23 replies to this topic

[SchwanzBrewer]

It's not as bad as bottling, but it's still a PITA.Here's what I do:

[*]Prerinse[*]Add PBW[*]Sit for a half an hour[*]Dump[*]Rinse[*]Disassemble the posts and take out the tubes, clean them[*]Add Star San and fill with water[*]Replace any Orings that are damaged/old[*]Put tubes and posts back[*]Replace lid[*]Shake the hell out of it[*]Let sit for a half hour (closed)[*]Dump and add beer[/list]Takes too long IMO. Who has a better way? Please describe it/equipment.Cheers,Rich

[BlKtRe]

Build a keg cleaner with a sump pump with attached fittings for your keg posts. I haven't tore a keg down for years. I even one uped and added a heating element. Now Im cleaning with 150* PBW. Da bomb! Before the keg cleaner, I followed your protocol. PIA, but still better than bottling. But I use the keg cleaner for carboys, bottles, growlers, and flasks. Win, Win!

Edited by BlKtRe, 31 August 2011 - 09:02 PM.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Build a keg cleaner with a sump pump with attached fittings for your keg posts. I haven't tore a keg down for years. I even one uped and added a heating element. Now Im cleaning with 150* PBW. Da bomb! Before the keg cleaner, I followed your protocol. PIA, but still better than bottling. But I use the keg cleaner for carboys, bottles, growlers, and flasks. Win, Win!

So you just pump the hot PBW through the gas in and out the liquid side? How do the QD's handle the heat?I was thinking about doing something similar except adding an 18 inch cpvc capped pipe with holes drilled in it to act as a higher pressure sprayer to get the gunk out. Just put the keg on it upside down. Cheers,Rich

[No Party JKor]

I was thinking about doing something similar except adding an 18 inch cpvc capped pipe with holes drilled in it to act as a higher pressure sprayer to get the gunk out. Just put the keg on it upside down.

Do both. central spray nozzle and disconnects. That's what i have on mine.

Edited by JKoravos, 01 September 2011 - 06:24 AM.

[HVB]

Do both. central spray nozzle and disconnects. That's what i have on mine.

I just have the center spear. I take the post and tubes off most of the time. After I run it through the cleaner I go over it with this and re-assemble.My link

[SchwanzBrewer]

I saw one of those carboy cleaners at the LHBS the other day. I'm glad you posted that link because I'm definitely getting one now.Cheers,Rich

[HVB]

I saw one of those carboy cleaners at the LHBS the other day. I'm glad you posted that link because I'm definitely getting one now.Cheers,Rich

I bought it on a whim to clean a couple of carboys but I have found it useful for kegs too. Does a real nice job I think. For kegs I found that if you take and but the cleaner rod through a small funnel and place that over the opening it works well to stabilize it.

[djinkc]

How do you guys that have a spear and the hoses to the disconnects handle rinsing the PBW/Oxy and then sanitize?

[SchwanzBrewer]

How do you guys that have a spear and the hoses to the disconnects handle rinsing the PBW/Oxy and then sanitize?

My guess is dump it out and use a hose.

[No Party JKor]

How do you guys that have a spear and the hoses to the disconnects handle rinsing the PBW/Oxy and then sanitize?

I do the rinse manually and then add StarSan and shake, but I'm working on a design that will do all of the rinses and sanitizing in one shot. It's kind of a complex design. I may never get to it, but the manual part of the process is still a PITA.

Edited by JKoravos, 01 September 2011 - 08:51 AM.

[denny]

Why are you letting the StarSan sit for 1/2 an hour? It only needs a 30 second contact time after the surfaces are wet. I put the StarSan in, shake it around, dump it out, and fill the keg.

[Dean Palmer]

Why are you letting the StarSan sit for 1/2 an hour? It only needs a 30 second contact time after the surfaces are wet. I put the StarSan in, shake it around, dump it out, and fill the keg.

+1Unless there is buildup or crud I never let it sit and soak in Oxy/PBW. I just pour some Oxy/PBW in and use my keg brush or scrubbie around the inside, rinse, then assemble it all and sanitize. All parts are removed and soak in cleaner and then sanitizer the same time the keg is getting cleaned. Last step is to reassemble and sanitize as Denny says. Doesn't take but a few minutes. If this is a fermenter and I didn't clean it right after racking the beer out and the crud has dried it might get a longer soak, but rare.Sometimes if I'm just going from one beer to another and the keg wasn't used for fermentation, I just rinse and sanitize. The biggest thing is to take all the parts apart and brush inside the tubes.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Why are you letting the StarSan sit for 1/2 an hour? It only needs a 30 second contact time after the surfaces are wet. I put the StarSan in, shake it around, dump it out, and fill the keg.

