Cleaning kegs...oxidation?

[refect]

So I just got a keg kit for christmas and transformed my Sanyo. I was inspecting the keg my kit came with after giving it a good rinse and sanitizer soak with iodophor/water. Around the top of the inside it seems to have some white residue. It looks kinda like a fish tank where your water had been filled to for a long time. Anyways, not sure if this is oxidation, but would it be safe to do a short soak with oxiclean and scrub with my carboy brush or the rough side of a new clean sponge? Oxiclean is usually what I use to clean my carboys and equipment with so that's the only cleaner I have at the moment. I usually soak my equipment in my ss brewpot with oxi and rinse well after with no problems, but I saw some posts saying not to use oxi on kegs? Is there something better/safer than oxi to use on kegs that wont damage the seals/o-rings? I wanna try to remove this residue before I use it if possible. The keg also has a strong odor of rootbeer or cream soda. Even after rinsing and sanitizing. Would any of this affect the taste of my beer?

 

[agsensi]

If they had rootbeer in it it will I was told not to ever use aa rootbeer keg for any thing else even after

 

[refect]

If they had rootbeer in it it will I was told not to ever use aa rootbeer keg for any thing else even after

I'm not sure what was used in it before, but it does have a root beer or cream soda smell to it that won't seem to go away. I haven't filled it with beer yet, but the keg looks pretty clean, other than the residue at the top. How come you shouldn't use a keg that had rootbeer in it?

Oh yeah aanyone know how tight you tighten the posts down when reassembling them?

 

[day_trippr]

Tighten posts with the appropriate wrench. If it's a ball lock keg with hex posts, a deep socket is the easiest, otherwise a box end wrench will work fine, but if it has "star" type posts you'll need a 12 point box wrench. If it's a pin lock keg you'll probably have to do with an open end wrench, unless you buy or make the special slotted deep socket to fit.

As for the root beer, you'll definitely want to replace all five o-rings, and give the keg an extra rigorous cleaning, to avoid having your beer take on that root beer flavor/aroma.

I don't think a couple of hours soaking filled with a hot oxyclean solution is going to hurt the keg. I'd follow that with another hot soak with an acidic solution (eg: vinegar and water). I'd also break down the posts and soak them, and pull both dip tubes and clean them with a dip tube brush, then rinse everything thoroughly, assemble with new o-rings, and run some sanitizer through the works...

Cheers!

 

[refect]

Thanks for the replys so far. I think the keg has had all new seals installed already and seemed to be holding pressure good when I filled it with 30psi. I do have a new package of seals for it though that came with the kit. How tight should I tighten the posts? I don't want to over tighten and strip anything..

 

[day_trippr]

As long as you thread the posts on correctly, there shouldn't be any worries about stripping them when you tighten them down. I keep turning with a socket wrench until they bottom - it's pretty obvious that they're as far down as they're going to go, and there actually isn't a lot of force required (if you're putting any effort into it, the post is probably cross-threaded already!)

If the kit came with a separate set of new o-rings, it would seem unlikely that the keg sports new ones. As well, if you're smelling soda - whether root beer or cream - it's pretty clear the keg needs a solid cleaning, and the rings likely have absorbed that same odor.

A clean keg doesn't smell like...anything...

Cheers!

 

[Berniep]

I have had oxyclean solution in my keg for weeks with no observable effects.
Its chlorine bleach you want to keep away from stainless

 

[refect]

Thanks for the replys so far! Looks like I'll try giving this key a nice soak and scrubbing to try and get that smell and residue off, and replace all orings as well. Anyone know if that little pressure release valve/tab on the keg lid is supposed to come apart or has an seals in it? My lid also has that same smell on the bottom of it...

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Anyone know if that little pressure release valve/tab on the keg lid is supposed to come apart or has an seals in it?[...]

If the pressure relief has a ring attached, the plastic piece twists off, usually just engaging the ring into the slot and using it as a key. If it's the lever style, the metal piece twists off using a small open end wrench. Both will have poppets with a rubber seal...

Cheers!