First time cleaning kegs

[SudsyPaul]

I picked up a half-dozen pin-lock corny kegs for dirt cheap, and I'm about to clean them out and prep them for first-use.

They all have/had coke/pop in them before, and 4 of them still have a lot of liquid in them.

Before I go ahead and blow myself up, I was hoping that people could confirm that I'm doing this right. I should note, there's no quick-release valve on the cap.

1. Release all gas by depressing the center valve on the gas pin.
2. Loosen/remove gas pin-lock and liquid pin-lock
3. Remove lid
4. Dump liquid
5. Rinse off/wash pin-locks and soak in Star San
6. Soak keg in Oxyclean for 12-24hrs
7. Rinse keg and sanitize with Star San
8. Fill with BEER!

Is that about right? I already released the co2 from 1 keg by depressing the center valve on the gas pin, so I think it's safe to open it now, right?

 

[JoeyChopps]

Sounds pretty good. Also your need to replace all the seals on all the kegs they can pick up a soda taste and transfer them to your brew also there probably old and need to be replaced anyhow. Good luck and don't get any nasty old soda in your mouth. Chopps.

 

[SpeedYellow]

Sounds pretty good. Also your need to replace all the seals on all the kegs they can pick up a soda taste and transfer them to your brew also there probably old and need to be replaced anyhow. Good luck and don't get any nasty old soda in your mouth. Chopps.

+1. Replace the seals while you're in there. Hopefully your LHBS will have what you need. If you plan to own several kegs, go ahead and buy the seals in bulk using the McMaster parts sticky thread. $30 will get you all the seals you'll ever need.

 

[JRems]

I would no more than just soak them, manually scrub the inside with a scotchbrite pad with some bar keepers friend. The areas you can't reach, use a new toilet scrubber brush and you should be able to reach the whole way to the bottom.

 

[FATC1TY]

Nice idea on the toilet brush..

I have a Keg cleaner on a drill that works great.. cleans the keg nicely.

I'd also double up and replace the seals while you have everything apart. It's just easier.

After that, soak in some hot PBW for a little while. Flush with hot water, and then sanitize them. I like to leave the sanitizer in them, only... a gallon roughly.. When I'm ready to use it, I shake it up, slosh it around and dump it before I rack into it.

 

[collinsDPT]

Nice idea on the toilet brush..

I have a Keg cleaner on a drill that works great.. cleans the keg nicely.

I'd also double up and replace the seals while you have everything apart. It's just easier.

After that, soak in some hot PBW for a little while. Flush with hot water, and then sanitize them. I like to leave the sanitizer in them, only... a gallon roughly.. When I'm ready to use it, I shake it up, slosh it around and dump it before I rack into it.

I was thinking of doing this too, as I want to clean them soon but not use them for a few weeks. From what I have been reading, it is best to pressurize the keg with the starsan in it... then when ready to use, let it run through your beverage line before depressurizing, dumping, and filling. But, what amount of pressure should it be pressurized to? This will literally be my first time putting CO2 into a tank.

 

[FATC1TY]

I was thinking of doing this too, as I want to clean them soon but not use them for a few weeks. From what I have been reading, it is best to pressurize the keg with the starsan in it... then when ready to use, let it run through your beverage line before depressurizing, dumping, and filling. But, what amount of pressure should it be pressurized to? This will literally be my first time putting CO2 into a tank.

Enough to seal the keg, which is usually around 10psi.

Clean it, change the seals.. Toss in some starsan and water.. Put the lid on, and pressurize it to 10 psi.

Then I like to shoot out some starsan from the output side to make sure the diptube is flushed as well.

Let it sit and be done with it.

 

[arturo7]

You definitely want to clean them first. Starsan is just he final step before filling.

I use Oxy. Scrape out all the gunk, fill them with Oxy and let them sit for a day. Then, dump the solution into a cooler and let them sit upside down for another for a day. This cleans the tops.

 

[SudsyPaul]

Thanks for all the tips, guys. I have a couple carboy brushes, so I used those on the bottoms with some boiling water and then soaked in hot water and oxy for 24hrs. filled the kegs til water came out the pin holes and manually scrubbed main opening with a scouring pad and sponge. There's no smell of the soda left in kegs

I have all the lids and new gaskets/o-rings soaking in a bath of oxyclean, too. Getting everything clean before its first use

I've seen a friend pressurize the keg with starsan before, so I was thinking I would try that, too.

Thanks for all the help. I didn't die after opening 3 kegs, so I'm thinking I have a handle on how to do this

 

[SpeedYellow]

What's the rationale for pressuring and Starsan for storage? Seems like a waste of good CO2 to me.

 

[FATC1TY]

What's the rationale for pressuring and Starsan for storage? Seems like a waste of good CO2 to me.

Well, for one, you want to ensure your kegs seals under pressure. Two, if it's not sealed, then crap can get in it..

The other point is, you aren't carbing the starsan. I fill it with whatever amount, then just hit it with 10psi to seal the keg and keep the lid tight and star san in when you shake it around to sanitize it all.

Not only that, but I can keep it around, and hook up to my beverage lines when I need to flush/clean the lines out when I swap kegs.. It also double that you should use some co2 to push the starsan out of the keg to ensure the inside of the dip tube and the poppit and all of that in the keg post are sanitized as well.

Not really a waste of co2 when you think about it.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

pick up some keg lube, it will help things seal on our old kegs as well.

 

[SudsyPaul]

I have some keg lube, but didn't have to use any. I put in a gallon of star san in the keg, hit it with 20psi and shook it about - no bubbles anywhere. Emptied the keg through the picnic tap so everything was sanitized

The kegs I got were in pretty good condition, gasket-wise. Most of them looked like they were replaced shortly before the kegs were pulled from service.

I have my first keg full of beer, under pressure, in the keezer. So stoked to never bottle again!

 

[collinsDPT]

I have some keg lube, but didn't have to use any. I put in a gallon of star san in the keg, hit it with 20psi and shook it about - no bubbles anywhere. Emptied the keg through the picnic tap so everything was sanitized

The kegs I got were in pretty good condition, gasket-wise. Most of them looked like they were replaced shortly before the kegs were pulled from service.

I have my first keg full of beer, under pressure, in the keezer. So stoked to never bottle again!

Me too!!!

 

[FATC1TY]

I have some keg lube, but didn't have to use any. I put in a gallon of star san in the keg, hit it with 20psi and shook it about - no bubbles anywhere. Emptied the keg through the picnic tap so everything was sanitized

The kegs I got were in pretty good condition, gasket-wise. Most of them looked like they were replaced shortly before the kegs were pulled from service.

I have my first keg full of beer, under pressure, in the keezer. So stoked to never bottle again!

You should have replaced all of the gaskets when you got the kegs.. Just because they "look" pretty good, doesn't mean they aren't full of crap from previous use. You could be asking for a ruined batch from some unknown origin orings.

 

[kh54s10]

Skip step 5. Soak the pinlock fitting in oxyclean to clean them, then sanitize with starsan when you are sanitizing the rest of the equipment right before filling.