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Author Topic: Using Sanke Kegs  (Read 4708 times)

Offline gmac

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Using Sanke Kegs
« on: September 04, 2013, 08:48:00 am »
Does anyone here use Sankey kegs instead of cornies?  I have about 10 cornies and I'm always finding a vent that leaks or a keg top that won't seal properly or some other little PITA with them.  I know most people use them and I do appreciate the ease of cleaning but I'm wondering if I would be smarter to just go buy a bunch of slim 1/6th or even some 1/2 bbl kegs.  It's not like they ever leave my house.

But, my question is really about how you clean, sanitize and fill these.  I am sure you can remove the spear and do it through the keg opening but I'm sure that would be a real pain and would likely end up with damage over time.  So, for those few commercial brewers here, how do you do all this with a sanke.  I'm understand that additional manufacturing may be needed to make these work. 

I guess I'm just curious if anyone is successful using Sanke kegs.
Thanks

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Using Sanke Kegs
« Reply #1 on: September 04, 2013, 11:10:48 am »
I think you need a keg washer of some sort.  A contraption/machine, not a person.

As for leaking poppets, I'm making the move to the newish universal poppet.  I have one or two kegs where a poppet leaks so I'm going to give this a try.
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Offline AmandaK

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Re: Using Sanke Kegs
« Reply #2 on: September 04, 2013, 11:19:04 am »
As for leaking poppets, I'm making the move to the newish universal poppet.  I have one or two kegs where a poppet leaks so I'm going to give this a try.

Sankes are a bit much for my operation right now, but I have had good success with the universal poppets. I have a little over 20 cornies in various states of 'used' from various manufacturers and they seem to work well in all of them.
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Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Using Sanke Kegs
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2013, 05:36:04 pm »
To wash senkey keg you need to invert keg upside down and sprey cleaning solution to beer out and collect it at CO2 port. I recirculate with pump but I know people who do it with CO2.

Let me know if you want to see some pics. There is online manual that talk about cleaning cycle.
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narvin

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Re: Using Sanke Kegs
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2013, 05:48:13 pm »
To wash senkey keg you need to invert keg upside down and sprey cleaning solution to beer out and collect it at CO2 port. I recirculate with pump but I know people who do it with CO2.

Let me know if you want to see some pics. There is online manual that talk about cleaning cycle.

What do you use for the cleaning solution?

I do this with a pump and sprayer with hot pbw for corny kegs.  The commercial keg washers I've seen in action use steam or caustic, though.  I can't think of a reason that a sanke keg wouldn't work with pbw, but I've never tried.

Offline rjharper

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Re: Using Sanke Kegs
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2013, 08:38:03 am »
My local nano where I help out uses PBW in the keg washer.  You invert the keg, then blow the cleaning solutions up the spear, and drain out the CO2 port.

Invert, PBW recirculate, blow it out, hot water rinse, blow it out, repeat rinse, blow it out, SaniClean recirculate, CO2 blow it out, repressurize with CO2.

Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Using Sanke Kegs
« Reply #6 on: September 11, 2013, 03:50:44 pm »
To wash senkey keg you need to invert keg upside down and sprey cleaning solution to beer out and collect it at CO2 port. I recirculate with pump but I know people who do it with CO2.

Let me know if you want to see some pics. There is online manual that talk about cleaning cycle.

What do you use for the cleaning solution?

I do this with a pump and sprayer with hot pbw for corny kegs.  The commercial keg washers I've seen in action use steam or caustic, though.  I can't think of a reason that a sanke keg wouldn't work with pbw, but I've never tried.
PBW works o.k. if you use it run it at 120F.
Now I use HD caustic 2.
Works much better.
Na Zdravie

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Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Using Sanke Kegs
« Reply #7 on: September 11, 2013, 03:54:56 pm »
You can find a manual how to operate keg washer here
http://specificmechanical.com/products-services/brewery-systems/keg-equipment
Na Zdravie

Lazy Monk Brewing
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