Laziness. I'll go do that on a commerical break and then go back to watching tv or screwing around on the computer, then go back to it. I think I'm probably ADD. I fill it about half way and use the rest to sanitize the autosiphon when I dump it. I keep a keg filled with it to put clean stuff in when I am transfering too, but I switch that keg out for fresh sanitizer as well.Cheers,Rich

[djinkc]

I do the rinse manually and then add StarSan and shake, but I'm working on a design that will do all of the rinses and sanitizing in one shot. It's kind of a complex design. I may never get to it, but the manual part of the process is still a PITA.

Yeah, if/when I build one I want to have the clean, rinse and sanitize all done. It doesn't take me 10 minutes to do it manually but I have 7 dead soldiers in the basement right now..........Still beats bottling.

[BlKtRe]

I do the rinse manually and then add StarSan and shake, but I'm working on a design that will do all of the rinses and sanitizing in one shot. It's kind of a complex design. I may never get to it, but the manual part of the process is still a PITA.

Its really not a big deal. I have everything to add a second rinsing vessel to my setup. The first vessel either has hot PBW or SS running in a loop, the second is just a warm water rinse with the rinse water coming from my sink faucet. This rinse water shouldn't be in a loop and doesn't need a pump. Then a valve out the bottom and into a floor drain.

[tag]

It's not as bad as bottling, but it's still a PITA.Here's what I do:

[*]Prerinse[*]Add PBW[*]Sit for a half an hour[*]Dump[*]Rinse[*]Disassemble the posts and take out the tubes, clean them[*]Add Star San and fill with water[*]Replace any Orings that are damaged/old[*]Put tubes and posts back[*]Replace lid[*]Shake the hell out of it[*]Let sit for a half hour (closed)[*]Dump and add beer[/list]Takes too long IMO. Who has a better way? Please describe it/equipment.Cheers,Rich

Clean after use, sanitize before use.Clean after use (better before everything has dried) - take apart the fittings and hang them in the corny in a hop bag, fill with hot PBW for 30 minutes, then transfer to the next keg that needs to be cleaned.Rinse with hot water X 3 to remove the PBW.Sanitize before use - fill keg with hot StarSan for 5 minutes. Transfer to next keg with CO2. This leaves the corny cleaned, sanitized and filled with pressurized CO2. Not a molecule of oxygen in sight.Occasionally clean first with an acid cleaner. Acid cleaners are the better at removing beerstone.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Just got my beers kegged. Damn I'm lazy. Usually I let them carb for a week at 8psi. I'm serving on Sunday afternoon so I doubled it. It should be ok. I gas in on the liquid side when carbonating. On another note, anyone have a good technique for dry hopping with pellets?Cheers,Rich

[No Party JKor]

Its really not a big deal. I have everything to add a second rinsing vessel to my setup. The first vessel either has hot PBW or SS running in a loop, the second is just a warm water rinse with the rinse water coming from my sink faucet. This rinse water shouldn't be in a loop and doesn't need a pump. Then a valve out the bottom and into a floor drain.

The cleaner I want to build will hot rinse-PBW/caustic-hot rinse-Saniclean without moving the the keg. All on a PLC and flows controlled with solenoid valves. Press the start button and walk away.As usual, it's probably too ambitous, time-wise, for me to complete...ever. I've been talking about automating my brew system for 10 years and I've got one solenoid in there. At this rate I'll have it completed by 2040. Then i'll work on the keg cleaner.

[positiveContact]

if any of you guys have pics and/or plans for your keg cleaning systems I'd be interested in checking them out. if I could have something that would allow me to not disassemble posts and take out dip tubes that would be excellent.one question - how do you guys rinse the PBW and/or oxiclean off the kegs when you are done cleaning? do you just pump hot water through without recirculating?

[HVB]

if any of you guys have pics and/or plans for your keg cleaning systems I'd be interested in checking them out. if I could have something that would allow me to not disassemble posts and take out dip tubes that would be excellent.one question - how do you guys rinse the PBW and/or oxiclean off the kegs when you are done cleaning? do you just pump hot water through without recirculating?

this is a start My link Scroll to the comments for some pictureshere too