Corny Keg Refill

[Jake Michael]

Just by chance I have a coffee stout that's ready to keg and one of my kegs has just ran out that had a coffee porter in. Now this might cause an argument with the sanitation police but is there any real harm in kegging my stout straight into this keg without cleaning the keg with oxi and then star san beforehand?

Just to note, I haven't opened the keg that's basically empty so my thinking is that the keg is completely clean as its been connected up to co2 and not opened since the coffee porter was kegged. The two beer styles are very similar and this beer is stronger % with more dark malts in the grain bill and using the same coffee beans so I'm also thinking the small amount of porter left in the keg will not have any drastic effect on the taste of the stout?

Has anyone done this before or is it not worth the risk?

 

[The Baron]

I have just rinsed the keg then rinsed with starsan and done it more than once.
I know it is technically not the ideal practice but if you leave the old keg with co2 pressure in it I see no reason why a quick rinse and just shake a litre of starsan around for a minute are not good enough.
I store my kegs usually with a litre of starsan in them after rinsing them clean until ready then just empty out when kegging.
I do not generally take all the posts off except once a year as you can use a syringe to squirt down the posts to clean them and if you rinse with boiling water and shake it will produce enough pressure to squirt out of the out post if you press it with a screwdriver

 

[Jakeyboi]

I have transferred straight into an unclean keg a few times. Never had a problem. It had fresh beer in it before with no nasties in, it’s been pushed out with co2, and your going to put your new fresh beer into it with (hopefully) no nasties in it.

Only things I ever considered when doing it are

1. Cross yeast contamination, unlikely to cause much of a problem if your new beer has fully attenuated and your keeping the keg cold at say 5C

2. Old hop debris in the bottom of the keg which isn’t a problem with your beer styles

3. Just make sure there’s nothing growing in there when you open it.

I personally wouldn’t worry about a dribble left in the bottom affecting the flavour of a stout.

 

[johncrobinson]

Its like playing chicken with traffic lights you will get away with it again,and again,and again UNTIL.!!!!!

 

[Jake Michael]

Cheers guys, I just gave the keg a good rinse with hot water and then Star San.
This stout has been brewed with the same yeast (Voss Kveik) so I should be good on the cross contamination front too.