Cleaning and sanitizing

As some of you may know from my other thread, I'm building a kegerator and I'm getting very close to the point where I'm going to get some beer in it :) woo hoo..

But there is one thing I have to be honest I hadn't thought too much about until now and that is cleaning and sanitizing my set up.

I've done a lot of research and confused the hell out of myself

starsan comes up A LOT, but it seems quite expensive and might not work depending on the PH levels of my water.

But there are lots of other things that come up too, some seem to sanitise and clean some just clean, some just sanitize.

do I need something for my lines and taps or can I just pump sanitzer through and that will clean it all.

I've seen people use oxy clean.. isn't that for that for clothes?? is that safe, can I pump that through my lines? (I guess I need to make sure I flush LOTS of water through after to rinse it) but then do I need a sanitizer too still??

any advice on what to buy ? I'm very tempted to get starsan, but I guess I still need a cleaner too ?? could I just use oxy clean (it's dead cheap at lidl )


my head hurts

Starsan may look expensive but lasts years.

I hear people talk about pipe cleaner, ask your local landlord what he/she uses

cool, I might get some then if it lasts a fair while :)

As for asking the landlord, I might just do that, she is a good friend, you never know she might give me some if I ask nicely..

steady now.. that's not what I meant

I use wilko's oxyclean and starsan to sanitize, I was using PBW but its just too expensive and the wilkos stuff is spot on, its called 'it'll all come out in the wash'
you shouldn't need to clean your C02 line and well i probably shouldn't admit this but I don't clean my beer line out every time I swap a keg, just a quick squirt of starsan to clean out the post connector before i attach it to new full keg.
Now when it does come to cleaning the beer line this is how I do it.

Rinse out keg with water twice, put about 10psi in to the keg and rinse the dip tube and gas inlet, pour out water add a scoop of oxi clean to the keg with a kettle full of boiling water, attach lid to keg and shake vigorously for a few minutes the hot water will create enough pressure in the keg for the next step. Clean the beer line by attaching to the keg and pouring a pint or so of the cleaner through, disconnect beer line and vent keg, open keg, you can use a brush to clean the inside of the keg, however I find shaking the oxi clean around for a few minutes gets it spotless. pour out cleaner, rinse with cold water and and repeat the above to rinse the beer line.

Remember that a clean keg is not a sterile keg, it needs to be sanitized before you beer it back up.

It all sounds like a pain in the **** but really cleaning a keg / lines takes all of about 10 mins

dazziep said:

cool, I might get some then if it lasts a fair while :)

As for asking the landlord, I might just do that, she is a good friend, you never know she might give me some if I ask nicely..

steady now.. that's not what I meant

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She's a landlady then

Pawlo7671 said:

She's a landlady then

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OMG the smilie I used just looks so inappropriate !

Pawlo7671 said:

She's a landlady then

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:lol::lol:

yep that's the one.. it's been a long day

Starsan works out very cheap. Mix with Tesco's Ashbeck water, again very cheap, for the PH. Use in a spray bottle makes it easy to use in a fermenting fridge etc.

cool cheers, that's that sorted then.. starsan it is and some oxy clean stuff :)

My friend (the landlady :) ) says they use pipeline purple .. http://www.quandodrinks.co.uk/product/2729/Pipeline-Purple/details.aspx

and it looks pretty cheap here too

heres what I use a manual paint compressor sprayer from b&q a breeze to clean lines attatched to a cornie in post with Milton tablet soloution,no wasting of C02:whistle:

wow I like that :) .. so milton (the things you use in baby bottles??) does that just sterilize your lines not clean em? or do you chuck a cleaner through first. if so what and do you need to rinse the milton solution ?

I might have to make myself one of those though.. how much was the paint compressor?

dazziep said:

wow I like that :) .. so milton (the things you use in baby bottles??) does that just sterilize your lines not clean em? or do you chuck a cleaner through first. if so what and do you need to rinse the milton solution ?

I might have to make myself one of those though.. how much was the paint compressor?

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Nope its steralise and go no rinsing,paint compressor 2 years ago £15 and a liquid out disconnect a couple of quid another great bit of kit to make the job easier and a breeze and yes if needed can run a cleaning agent through it first like oxyclean

awesome.. I'm making that.. :)

cheers

I like to think of it like this, I have a good beer in my keg with no obvious infection. It's kept cool to around 8C it's in a sealed stainless steel keg filled with co2.

I finish the beer, and now I have a fv filled with beer which is fully fermentered and no signs of an infection from a trial jar. The fv that it was brewed in was cleaned and sanitized before use.

I simply siphon that beer into the keg as soon as it's empty and purge and oxygen with co2 and allow to chill and carb. There is some sediment in the bottom of the keg but I just leave it in there, the first pint is always a bit cloudy anyway. I clean and sanitize all connections and lids or anything that will come into contact with the "outside world" whilst it siphons.

So far I'm on my third turnover without a problem, I probably won't stop until a problem arises or if I go from stout to lager etc.

Expirement and go with whatever works for you.

Just had a quick walk around wilkos, thought I might as well as I walk past it on my way home from work... bought some of the Oxi plus "it will all come our in the wash" as recommend and also saw bruclens so got that too as I've heard about that before..
So now looks like I have 2 lots of cleaning stuff but no sanitizer yet??

I just wanna clean my corny and my lines and make some soda water (seen as I've still not got any beer yet just waiting for that to ferment. )

dazziep said:

Just had a quick walk around wilkos, thought I might as well as I walk past it on my way home from work... bought some of the Oxi plus "it will all come our in the wash" as recommend and also saw bruclens so got that too as I've heard about that before..
So now looks like I have 2 lots of cleaning stuff but no sanitizer yet??

I just wanna clean my corny and my lines and make some soda water (seen as I've still not got any beer yet just waiting for that to ferment. )

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Milton tablets still only a quid a box at Asda £1.50 at Morrison's,bloody robbers ha

For a real cheap sanitizer you can mix bleach with water can't remember the ratio something like 1:10, u would need to rinse it after I think, also I'm sure someone will correct the ratio.

Cool I have to go to asda tonight (big shop night) I'll get some .

Do you have to rinse after using Miltons?

Also another strange question.. I was thinking instead of soda water I might try and make fizzy apple juice..see if it tastes like appetizer ..

Anyone done anything like that successfully?

dazziep said:

Cool I have to go to asda tonight (big shop night) I'll get some .

Do you have to rinse after using Miltons?
I
Also another strange question.. I was thinking instead of soda water I might try and make fizzy apple juice..see if it tastes like appetizer ..

Anyone done anything like that successfully?

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No you don't need to rinse with Milton,one tablet to 5 litres of water left soaking in your lines/ equipment for 15 minutes and drain job done ready for use and yep you can fizz up any liquid in your corny if you like but I prefer if not beer to use a pet bottle carbonation cap,plastic one or SS