Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Gunk in the Trunk, I mean Keg

Hello there, Brew-buds! I'm cleaning out the (mostly) free kegs I received. Two of the three cleaned up beautifully with just a soak in an Oxy-Clean solution, but the third had to be difficult, like the French. It's got some gunk in the very bottom that just will not come clean. It's almost like the gunk has become part of the stainless steel of the keg.

I tried the Oxy-Clean soak followed by a lot of elbow grease and a carboy brush, then another Oxy-Clean soak (for a couple days) followed by more elbow grease and a super rough nylon scrubber, and then a third soak in a electic dishwashing soap solution (I heard it works well--it didn't) and more scrubbing with the scrubber.

Right now it's soaking in a baking soda/boiling hot water solution. Once the water cools to a tolerable level, I'm going to scrub it again. I'm hesitant to use a wire brush on it, I vaguely remember reading somewhere you should not do this with stainless steel. Of course, that may be my option of last resort. Any suggestions, readers? I do have some PBW (powdered brewery wash) from Five Star, but my experience in the past tells me that Oxy-Clean works better.

Let me know what you think, and while you're at it, NAME MY KEGS!

3 comments:

  1. I haven't found anything that a soak in hot PBW won't remove. So far anyway.

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  2. pour some straight bleach and add just enouigh water to cover the spot. Let it soak. I've found thi gets the most stuborn gunk out of carboys are bottle where brushes, cleaners, and hot water soaks have failed. The gunk is concentrated in the bottom right?

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  3. Senor Brew >> I would be cautious about long songs with straight bleach, that can pit stainless steel. I agree with Kevin on PBW soaks.

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