my score yesterday

[homebrewkid]

G'day i haven't been on here for ages, im still brewing though and jist had to tell you lot about the awesome score i got yesterday.

I got a keg king series 3 dual tap kegerator, 5 kegs and 3 2.6kg co2 bottles.

Apparently the regulator is stuffed but i cant see any problems with it. Will do some testing and see what happens. I have a fire extinguisher I can hook up to it for now anyway. And was going to bottle on sunday, guess i might keg it now instead.

Whats the best way to clean it all out?
2 of the kegs are still full of old beer but im going to dump that as i have no odea how old it is, or what it is for that matter.


When i try to upload a photo the box goes blue and white and just stays like that for some reason?
No matter what I try.


Ok the problem was firefox, i logged in using chrome and it worked, happy days

 

[homebrewkid]

It wont let me upload photos it jist seems to lock up.

Using firefox on Samsung Galaxy s6

 

[Yob]

Will be file size, take a screenshot of the pic and try that...

 

[Exile]

or upload it to https://tinypng.com/

 

[Mardoo]

I tend to clean kegs with 30-year old something in them with caustic. I'm sure PBW or 3:1 Sodium Percarbonate:Sodium Metasilicate does the job. There's just something a bit...scary...about that brown moldy syrup that once was beer. And man, the pong!

 

[malt junkie]

I have a worse brew cleaning problem; we just moved house and the last place had a major mold problem. Everything has sat idle for about 6 weeks while we packed up and unpacked. The braclone, the kegs (14 of them) fermenters and everything else all have mold on them. So this weekend is a top down strip and clean of the lot, and I think I'll replace the plastic fermenters with SS olive drums ( birthday next week, shiny pressies are always good). Then there's the fridges.

So initial clean will be hot/ warm caustic, followed by a rinse, then perc with TSP 3:1. 1-2 hour soak in each. Then rebuild every last nut and bolt and hope to hell I don't have to rekit every keg, I know it's an ideal time to do it but 14 of them!?!

For fridges I like domestos mixed pretty strong, 2 or 3:1 in a spray bottle.
Hope we both have a happy scrubbing weekend!

 

[BKBrews]

Dunno where you're located, but I'd take a gas bottle if you don't need them all and are based near the Gold Coast [emoji16]

 

[homebrewkid]

Dunno where you're located, but I'd take a gas bottle if you don't need them all and are based near the Gold Coast [emoji16]

I dont see myself needing 3 of them but im in sydney.
Will definitely keep 2 but not sure what i will do with the other one yet.

 

[TheWiggman]

Extra vote for the caustic, incredibly powerful at smiting anything that may resemble a nasty. Take care, wear goggles etc. You can tip it from keg to keg to re-use, and works best at high temperatures. I would -

1. Dump and rinse each keg, wiping out by hand
2. Heat some water to 40°C, tip in 2l of it with 120g of caustic soda / sodium hydroxide powder
3. Put lid on and shake to buggery
4. Run some solution out of the liquid post
5. Leave to sit for 30 mins
6. Shake again, then using some CO2 run the solution from one keg to the next out of the liquid post to clean the lines and tube (I would also run a cloth through the dip tube using some wire to give it a proper clean)
7. Rinse thoroughly with hot water and a soft cloth
8. Run hot water through the dip tube when finished

Would also be worth buying some keg rebuild kits for peace of mind. If the reg is apparently stuffed I'd be inclined to just turf it and get a new, reliable one that won't risk discharging your cylinder just when you need it.

 

[Mardoo]

Then rebuild every last nut and bolt and hope to hell I don't have to rekit every keg, I know it's an ideal time to do it but 14 of them!?!

Yeah, just cleaned and rebuilt 11 myself. Bit of work, eh? Not bad work, but it does take time.

 

[homebrewkid]

For fridges I like domestos mixed pretty strong, 2 or 3:1 in a spray bottle.
Hope we both have a happy scrubbing weekend!

Id drink to that but i just got to work, and since im a delivery driver its probably not the best idea.

