Never scrubbed my Keg

[MarkyP]

Hey guys another worried homebrewer, I got a second hand corney that had a small about of liquid in the end of it, only a couple of tea spoons, looked and kinda smelled like soda, but not 100% sure, anways I rinse the keg multiple times and soaked and shook a lot of star san around the keg on 2 seperate occasions, i also changed all the rubber rings on the inside of the keg. A couple of days later I decided to fill the keg, I did another rinse and star san mix before filling but it was only when I was filling I released I never actually scrubbed the inside of the keg with pbw and a brush, I kinda noticed like some staining on the inside of the keg but it was too late.

I'm now worried that this is going to effect the taste of my beer, the smell in the keg was still present after the first wash but maybe was the smell of starsan which I left in it overnight.
Has anyone any experience with previous soda contaminating or effecting the taste of their beer?

Do you think my beer has a pretty good chance of being off now. Ps I guess the stain kind of looked like limescale but not as thick as a crust more like a water mark

Thanks guys

 

[govner1]

First- StarSan is not a cleanser. It is a sanitizer.
Second- cleansers (B-Brite) are intended for the removal of particulates. A good soak in hot water w/ 1 T of B-Brite for about an hour should eliminate any unwanted particulates. You should also circulate the cleanser through your dip tube.
Third- A thorough rinse of everything w/ hot water, including the dip tube, should be followed by a rinse w/ StarSan. Don't forget the dip tube.
Then you should be good to go.

 

[shortyz]

bleach cleans the best imo. i work in the food industry and even though its discouraged to use it on stainless, i advise it as long as its rinsed within a few hours.

its cheap, and when being used full strength i have found nothing better at eating off food particulate. i dont like using some wacky chemicals that could leave a residue on your containers as well... chlorine will naturally off gas and is harmless.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Let me guess. Smelled kinda citriusy like Sprite/7Up? I get that smell too from sanitized cornies. All the ones I have bought had that smell as well, even the ones I clean and let sit for a while. I think it may be due to the acid in the sanitizer. I have not noticed any infections from the kegs that smell that way, nor noticed any off flavors even in the most mildly flavored beers.

 

[MarkyP]

That's for the replys guys, I'm aware stars an isn't a cleaner that was my problem I never cleaned but did do 2 or 3 saintizings over a week or so.

That's the exact smell im talking about, maybe when I bought the kegs they already had some star san in them.

Well I'm gonna leave at room temp for a week or so before putting them in the fridge and carbing them up, might remove the rubber from the top, it bleeds and everything gets all black when they get wet.

 

[Beer-lord]

I bought a used corny a few years ago that had a strong smell of root beer. I first gave it a good washing with hot water, then I added 2 cups of baking soda to hot water and let it sit for 3-4 days. It was much better by then. Finally I used PBW for another 3-4 days and that did the trick.
I still use this keg and have done a few, very light beers in it with no off flavors due to the root beer.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

A few of my kegs smelled like root beer, cola, and some weird minty flavor. I cleaned them the best I could and ended up with kegs that smelled like clean root beer, clean cola, and clean weird minty flavor. I put beer in them anyway. The beer tasted like beer. No signs of the soda. After the kegs were empty they smelled like altbier, nut brown, and APA.

 

[Homercidal]

I doubt your beer will suffer, but I would also recommend scrubbing with a scothbrite pad and some oxiclean when the beer is gone. I do this about once a year or so. Between those times I just fill with oxi then wipe with a washcloth after it's soaked for about 1n hour or so, followed by starsan of course. This is to sanitize the keg for the next batch and to neutralize the residue that oxi and our water puts on the surface of everything.