Keg, Tap & Line Cleaning

[kook]

I'm just curious as to how often you guys clean your kegging gear, how you perform the cleaning, and what products you use.

How often do you:

- Flush your lines
- Fully take apart and clean your keg/s
- Fully take apart and clean your tap/s
- Replace seals

 

[big d]

hi kook
in answer to your questions...
i generally flush my lines between each keg refill.
have only stripped down my kegs once in about 6 years and put a seal kit through the lot.
taps get cleaned/stripped between each keg change over.
seals as above for kegs and havent done the taps as yet.way to new as in o/hauled by gmk when purchased.
i use cellarman beer line cleaner and it seems to be very good.also give the kegs a rinse with psr then rinsed with boiling water. sometimes even a one-shot clean.

cheers
big d

 

[JasonY]

Clean them? haven't done that yet ... well ran cellarman through it first time but haven't bothered since ... been about 6 kegs ... may rinse it through again on an upcoming keg change ...

Haven't noticed any problems yet ...

 

[big d]

just out of curiosity jasony when you run the cellarman through the lines have a look at the colour.it may suprise you how much gunk comes outa the lines.

 

[kook]

The reason I asked this is because I just took apart my taps out of curiousity. They were putrid! Admitadly they've had beer sitting in them for about 3 months doing nothing (I havent had any beer going through them). I left some line cleaner in them for 15 mins, flushed it. Left some then for 2 hours, flushed it. Left some pink stain in them for 20 minutes, and then flushed for a few minutes with cold water. They look much cleaner now, but theres still a little bit of visible gunk left inside.

I cant be bothered doing anything further with them today. But tomorrow before I taste the first glass of my lager, I plan to take the taps completely apart, clean them and lube them.

My kegs seem fine, so I'll just keep on using them as usual (cleaning with pink steri).

 

[Batz]

I don't do my beer lines as much as I should , I do pull the taps apart and soak in bleach now and then , they get pritty yukky.

I also use beer line cleaner in my kegs sometimes , and scrub insinde with a scotch-brite , even if the inside looks clean the colour of the beer line cleaner after a scrub up is like mud

 

[big d]

must be the fruit ..........batz

 

[Jovial_Monk]

I take the lid & poppets off and soak in Terminator (One Shot is the same stuff) Same for beer dip tube

clean the keg with brewers detergent and a toilet brush brought especially for me kegs, rinse rinse then fill with Terminator solution fit lid, poppets etc, push the terminator solution out with CO2 using my pluto, cleaning the keg, beer line & pluto (I assume cleanoing the pluto, never had it apart.

Do NOT use bleach or pink stain on stainless steel!!!!! I would not bother using anything other than one shot/terminator, I mean, why would I? The stuff is meant to clean milk lines in commercial dairies!

Jovial Monk

 

[Hoops]

Kook

I pulled my kegs apart and cleaned them when I first got them (4years ago) and haven't done it since.
Generally when I change a keg I clean my lines out with caustic keg line cleaner and strip my tap, soak in cleaner, flush with boiling water.

Hoops

 

[Doc]

My approach is to do it all in one hit.

When a keg is empty I open it up and add some hot water and remove the sediment on the bottom of the keg. I also rince the hatch and o-ring.

I then half fill the keg with hot water and add some Pink Stain. Close the hatch and shake the shit out of it. Then into the keg fridge and I run the solution through the tap.

Then half fill with cold water, shake the shit out of it and run that through the tap.

Then fill with the next beer.

Beers,
Doc

 

[pioneergangsta]

My approach to beer lines is the same as docs.

I also stip my taps and clean em up as good as possible in between kegs.

 

[Trev]

I do virtually nthe same as Doc, except I use Idophor rather than pink detergent.

Interestingly though, when I first got my kegs I followed Craig Deacons advice (Keg Systems Aust) and gave them a soak in mild caustic. It cleaned them up a beauty!

 

[sosman]

I started out stripping down the kegs completely each time but I don't bother anymore.

I clean with warm sodium percarbonate solution, push it out with compressed air through hoses and taps. I rinse this through with tap water.

I then use phosphoric acid solution (with some LABS acid to make it foam). Shake like buggery. Blow some out through lines and taps to sanitise then leave remaining solution in keg until ready to use. No need to rinse just drain well.

I collected some links on cleaning and sanitation (not so much on technique) at
brewiki: cleaning and sanitation because I was getting some bogus information (eg sanitise with sodium metabisulphite).

 

[Gout]

I do exactly as sos, well i should and .. want to most the time i am lazy and dont do the beer line every time (always clean the kegs though)

the first glass on a new keg is "porter in line" + "3/4 glass pale Ale" hehe
yummy, its all beer to me

I will clean the lines this next keg with the above and cellerman

 

[Boots]

What can you use to clean / polish the outside of the keg? I've got a nice shiny sheet of stainless on my fridge door, and I'd like to see more shiny steel when I open the door?

Trev mentioned a mild caustic solution for cleaning, but I don't imagine that would do much for a nice shiny finish.

Cheers

 

[Hoops]

I would try some fine wet & dry then maybe some brasso or metal polish.

 

[Doc]

I use a green scrubby and a little dish washing detergent.
Doesn't take too much elbow grease and the kegs come up looking great.

Doc

 

[Poodz]

Fellas, just bought my first keg and need to clean it. One shot and terminator seem popular along with the Pink stuff.

I went to both local supermarket and hardware stores but neither had any of what i was looking for.

Just wondering where i can find these products in N/E of adelaide.

Cheers.

 

[jgriffin]

You can get one-shot from Grumpy's (they make it) and a couple of other people on this board sell a similar product.
Eliminate you need to buy in 20L drums from agricultural stores - at $7 a litre the upfront cost is high.

 

[Poodz]

thanks for that jg.