How to Clean a Beer Keg

Опубликовал Admin

19-10-2016, 01:40

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Beer kegs have long been a favorite packaging method for homebrewers. Unlike bottles, which have to be tediously cleaned, sanitized, dried, filled, and capped individually, a keg can be filled all at once. However, kegs must also be cleaned and sanitized thoroughly between each filling, or the bacteria and yeast left inside the keg can ruin your new batch of beer. Taking the time to learn how to clean a beer keg properly will help you avoid the risk of a sour-flavored, ruined batch of carefully brewed beer.

Steps

Disassemble the beer keg. To clean a keg thoroughly, each piece will need to be taken apart. The lid can usually be lifted off easily by squeezing and lifting the retaining bail, and the rubber gasket underneath can be pried off with your fingers. Use a wrench to unscrew the 2 valves on top of the keg for connecting the air line and the beer supply line.
Place the smaller parts into a plastic bucket. The lid, gasket, and valves should be placed into a clean plastic bucket for soaking (your fermenter bucket should suffice). Make sure that the bucket is large enough to allow each piece to be fully submerged in liquid.
Prepare an alkali wash for cleaning the keg. Kegs and their components are best cleaned using an alkali wash designed specifically for cleaning brewing equipment. PBW, which stands for Powdered Brewery Wash, is a popular example of such a cleaner. Mix the cleaner with hot water in a separate bucket according to the proportions specified by the manufacturer.
Soak the beer keg in the alkali wash. Pour the wash into both the plastic bucket and the keg itself. Fill the keg as high as possible to ensure that the entire interior is cleaned, and make sure that the lid, gasket, and valves are completely submerged. Leave the keg and its components to soak overnight.
Drain and rinse the alkali wash. After about 24 hours of soaking, dump the alkali wash out of the bucket and the keg. Rinse the keg and its parts once with warm water. Any remaining residue can be scrubbed away using a regular carboy brush and rinsed with warm water, but most alkali wash formulations are designed to work without scrubbing.
Soak the keg and its parts in a sanitizer solution. Cleaning a keg is pointless without the extra step of sanitizing, which gets rid of all microbial life that could ruin your beer. Popular acid washes that are sold at homebrewing supply stores include Saniclean and Star San. Both of these products are designed to be used without rinsing afterwards.
Reassemble the beer keg. After soaking the keg in sanitizer as per the manufacturer's directions, drain the liquid away. Reassemble the components of the keg and store the entire assembly in a clean, dry area until use.

Tips

A keg will have to be completely depressurized before it is disassembled. Leave the tap open and let any remaining liquid and pressurized air escape before trying to remove the lid.
Cleaning the exterior of the beer keg will not affect the health or taste of the beer, but it can be done to improve the keg's appearance. You can wipe the keg down with a moistened cloth or use a stainless steel cleaning spray.