baz burger
Active Member
hi, newby here, which would be better for keeping, bottling or keg, i have just been offered a keg free needs new tap. also been told it needs a good clean should i soak it in a mild bleach solution.
which one
- Thread starter baz burger
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Kev888
Regular.
Hi,
glass bottles will keep the beer longer than a plastic keg, as the glass is less gas (oxygen) permiable than the plastic. Keep them cool and in the dark (especially if they aren't deeply coloured glass) and it'll last for a very long time. If its a stainless keg then the two are a lot more similar. Plastic kegs will keep for quite a few months though, especially if they're reasonably full, though the beer goes off quicker once theres just a bit left (even if you inject CO2 whilst dispensing) so they're not perhaps so good if you're intending to drink the beer slowly.
If theres any obvious soiling then my own choice would be to use a warm solution of sodium percarbonate-based home brewing cleaner (or combined cleaner/sanitiser) and soak overnight, and then follow that up with a second soak in cool/tepid bleach solution for a few hours to kill off any residual nasties. I use about 50ml per L of thin supermarket budget bleach per 1L of water for heavy duty stuff (down to 3ml per L for lighter sanitising duties). Rinse it well afterwards though.
EDIT: the percarbonate thing is similar to many of the oxy-cleaners like Steve mentioned below - not often I get in first though :-)
Cheers
kev
glass bottles will keep the beer longer than a plastic keg, as the glass is less gas (oxygen) permiable than the plastic. Keep them cool and in the dark (especially if they aren't deeply coloured glass) and it'll last for a very long time. If its a stainless keg then the two are a lot more similar. Plastic kegs will keep for quite a few months though, especially if they're reasonably full, though the beer goes off quicker once theres just a bit left (even if you inject CO2 whilst dispensing) so they're not perhaps so good if you're intending to drink the beer slowly.
If theres any obvious soiling then my own choice would be to use a warm solution of sodium percarbonate-based home brewing cleaner (or combined cleaner/sanitiser) and soak overnight, and then follow that up with a second soak in cool/tepid bleach solution for a few hours to kill off any residual nasties. I use about 50ml per L of thin supermarket budget bleach per 1L of water for heavy duty stuff (down to 3ml per L for lighter sanitising duties). Rinse it well afterwards though.
EDIT: the percarbonate thing is similar to many of the oxy-cleaners like Steve mentioned below - not often I get in first though :-)
Cheers
kev
Runwell-Steve
Landlord.
Whether you bottle or keg is really dependant on a number of things really.
1. Can you be bothered to bottle your beer, I find it a very tedious job so try and avoid it as much as possible.
2. Do you have somewhere you can store a keg at a reasonable temperature, in the summer warm beer out of a warm keg is no fun, this might lead you to bottling, or getting another fridge to hold the keg / kegs.
3. How long do you want to store the beer for, if you are making something to store for a long time, i.e over 6 months then bottling would be better than a plastic keg as they keep the air out much betterthan a keg does.
As to cleaning a keg.
First I would give it a good soak in a solution of hot water and Oxy cleaner powder, to actually clean it, if you can get your arm in it you can give it a good scrub.
Once it's clean you can soak it with a bleach solution to sanitise it, you will need to rinse it out with clean water a few times afterwards to remove any traces of the bleach smell.
EDIT, beaten to it by Kev, at least our responses are vaguely similar
1. Can you be bothered to bottle your beer, I find it a very tedious job so try and avoid it as much as possible.
2. Do you have somewhere you can store a keg at a reasonable temperature, in the summer warm beer out of a warm keg is no fun, this might lead you to bottling, or getting another fridge to hold the keg / kegs.
3. How long do you want to store the beer for, if you are making something to store for a long time, i.e over 6 months then bottling would be better than a plastic keg as they keep the air out much betterthan a keg does.
As to cleaning a keg.
First I would give it a good soak in a solution of hot water and Oxy cleaner powder, to actually clean it, if you can get your arm in it you can give it a good scrub.
Once it's clean you can soak it with a bleach solution to sanitise it, you will need to rinse it out with clean water a few times afterwards to remove any traces of the bleach smell.
EDIT, beaten to it by Kev, at least our responses are vaguely similar
baz burger
Active Member
thanks for the replys
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