Keg Cleanliness Question .....

[Ditch]

See what I just did, there?

Poured the last pint from Keg #1, the other night.

Stood there, gazing balefully at FV #2.

Thought; This, last possible, pint from BK #1 is good. I'm equally sure the stuff in FV #2 will be good.

So; Where's the " Infection " liable to come from ....?

Decisions: Thoroughly wash the BK. Sanitise it. Rinse all hell out of it, to remove my customary bleach? Sh!t myself stressing out over " Infection "?

Listen; Anyone who's read a few of my posts will know I'm a bone idle bastard, where this beer production lark's concerned. I probably spend more effort on looking for corners to cut .....

So, I slung a few jugs of water, straight from the tap, into BK #1. Slooshed the creamy stuff out of the bottom. Syphoned FV #2's contents into the 'unsanitised' BK.

Fantastic beer!


So; If we can use the crap at the bottom of a FV to 'Start' a new FV (Yeast transplant). Why do we fuss so much when preparing to add new beer to a keg which, maybe moments ago, perfectly well held perfectly good beer?

[Spud395]

I reckon if you get through this stuff at the speed you say Ditch, you could put it in the old bucket you feed the horse with and no fear of infection

[fego]

So; If we can use the crap at the bottom of a FV to 'Start' a new FV (Yeast transplant). Why do we fuss so much when preparing to add new beer to a keg which, maybe moments ago, perfectly well held perfectly good beer?

I was thinking exactly that last time I emptied then straight away sanitised then refilled a keg. I guess it's the risk that we want to eliminate, not necessarily any lurgies that aren't there.

I use the empty keg to sterilise all the tubes, a couple of bottles and lids, spoons and anything else I might need in which means the keg gets sanitised anyway so it's not something I'm rushing to avoid really.

[Ditch]

I use the empty keg to sterilise all the tubes etc.

Ah, now ye see; I keep a completely separate, 3 gallon bucket of bleachy water for that purpose. (Obviously, I wouldn't want to tie up a 5G FV).

Also, because of the notorious 'Spew' of my stuff, my FV's end up in the most god awful state. Crusted on gunk all down the sides of them. I have to go at them with a nail brush!

So, ye can perhaps see why I'm happy to cut out one more round of 'Doing the washing up'.

Just wondering how this'll all pan out, once I'm getting up a bit more production steam. I don't like to leave my stuff in the FV too long. But, once I'm doing four brews at a time, I guess I'll be having to put it in more than the one BK. So, I'll have BK's standing around, full of beer.

I can't count, to save my life. Thus I'm having difficulty conceptualising the rhythm of emptying BK #1, then, I'd imagine, having to clean that one up. Because I'd have BK's #2, 3 and 4 already filled? Couldn't leave #1 for a month or more, before the next four kits go in .....

Have I just shot my entire plan to pieces?!

[fego]

I never have an empty keg for more than a week or so. I could use a FV or other bucket to sterilise the bits and bobs but then I'd still have to sterilise the keg as well (unless I risked just emptying dregs of old and adding in new). Might as well sterilise the bits n bobs in the keg whilst the keg is being sterilised. Two birds 'n all that....

I've got 7 kegs and I plan my next brew to coincide with when I expect one of the kegs to become empty. That way, when my fermentation has finished I'll always have a keg available to put it in. Mind you, doesn't always work which is why I ended up with 7 kegs because I figured I was better off buying another keg than throwing beer away just to use the keg...

[Kev888]

Yes, i've done this before in the past and all was well; if the BK was sanitised and has been sealed ever since then the chances of an infection seem slim, particularly if it wasn't long ago and the beer was okay.

But I probably wouldn't do it lots of times in a row because the longer its been since it was sanitised the more chance there is for any nasties to get their footing, and it's sad to see beer go bad..

Thing is, sanitising isn't sterilizing, the lid isn't 'always' on, unboiled kit brews aren't completely sterile and so on. There will almost certainly be 'some' life in there sooner or later even if not to begin with, just not enough to do much in the time it takes to finish a BK. But give them more time and a little hidey hole say around a tap nut or something and eventually they could multiply enough to cause problems. So they need to be knocked back again to near nothingness every once in a while with bleach or whatever.

Cheers
Kev