browntown52
Active Member
I got an old dented keg as part of a bulk craigslist homebrew supply purchase. I depressurized and removed the spear just to see what was involved. Because of all the dents, this will not become a keggle, so I reassembled, and I'll probably just trade it as a deposit on my next commercial beer keg run. The way they do keg purchases at bars around here is that you give them a $30-40 deposit on the keg, OR give them an empty (doesn't matter what brewery the empty came from as the bars get their emptys bought back from whichever wholesale supplier).
My question is:
Do commercial breweries always remove the spear when they clean? Just out of curiosity I was wondering what the cleaning procedure was. I assume most of the time they just hook them up with couplers, fill with pressurized pbw, and then purge the same way. They must disassemble the spears occassionally, but under what circumstances?
This keg was so old the spring for the ball was weak, the gasket falling apart, the ball was dull, and there was caked on brown sludge all over the spear. I'd hate for it to go back into circulation and just sprayed out and refilled. The keg itself is perfectly functional for bar use, I just hope they replace the spear (older design where the spring cage hooks on the bottom of the valve instead of the newer designs)
My question is:
Do commercial breweries always remove the spear when they clean? Just out of curiosity I was wondering what the cleaning procedure was. I assume most of the time they just hook them up with couplers, fill with pressurized pbw, and then purge the same way. They must disassemble the spears occassionally, but under what circumstances?
This keg was so old the spring for the ball was weak, the gasket falling apart, the ball was dull, and there was caked on brown sludge all over the spear. I'd hate for it to go back into circulation and just sprayed out and refilled. The keg itself is perfectly functional for bar use, I just hope they replace the spear (older design where the spring cage hooks on the bottom of the valve instead of the newer designs)