Disassemble, Cleaning and Sanitizing a Cornelius Style Keg
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So, here we have a dirty empty keg and a beer. Two things need to be done here. Clean and sanitize the keg and drink that beer
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I start by removing the lid from the cornie. I have already released the pressure via the relief valve
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Here we have the yeasty nastiness that is leftover from a nice batch of beer
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We will need tools to remove the ball valves, poppets, dip tube and air inlet. I use an 11/16 socket for the smaller ones, a 7/8 socket for the larger ones. The star shaped one, I just use a set of channel locks
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I need a better picture of this, but you can see the poppet inside the actual assembly of the ball lock.
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In order, we have the inlet tube, the poppet and the ball lock assembly. This is the IN side of the keg
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The OUT side of the keg will have a poppet and assembly. Other than those two pieces, you have the dip tube
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S, besides the keg shell, here are all of the parts. We can see the lid, the dip tube and you'll notice that for ease, I separate the IN and OUT sides of the kegs ball lock assemblies
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Here is the technique I use to knock the loose yeast from the keg, and also my wife's finger over the left side of the lens
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I rotate and dump and continue to rinse until it is nice and clean
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Now it is time cor a cleaning agent. I use Oxy Clean. It works well. You can use PBW or whatever your choice is for cleaners. Oxy is cheap, plentiful and works great.
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I usually add 1.5 quarts of hot hot water and this amount of Oxy
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I use my sausages to cover the inlet and outlet ports and shake it violently
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The dip tube goes into the tub with about 1/4 inch of water. I add the same amount of Oxy as I did for the keg, maybe a bit more if your tub doesn't slant like mine.
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I pour a little Oxy on the ball lock assemblies
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With the dip tube and the ball assemblies soaking, I take a bit of time and use my carboy brush on the inside of the keg.
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Now I turn the top of the keg to inside the sink and rinse first with hot water. I am actually spinning the keg so I get every square inch rinsed. I then switch to cold water and rinse again.
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Now we are going to need a sanitizer. I use Star San and prefer it as a sanitizer. I have tried ever other method and have found that star san is the best.
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I use about this much star san to a quart of water. You don't need to mix up a whole bunch of this as it just needs two minutes of "wet time" to sanitize. The foam is your friend
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This is what it looks like prior to shaking it up with the lid on
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And after a good shaking. The foam creates the wet time that is necessary for sanitizing.
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I figured I needed to replace the sanitizer in the racking cane and after rinsing the dip tube I hook it up to the racking cane and use the end of the tube to pour sanitizer on the ball lock assemblies.
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I put the poppets in the respective assembly and put the dip tube and inlet tube in their holes and quickly flip the ball lock assembly onto the threads and tighten them down. I do my best not to overtighten and use a slapping technique with the socket wrench as to not torque it on there
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And there we have it. We have accomplished our goals of cleaning and sanitizing a cornie keg and finishing off that really good homebrew
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Nice. I like especially like the progression of the beer.
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That's good stuff and I don't even keg yet. I have a question re: star san. Directions say no rinse, but the foam has always given me trouble. Especially with a carboy, it is hard to get the foam out of a carboy, I end up rinsing over and over. Is that an issue with sanitizing or is that standard?
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Benvarine said:
That's good stuff and I don't even keg yet. I have a question re: star san. Directions say no rinse, but the foam has always given me trouble. Especially with a carboy, it is hard to get the foam out of a carboy, I end up rinsing over and over. Is that an issue with sanitizing or is that standard?
this freaked me out to. i used all "one step" sanitizer for years, but switched to star san 6 months ago or so.
thankfully, homebrewforums members convinced me that star san foam is no big deal at all since it is mostly air. now i just shake it decently to get a decent amount of the foam out and go about my business.
had to troubles whatsoever from the foam
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According to Five Star, the foam breaks down into what amounts to yeast nutrients. Even the tiny bit of yeast left in whatever beer you are putting into a keg should still consume the tiny bit of star san foam left."On it. I hate software." ~Cpt Snarklepants
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I will leave some in the bottom of the keg, say 1/4 to 1/2 cup or so. When I am ready to keg, I give the keg one last shake as a final sanitizing step. Dump her out, fill her up and give her hard gas.
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i assume you mean idophor :)The only thing between me and a train wreck is blind luck..... - Kenny
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djsethall said:
I will leave some in the bottom of the keg, say 1/4 to 1/2 cup or so. When I am ready to keg, I give the keg one last shake as a final sanitizing step. Dump her out, fill her up and give her hard gas.
hard gas is the worst.
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frydogbrews said:djsethall said:
I will leave some in the bottom of the keg, say 1/4 to 1/2 cup or so. When I am ready to keg, I give the keg one last shake as a final sanitizing step. Dump her out, fill her up and give her hard gas.
hard gas is the worst.
Depends if it is on the "in" side or the "out" side
