I have been cleaning homebrew kegs for over 20 years now. As the owner of Kegconnection me and my employees have cleaned tens or thousands of kegs. We have learned a few things about how to clean a keg well and efficiently and I am excited to share this information with you.
One of the things I have noticed when speaking with customers over the years is that many people actually put too much effort into cleaning a keg, especially with the level of disassembly than they need to. I will mention how to disassemble during this article, but I will also point out where I believe it is unnecessary.
View our accompanying video by clicking here! https://youtu.be/8SfCl7oJ0rU?si=csUPwlVuNW9FKre3
Inspecting the Keg - The first thing I like to do when I start the cleaning process is to take a look at the keg and make sure that it is serviceable. We get in some kegs that have a hole, crack or some other defect that make them unusable. The most common thing to look for is a crack or rip in the keg. This is almost always caused by a keg that was frozen while full of liquid and it is best to recycle these kegs and not spend any time on them.. However, virtually any other issue you find can probably be fixed or at least you can still work with the keg. I will go over these as we talk about each component of the keg.
Removing the lid - The first thing you will need to do is remove the lid from the keg. This may not always be intuitive. First, make sure all pressure has been removed from the keg. This can be achieved by pulling up on the pressure relief valve on the lid of a ball lock keg or by depressing the gas post poppet on a pin lock keg. You can also use a poppet valve depressor for pin lock kegs. Once the pressure is relieved, push down and turn to the side so you can work the lid off of the keg. There is a large o'ring on the lid that might stick to the keg or stay on the lid, but make sure you remove this as well.Put the lid aside for now.
Posts and poppets - Next are the posts and poppets. You can disassemble these as well, but I rarely do. If you watch the video mentioned above you can see why. You can clean the posts and poppets in place while you are cleaning the keg and this will work fine. The only time I remove a post and poppet is if there is an issue with them, like a bad poppet or poppet o'ring. If this is an issue you will know after you pressure test the keg. If you do need to remove them you will need to determine the size first. Ball lock kegs will either use a ⅞” or 11/16 deep socket, Pin Locks use a 13/16 socket with grooves. As you are removing these you will see a poppet valve, a dip tube and a dip tube o'ring. On the post itself there is a post o'ring. If you are taking this apart it is always a good idea to replace and lube the o'ring and poppet o’ring with o'ring lube. Inspect the poppet valve. There are poppets available for different kegs, but we now prefer just using a universal poppet on all brands of kegs because they work so well and you don’t have to worry about determining exactly which legacy poppet valve you would need. If you need a set of posts we have those as well, but you will need to determine the brand and model of your keg. This information is normally stamped on the metal, but the brand can also be stamped on the bottom of the keg, especially with pin valve kegs.
Cleaning the Keg - Now we are ready to clean the keg. Here are the steps to most efficiently clean your keg:
- Rinse kegs with water on the inside and outside, we use a sprayer on the end of a hose.
- Put a tablespoon or two (you can use more if the keg is very dirty) in the bottom of the keg. Fill the keg with hot water coming from your tap (temp from hot water heater is fine). Be sure to use a sprayer or mix in the beginning to ensure you dissolve BrewClean in the water.
- Once keg is full depress poppet valves so cleaning solution will go into diptube and post. On the “out” side (liquid) you will see some cleaning solution shoot out the top as it fills. You do not see this on gas side because the dip tube is very short.
- Let the keg sit with the Brew Clean cleaning solution for about an hour. You can put the lid in the keg or put it in a small bucket with a cleaning solution and let it soak for the same amount of time as the keg. You can open the pressure relief valve if it has one and remove the o’ring from the keg and let it soak as well.
- Drain the keg. Also, keep in mind that you can use this solution over if you have another keg or other item to clean. Warm and even cool cleaning solution works fine for additional kegs, but you may need to soak longer.
- Rinse out the keg, also depress poppet valves again to let the cleaning solution drain.
- Let the keg dry upside down and then seal with the lid.
- Add CO2 to the keg and make sure it is sealing properly.
- You can store the keg until you are ready to use.. Sanitize just prior to filling.
I hope this explanation helps. It sounds like a lot of steps, but it only takes a few minutes and then just waiting. Be sure to check out our video (https://youtu.be/8SfCl7oJ0rU?si=csUPwlVuNW9FKre3) showing how to do this. Still have questions? You can contact us at help@kegconnection.com or call us at 325-356-5204. Thank you!
Todd
Chief Keg Washer