In the real world that is probably true, but on the "what is your cleaning procedure" threads here on HBT, there is usually stuff as found in this thread. People with 10 step cleaning regiments. If you have a 10 step cleaning regiment, you have way more time on your hands than I!
While I'll agree that some folks go above and beyond what's necessary, I think it's beverage suicide to skimp. For me personally, I have no problem in taking an extra 10-15 minutes to clean something if it means there's a substantially less chance that the 4-5 hours of work, plus $40-50 worth of ingredients that goes into brewing up a 10 gallon batch goes down the drain. I mean, the point of it all is to brew the best beer possible, and taking the time to avoid infection is a key part of that.
If I had a nickel for every time I've heard "it tasted fine when I kegged it a couple of weeks ago, now it's got a weird off flavor".
It just happened to me recently. Did a 10 gallon batch of IPA, everything went fine, then kegged it. Gave one keg to a friend, kept the other for myself, and while his tastes exactly where it should be, mine just tastes... wrong. Not infected, not sour, not ruined, just... wrong. And the absolute ONLY thing I can think of that happened was that my keg wasn't adequately cleaned.
Unfortunately, my rather basic cleaning setup will have to remain, however. While I look at the keg cleaning tools on here, like the one written up in BYO, or lamar's behemoth, and think that the (relative) cost is easily offset the first time or two it saves a batch from becoming a sink dumper, I just don't have the room for it, and I'm thinking a lot of brewers out there, specifically apartment brewers, have that same issue. I built a brutus, a fermentation chamber, and a milling station that are all sitting in my garage, and I literally don't have room for anything else (including building Keezer II out of the free 7cf chest freezer I scored on CL!)
Man, I never thought that homebrewing would be something where I accumulated so
much stuff!