Stored keg cleaning?

[BrewMeister49]

I brewed up two beers last October. One had heavy pumpkin puree in the mash ( Pain in the A ). They have been in the keezer at 38-42* and empty under pressure still. I havent looked at them, but am sure there is dried sediment. What does everyone use to clean and scour their cornies? The gasket kits and such are new from last year ( used the once ).

 

[SoCal-Doug]

Barkeepers Friend is a wonderful thing. Swish it around, let it soak, repeat if needed.

If you need to use a sponge or brush go for it. But a long enough soak should soften it.

 

[Horseflesh]

Rinse out as much as you can, then fill with hot water and about 4 oz PBW. Soak for at least an hour. I often let it go until the next day, though. It should all come out with no scrubbing needed.

 

[iijakii]

Honestly Ive had some tapped kegs that I left in the keezer for months, they never dried up and turned to crud. I guess the minor amount of liquid left and no air meant they stayed OK?

 

[MaryB]

BLC time! Fill with water and soak! After rinsing any excess crud out. Then run BLC through the lines then Star-San!

 

[freisste]

Good advice from several people already, but I'm with iijakii... I've never had one dry up if it was sealed. (Sealed meaning no way for the liquid to get out.)

 

[homebrewer_99]

I use a giant brush (think baby bottle brush) that I attach to my drill for scrubbing.

 

[eric19312]

Another vote for zero experience with dried on crud. Sealed kegs don’t dry out.

 

[PADave]

Another vote for zero experience with dried on crud. Sealed kegs don’t dry out.

Exactly. If your keg dried out it's not sealed.

 

[gnef]

I just do an overnight soak in oxyclean with the hottest tap water I have, filled to the top.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Everybody has their procedure for cleaning kegs. Here's mine:
1. When a keg kicks I pull it out of the keezer, still under pressure, and set it aside.
2. When I get a chance (next day, next week, next month) I open the top, rinse it out with water, then with Starsan. Close up and swish around both times. Seal and pressurize.
3. When I'm ready to fill, I remove the poppets, dip tubes, and lid and swish them into a bucket of Starsan. (you know, the same bucket that I'm using to sanitize my autosiphon) l reassemble the keg, adding keg lube to all the rubber seals.

Wash, rinse repeat.

I should probably have a look at the dip tube periodically. Haven't gotten to that yet. Any ideas on how to clean the inside of a dip tube?

Oh, and when reassembling the keg, be sure the poppet springs are in place. They are usually just sitting in the poppet, but can occasionally fall out into the bucket. Ask me how I know that.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Any ideas on how to clean the inside of a dip tube?

Dip tube brush, maybe?

 

[MaryB]

About every 4th keg use I circulate BLC thru the dip tube and the gas tube to clean them. Pump in a 5 gallon bucket to a T connector to a gas and liquid disconnect on the keg. Keg sits upside down over the bucket(I really need to build a holder for that part one of these days!) and I run BLC up thru the tubes and it then sprays the walls of the keg cleaning them at the same time. I sanitize the same way then hit a clean keg with CO2 for storage if I am not going to fill it right away. StarSan right before filling that just gets rolled around the inside to make sure no bugs then fill.

Everybody has their procedure for cleaning kegs. Here's mine:
1. When a keg kicks I pull it out of the keezer, still under pressure, and set it aside.
2. When I get a chance (next day, next week, next month) I open the top, rinse it out with water, then with Starsan. Close up and swish around both times. Seal and pressurize.
3. When I'm ready to fill, I remove the poppets, dip tubes, and lid and swish them into a bucket of Starsan. (you know, the same bucket that I'm using to sanitize my autosiphon) l reassemble the keg, adding keg lube to all the rubber seals.

Wash, rinse repeat.

I should probably have a look at the dip tube periodically. Haven't gotten to that yet. Any ideas on how to clean the inside of a dip tube?

Oh, and when reassembling the keg, be sure the poppet springs are in place. They are usually just sitting in the poppet, but can occasionally fall out into the bucket. Ask me how I know that.

 

[MagicMatt]

Wash, rinse repeat.

No, I think you mean Sanitize, rinse, repeat. Nothing in your write-up includes actually cleaning the kegs. Starsan is a sanitizer, not a cleaning agent.

 

[glugglug]

I always rinse,then sanitize. I also have one of those dip tube brushes. I was amazed how dirty the tubes were before I started using it. Money well spent. Also clean siphon with it.

 

[Droot]

I don't touch my empty kegs until it's time to refill. They stay clean except the old beer and yeast. They have sat for years at times with zero problems. Nothing lives in Co2. I use a dip tube brush every time.

David