years of kegging I've only torn down a keg again the once... to check... and it was all clean which means I think my cleaning regime is good. I don't keg-hop.


Every now and again I do a thorough PBW soak/flush/santize routine. If I do santize a keg, I'll leave some starsan in it, and won't bother re-sanitizing before filling.

Every time a keg blows I either rinse it out immediately with hot tap water, leave it in the fridge, or fill it up again.

Later I'll santiize it before kegging if necessary (ie if it hasn't been sanitized already, or if I'm not filling it up soon after it blows)


With beer line, now that I have Perlick's I don't need to toss the first 30 mls or so of bad beer. The beer is fine. If its been weeks since I pulled a beer through the tap, I might toss the first 30 mls or so still, but that is a rare situation, and would only happen when I come back from a business trip or something.

I try to remember to spray starsan up the perlick nozzles at the end of the night if the tap has been used, and I use faucet nozzle covers (stops the vinegar flies). Every now and again, I'll flush strong pbw, water, starsan through the lines, at least once a year. Again, since I swapped out the back-sealing taps with perlicks the perlicks are clean and sparkly when I tear them down. Previously the back-sealing taps were FOUL.

My one true shame is that I need to clean my drip tray more often than I do :-\

 

[chunckious]

You def taste the difference to fresh beer and "beer-line beer". Chuck that ****!

 

[Nick JD]

I clean the kegs before I refill them. One trick is to fill the keg with warm water, and then dump a cap of napisan in. Wait a few seconds for the napisan to pool on the bottom of the keg ... then press the OUT post's valve down. The airlock in the dip tube is freed and the napisan-laden water comes rushing up the tube and squirts out the post. Napisan in high concentration is now in the post.

When it's had time to soak and get all sparkly, I empty and rinse it a few times with cold water - then squirt loads of startsan in there with a squirty bottle. To get startsan in the OUT post and dip tube, I click on a spare QD and put the squirty bottle nozzle on the post and nail starsan down it until I see it flooding out the bottom of the diptube.

I've never had a keg infection, and I often store them at room temp, full, with no issues.

Once they're in the fridge, I care a lot less about everything being spotless. Clean the QDs and taps when they get manky - and replace the lines.

 

[QldKev]

You are supposed to rip the kegs apart to clean?

When mine blows (talking about the kegs) I just leave them full of CO2 and in the fridge until it's time to refill. Then a quick rinse with the hose and refill. Being stored in the fridge full of CO2 they won't have magically picked up an infection. Occasionally when I'm bored I may spray them out with the gernie, just before being refilled. I guess if you think a kegged beer may have had an infection then it would be worth pulling them down for a full clean and sanatise.

Probably be more careful if any of my kegs were stored at room temp.


QldKev

 

[Truman42]

Thanks very much gents. Lots of great information. :icon_cheers:

 

[Liam_snorkel]

I replace my kegs after every batch.

 

[wbosher]

I wish I could afford a keg.

 

[Nick JD]

I wish I could afford a keg.

Kegs are cheap. It's the crap you need to make them work that isn't!

 

[DU99]

when i get kegs..strip them down and clean everything..new seals..as i use pinlock..new post seals every 12 months

 

[alawishus]

You are supposed to rip the kegs apart to clean?

Probably be more careful if any of my kegs were stored at room temp.


QldKev

Aren't most spoilage organisms cold adapted?

Ala

 

[pk.sax]

I used to do the nappisan + kettle of boiling water and seal n swish slosh thing.

Then just release pressure, unscrew the posts and clean out the dip tube. Makes sure it's clean and I don't faff about holding down the pressure pin and pouring tons of water through it. After the hot water soak, rinse with water and spray everything with starsan just before assembly. Just easier to clean disassembled. Also gets eyes on the o-rings etc, bit of lube.
I never filtered my beers so always get a bit of yeast on the bottom, no matter how CC'd. I don't even try and take it out without disassembling it, why waste time when all it takes is a spanner to quickly undo rinse and redo the disconnect and dip tube. Save time somewhere, spend it elsewhere.

Of course, now I'm kegless I wish I had beer on tap again!

 

[QldKev]

Aren't most spoilage organisms cold adapted?

Ala

Not sure? My theory is if I can leave beer in there for 6 months and it doesn't spoil, what difference is that against it being empty and full of CO2 make? Don't let my kegs know about these cold adapted spoilage organisms; some haven't been sanatised for years. If they hear about it I'm screwed.

QldKev