BeerBorg

Yeah I know, it isn't like me to say something controversial. But here it is.

Before I started kegging I talked quite a bit with a guy who had been kegging a long time. He said if he emptied a keg a day or two before he was ready to fill a keg he would put the beer straight into that empty keg without cleaning it. His reasoning made sense.

First in an air tight environment evaporation cannot occure so there is no chance of the trub drying out unless the keg had a leak.
Second bacteria won't survive in pressurized CO2.

I have applied his first principle since day one. I am never in a rush to clean my kegs. Sometimes they sit for a week or two before I get around to cleaning them. When I depressurize them the inside is just as wet as it was the day they were emptied. I have had no more difficulty cleaning a keg after waiting than I have when I cleaned it hours after I emptied it.

I was always leary of his second principle until I read the thread "How do you clean your kegs" and saw we have people who do not disassemble their kegs and have no adverse affects from it. When you don't disassemble your keg your old beer remains in your dip tube and in your posts. Obviously this has not caused contamination problems for these brewers or they would have stopped this practice.

Last night I blew a keg. This morning I pulled it out of the kegorator and gave it a quick rinse with starsan to get the remains of the old beer out of the bottom and filled it right up with Ralph's Red Hot Red Camaro IPA.

We shall see how this turns out.

So how often do you actually clean your kegs? Sometimes I get gunk on the bottom that will not come off unless I soak them.

Whamolagan wrote:So how often do you actually clean your kegs?

Up until now everytime they are empty. I disassemble mine and spray out the dip tube thoroughly while I soak the posts. I always get quite a bit of discoloration in the sanitizer they soak in so I know there is a lot of beer in them. Getting the beer out helps avoid a stuck poppet.

I am confused now(not that hard to do) but you say you applied his principles since day one, and now you say you clean them every time.

Whamolagan wrote:I am confused now(not that hard to do) but you say you applied his principles since day one, and now you say you clean them every time.

I think he is saying he has never rushed to clean them right away because based on that principle it will just stay as is as long as you leave it alone and won't turn into a big vat of bacteria and mold.

Geez I am really not with it today. I had to read it about 10X before I got it. And had to have some help getting there

mashani wrote:

Whamolagan wrote:I am confused now(not that hard to do) but you say you applied his principles since day one, and now you say you clean them every time.

I think he is saying he has never rushed to clean them right away because based on that principle it will just stay as is as long as you leave it alone and won't turn into a big vat of bacteria and mold.

Exactly. They are not like empty beer bottles which are exposed to the air. They are sealed containers.

I don't get to use my one little keglet often enough to let it sit, so when I do use it and it kicks, I don't disassemble it completely, but I first let it soak in PBW and push it out through the liquid line with my co2. Then I'll spray it down inside with hot water and push that out with co2 again. Finally I'll let some starsan sit in there a while and push that out with gas. The posts get a quick spray of starsan and scrubbed with a kitchen brush, then sprayed again. The gasket of the lid and underneath the lid get sprayed with starsan. All of that cleaner and sanitizer do the trick as it comes out cloudy first from the line and then gets clear as it finishes. Never once a worry about contamination.


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The only thing close to this that I have tried was not cleaning beer lines between kegs. But both kegs were Belgian Pale, one followed the other. I still had a problem, as the line froze while not in use. I cleared it with warm water and pressure.

John Sand wrote:The only thing close to this that I have tried was not cleaning beer lines between kegs. But both kegs were Belgian Pale, one followed the other. I still had a problem, as the line froze while not in use. I cleared it with warm water and pressure.

I certainly don't plan on making a habit of this. But given I was taking the keg out of the kegorator the same day I was kegging, I thought why not give it a try. In the past I have kegged a beer and dumped a new beer into my conical right on top of the old yeast cake. That didn't cause any issues. I know a brewer who does that regularly with big beers. I think this is pretty much doing the same thing.

I pretty much do the same thing Phil does whenever a keg kicks it. I may not clean it right away, but when I do, I clean the keg and the line by running an Oxy-Free solution through them, then clean water to rinse them, and then sanitizer.

Every fourth or fifth keg, I disassemble the tap and do a thorough PBW cleanse, just to make sure there's not an overabundance of gunk build-up.

I have a jumper for keg to keg liquid out disconnects. Usually have 2 or 3 empty standby kegs, give them a hot rinse to dispose of trub and will make up a gallon or 2 of Beer Line Cleaner, shake it all up in the first keg, transfer out the dip tube and into beer dip tube of the next, etc.. then fill about half way with hot water and do the transfer thing again, till all clear. Mix up Starsan dump into first keg, sanitize, transfer and seal w/ CO2.

I have never taken my kegs apart.

When a keg kicks, I remove that keg and fill half with hot water, shake the crap out of it then dump it. I then refill it full with hot water. I hook up a hand pump to blow air in it for pressure and a picnic tap to rinse the dip tub. I do that for a few minutes then shake and dump again.

I do a final rinse with cold water and stand it upside down.

It can't take more than 10 - 15 minutes to do.

When I refill I sanitize by filling half w/ starsan mix, shaking, blowing starsan via the pump and picnic tap then dump.

2 years and so far so good.

My laundry tub is 20 feet away from my bar so it's very easy to do.

I just kegged a cider without washing the old cider's keg. Co2 and cold keep it from spoiling.

I never take apart my kegs when I clean them, but I periodically do a deep clean where I push cleaning fluid through the lines/dip tubes to make sure they're actually clean. I usually do warm PBW, warm water, starsan, cooled boiled water (that then stays in the lines until I swap out the keg).

Working great for me for about 5 years now!