Corny kegs - cleaning and sanitising

[Bubbles]

Hi chaps. Couple of questions regarding the cleaning and sanitisation of cornies.

1) I currently have a batch of star san sitting in a corny, but I've read in a couple of places that this is a bad idea. Does the acid really eat away the stainless steel?

2) What do you all use for cleaning? I normally use the Chemipro Oxi for cleaning demijohns, but it's too expensive so was considering the Lidl W5. Is this suitable for cleaning the cornies? Is it odourless?

3) Cos I'm a lazy home brewer, what's the minimum amount of cleaning I can do to ensure the kegs are kept clean? What's your own cleaning and sanitisation regime?

Cheers!!

[molc]

Very interested in seeing how this thread goes. For the new kegs, I've been:

For Cleaning:
*Stripping down the kegs and putting all the little pieces and lid in a small container with some warm water and W5.
*Mixing up W5 in warm water, filling the keg to the top.
* Soak for 30 minutes.
* Empty, rince all parts, reassemble, then rince the keg once more.

For Filling:
* Pop in 5 litres of starsan, give it a good shake and then pump the starsan out the beer lines, to sanatise keg and lines.

I'd like to be able to skip taking the posts off everytime and just fill the keg with W5 on the clean, but I'm not sure if that would go wrong.

[beerfly]

i leave my starsan sitting in a plastic bucket, which could be the other end of not ok.

normally i would rince out with warm water then starsan. if there is stuff inside that wont shift then i would roughly half fill with warm water and add somew5. leave soaking for the guts of a day, turning it around the odd time to make sure it gets everything. after i rinse it out i give it a quick rinse of starsan.

have not taken my posts apart yet tried once and they seemed very tight

[Simon_]

When people are talking about W5 what specific product are they referring to?
Lidl's whole range of cleaning products are branded W5 which cover a range of cleaning products.

I picked up something yesterday in a pink spray bottle called W5 Power something. Is that what people are using?

[johnrm]

Nope. It's W5 oxy clean - a powder in a plastic tub - pinkish/purpleish cap with laundry stuff.

[Garry]

[Dr Jacoby]

I use cornies to serve beer and to ferment beer. The cleaning procedure is different for each option.

Cornies in which beer was served are rinsed out with warm water straight after being emptied. I also run a small brush (a bit like a gun barrel brush) through the dip tube just to be sure. I also quickly wash the beer out post with warm water (I use a 22mm socket wrench to take the posts on an off - makes life very easy).

Cornies that were used for fermentation need a deeper clean. I rinse them in warm water to remove the bulk of the trub etc. Then I fill them up a third of the way with warm water and add some oxy cleaner. I put the kegs on their side and roll them around every few minutes. I then empty the oxy solution keeping some aside to soak the dip tubes in (I use a long thin tray for this that I picked up in a garden centre). I also check for any remaining trub stains and brush these away if necessary. I then give everything a really good rinse with cold water from a hose and I also clean the dip tubes with the small brush. This is the most important step IMO. Oxy cleaner residue will kill head so you need to rinse everything very thoroughly.

For sanitation prior to adding beer to a keg, I swish some warm water around to remove any dust etc. I then use a pump action garden spray can with a liquid post screwed on to pump starsan down the dip tube. I put the lid on, shake the corny and then empty it.

Writing these procedures down makes them sound really complicated or time consuming but they're actually pretty easy and quick.

[johnrm]

I must be colour blind. Yellow then.

[Shanna]

I must be colour blind. Yellow then.

Think you might be confusing it with the vanish oxy

http://www.google.ie/url?q=http://www.edeka24.de/Vanish%2BOxi%2BAction%2BFleckentferner.html&sa=U&ei=qIlzVIXJDqXjsASv8oCICA&ved=0CE8Q9QEwCQ&usg=AFQjCNFSv6dWN9oyUiReOyhk95q4mPTnwA

Shanna

[Shanna]

1) I currently have a batch of star san sitting in a corny, but I've read in a couple of places that this is a bad idea. Does the acid really eat away the stainless steel?

I posed the same question before & the answer was no - see thread below

http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=575.0

Shanna

[Vermelho]

Not to hi-jack the thread but I accidentally left PBW in one of my kegs for about a month now. Can I expect any ill effects?

[Will_D]

Do NOT use Starsan fgor long term storage! After a few weeks th emoulds grow. Been there seen them.

For storage of containers:

Either store dry and rinse/sanitise when needed

or

Store wet: Typical corny or fermenter: 2 litres of boiled water and 2 campden tabs. This helps remove any lingering odours from plastic vessels. Demijohn: 1 L water plus 1 CT

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

Handy tip - Cheers Will

[delzep]

Do NOT use Starsan fgor long term storage! After a few weeks th emoulds grow. Been there seen them.

as if anything in a keg is there long term 

[Bubbles]

All great advice, thanks everyone for commenting.

C'mere though... is the W5 Oxy odourless then? I imagine it smells like Persil, no??