Cornie keg maintenance schedule?

[Rento]

I’m interested in how often folk service their kegs? I’ve never done my recon kegs with about 6 brews each and never had any problems. Ok I‘ve replaced a leaking lid seal but thats it.

I also just brush clean and rinse out a few times with hot water after each brew, pop in couple of litres of starsan, shake, leave for 5 mins, drain using a tap and leave to sit for the next fill. Not had any issues so far.

I got a couple of service kits and have Oxi but never bothered to use them!


R

 

[obscure]

Personally my approach is like this.

If I have a batch ready to go in the keg: I basically do what you do, brush clean rinse with hot water sanitise and fill. I tend to attch the gas to the keg, and then run out some of the sanitiser solutiom through the tap to ensure the tap is sanitised this also helps to check everything is in working order.

If I am going to store the keg for a while before use I remove the dip tube rinse the keg to remove any residual beer, sediment etc, then fill with warm water and a scoop of Oxi clean and add the dip tube into the keg making sure it is fully submerged leaving for about thirty minutes. I also take half a cup of the liquid from the keg and drop the post in it to clean. Then I drain and thoroughly rinse with cold water, and run water through the dip tube to make sure it’s throughly clean.

After that I double check that the o ring on the dip tube and reassemble, before double checking the keg can be pressurised. Finally I leave to dry overnight. In the mourning I use a paper towel to dry any remaining liquid before fitting the lid and again checking it can take pressure.

Then before I use the keg I simply sanitise with a no rise sanitiser, (including running some through the tap) fill and proceed as normal.

One thing I would say is always making sure you have a full set of spare o rings, and replacement poppet valves.

 

[Drunkula]

Also when you're not using the keg then don't clamp the lid on tight. There's no need to be squishing that big o-ring when there's no beer in it.

 

[Graz]

Don't do anything with mine other than clean them when emptied (with warm Oxi solution) and sanitise them before filling the (StarSan). They're never empty for long and it's only if one started leaking that I'd do anything further.

When I first got them I did take the posts off and soaked it all (keg, dip tubes, posts) in Oxi for a while. It's worth knowing you can get the posts off if needs be, most of mine were fine but one needed a socket and an impact driver to get it moving. When I put them back on I nipped them up but nowhere near as tight as they were when delivered as there's no need for them to be that tight.

 

[xozzx]

I spray mine down with garden hose to remove any sediment left over, remove the posts and dip tubes and spray water through the beer dip-tube to clear any sediment in that. I then re-assemble, half fill with hot water and few spoonfulls of sodium percarb. Give it a bit of a shake and leave it for 30 mins, turn it upside down and leave for 30 mins. I rinse a few times with cold water then transfer star-san from previous keg leaving the previous one full of CO2 ready for use. Once I have another keg empty I do same leaving that one full of CO2 ready to use.

I sometimes store the keg with CO2 for a few weeks and when it comes time to fill it I either bleed off the pressure and transfer the beer in or if doing pressure transfer I just set the keg to same pressure as the fermentasaurus and start the transfer.