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Author Topic: Cleaning keg exteriors  (Read 2177 times)

Offline Joe Sr.

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Cleaning keg exteriors
« on: May 24, 2013, 01:32:19 pm »
I picked up some more kegs and hope to recondition them this weekend.  All in all they seem to be in pretty good shape (holding pressure, etc.).  A minor complaint here and there, but the price was pretty good for today's market.

Anyway, they have a fair amount of stickers on the outside and I was thinking of trying to get those off and polishing them up. 

I've never actually tried to make the outsides look spiffy before.  I figured Bar Keepers Friend should be good for this.

Any one have suggestions? 
It's all in the reflexes. - Jack Burton

Offline narcout

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Re: Cleaning keg exteriors
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2013, 02:19:43 pm »
I figured Bar Keepers Friend should be good for this.

That's always worked well for me.
Sometimes you just can't get enough - JAMC

Offline dean_palmer

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Re: Cleaning keg exteriors
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2013, 01:23:46 pm »
First use Goof Off to remove sticker residues, then Barkeeper's Friend if they just need minor cleaning. For really dingy ones I use a commercial cutting/polishing compound and a polishing machine. Sometimes they even need some sanding before polishing. That said after doing that a number of times I rarely even remove the sticker residues any longer :-)

Offline euge

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Re: Cleaning keg exteriors
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2013, 01:30:19 pm »
I figured Bar Keepers Friend should be good for this.

That's always worked well for me.

+1 on the BKF! Your kegs will look awesome!

As far as stickers go I heat them up with a heat-gun and they peel off fairly easily leaving little to no adhesive behind.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

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Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Cleaning keg exteriors
« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2013, 01:40:11 pm »
Heating them sounds like a good idea.  I peeled a couple last night and got old shards of hard plastic stickers up under my finger nails.  Brilliant.

I used Goo Gone to get rid of the sticky residue but didn't polish them up yet with BKF.  Soon, perhaps.

I've got three soaking in oxyclean to get rid of the soda smell and hope to get to those during the week.

I also used a bit of de-greaser (Kleen Hands, IIRC) on the rubber tops.  They were nasty.  Think I might hit them with Armorall, too.

There are so many other things I should do, but this one I can do in small steps.
It's all in the reflexes. - Jack Burton