 

[homebrewkid]

Extra vote for the caustic, incredibly powerful at smiting anything that may resemble a nasty. Take care, wear goggles etc. You can tip it from keg to keg to re-use, and works best at high temperatures. I would -

• Dump and rinse each keg, wiping out by hand
• Heat some water to 40°C, tip in 2l of it with 120g of caustic soda / sodium hydroxide powder
• Put lid on and shake to buggery
• Run some solution out of the liquid post
• Leave to sit for 30 mins
• Shake again, then using some CO2 run the solution from one keg to the next out of the liquid post to clean the lines and tube (I would also run a cloth through the dip tube using some wire to give it a proper clean)
• Rinse thoroughly with hot water and a soft cloth
• Run hot water through the dip tube when finished

Would also be worth buying some keg rebuild kits for peace of mind. If the reg is apparently stuffed I'd be inclined to just turf it and get a new, reliable one that won't risk discharging your cylinder just when you need it.

Guess ive got a bust weekend, i also ave to pull the taps apart and clean them up.

 

[Mardoo]

I'd add to TheWiggman's post to run the caustic into the following keg through the gas post to clean that post too.

 

[homebrewkid]

Is there a way i can hook up to my compressor for cleaning just so i can use that rather than co2?

 

[pcqypcqy]

Depending on if you have the gear already or not, this might work. Even if you don't, the pumps are cheap at bunnings (or maybe the masters fire sale). I bought a spark plug socket for my kegs for about $10 at mitre 10.

1. use socket to disassemble kegs, removing posts, seals, lids etc
2. rinse out beer/yeast/hop matter with a hose and dump
3. up end keg over a bucket of water and your chosen detergent/caustic with said submersible pump with a vertical pipe on it ( i use a short length of pvc, just long enough to jet the water onto the bottom of the keg)
4. turn on pump and let it rinse for however long you feel comfortable. even just a minute or two of constant water/detergent movement will be much more effective than soaking
5. wipe clean
6. clean posts, seals, poppets, tubes by hand (I improvised a pull through using chux and some line-trimmer line to feed through and pull the chux back)

Might seem like heaps of work but it's pretty straight forward. If everything is pretty filthy, you might want to dump the detergent after doing all the kegs once and mixing up a new batch and doing them a second time.

Looks like yours are ball locks, I've got pin locks, but same principle applies (I notched mine to slide over the pins).

 

[homebrewkid]

Depending on if you have the gear already or not, this might work. Even if you don't, the pumps are cheap at bunnings (or maybe the masters fire sale). I bought a spark plug socket for my kegs for about $10 at mitre 10.

• use socket to disassemble kegs, removing posts, seals, lids etc
• rinse out beer/yeast/hop matter with a hose and dump
• up end keg over a bucket of water and your chosen detergent/caustic with said submersible pump with a vertical pipe on it ( i use a short length of pvc, just long enough to jet the water onto the bottom of the keg)
• turn on pump and let it rinse for however long you feel comfortable. even just a minute or two of constant water/detergent movement will be much more effective than soaking
• wipe clean
• clean posts, seals, poppets, tubes by hand (I improvised a pull through using chux and some line-trimmer line to feed through and pull the chux back)

Might seem like heaps of work but it's pretty straight forward. If everything is pretty filthy, you might want to dump the detergent after doing all the kegs once and mixing up a new batch and doing them a second time.

Looks like yours are ball locks, I've got pin locks, but same principle applies (I notched mine to slide over the pins).

Great, thanks, will try that im pretty sure I have a spare bilge pump somewhere.

 

[dannymars]

1. Heat some water to 40°C, tip in 2l of it with 120g of caustic soda / sodium hydroxide powder

Be VERY careful of mixing caustic with hot water... !!

It can react violently and sputter n spray everywhere. in a keg it's probably not a big deal as long as you're wearing gloves/goggles. But you are better off mixing it cold and then heating it up.

 

[homebrewkid]

I wonder if this little split is the reason the bloke i got it from thought the regulator is stuffed.

Is there a way to remove those clips so that they can be reused?

I need to scrub out the mould in there and clean all the fittings, will see have to replace the hoses id say.

 

[Steve]

I wonder if this little split is the reason the bloke i got it from thought the regulator is stuffed.

Is there a way to remove those clips so that they can be reused?

I need to scrub out the mould in there and clean all the fittings, will see have to replace the hoses id say.

Probably would have something to do with a loss of gas, yes! You wont be able to re-use those clips. Rip them off. Cut the line and re-attach with new clips.

 

[pcqypcqy]

Be VERY careful of mixing caustic with hot water... !!

It can react violently and sputter n spray everywhere. in a keg it's probably not a big deal as long as you're wearing gloves/goggles. But you are better off mixing it cold and then heating it up.

You wouldn't even need to heat it up. Add it to cold water and it should warm up by itself pretty quickly.