[haeffnkr]

Hello All,

Last Fall I finally made some changes to my process and was making some great beer.
I finally got rid of the lacto/acto vinegar wang infection I was passing around.

I had/have several kegs that had this lacto ridden beer in them, that I was saving to possibly distill off some day.. but that never happened and I need the kegs as my pipeline is building up.

I made another light lager in a glass carboy and transferred it to a keg that was clean, spotless inside, washed by a rag inside,  sprayed with PBW solution via my keg washer with spinner ball that pumped the solution through the posts also.
I then disambled to the keg, soaked the posts, lid and orings in a bleach/vinegar solution and soaked the keg in starsan to the top for a few days.  I then reassembled and pumped the starsan out with CO2.
I filled the keg and some 1 liter bottles and carbed them up with the  co2 caps
The bottles tasted great, the keg has a slight wang to it...ugh.

So all that said...
How would you/should I go about cleaning a keg with infected beer in it? I have read that this lacto/acto bug is hard to kill and heavy bleach is the only way.
I am thinking about a through of cleaning with PBW, and the spraying with Bleach in my keg washer? Pull apart the keg and replace the orings, fill with star san and soak?

I am baffled....sorry to ramble.

Kevin

[Joe Sr.]

Definitely replace the o-rings.

I don't think you want to soak stainless in bleach.  My recollection is the bleach eats the stainless.

Not too much advice for you, sorry.

[brewinhard]

+1 to definitely replacing all rubber parts of the keg (lid O-ring, in/out post little o-rings, and in/out post tube rings).  After that, I would use hot water soak with generous amount of PBW followed by many hot water rinses.  Then sanitize and you should be good to go. 

[denny]

I'd recommend Craftmeister alkaline cleaner.

[kramerog]

If your kegs are going to be refrigerated then regular cleaning and santizing (PBW or oxyclean, followed by Starsan) should be enough.  I don't change out the o-rings between sour and non-sour beers, but all my kegs are refrigerated when in use.

If you intend for your kegs to hold warm beer for an extended period then my recommendation would be to additionally replace the o-rings and let your equipment dry between cleaning and sanitizing. 

[svejk]

Have you considered using heat to sanitize?  You need to be really careful, but after all of the rubber parts have been replaced, you can put a half gallon or so of boiling water in the keg and slosh it around.  Any bugs that live through that deserve to have as much of my beer as they want.

[HoosierBrew]

+1 to definitely replacing all rubber parts of the keg (lid O-ring, in/out post little o-rings, and in/out post tube rings).  After that, I would use hot water soak with generous amount of PBW followed by many hot water rinses.  Then sanitize and you should be good to go. 

That's what I would do, too.

[haeffnkr]

Thanks for the help guys !

Hot water sounds like the step I was missing.

Does anyone have a source for the poppet tops?
What about the rubber parts of the pressure relief valves?

thanks Kevin

[Stevie]

The poppet and prv rings will vary from manufacturer. I believe AiH has the rings for both.

Side note, I just swapped all of my prvs for the stainless versions with the replaceable ring and cannot be happier with that decision.

[majorvices]

I've had some infected beer before and a good hot soak in 180 degrees for everything, including rubber gaskets, is all you need ot resantize the kegs. I've boiled poppets in microwave. No need to replace everything IME.

[ajk]

I've had some infected beer before and a good hot soak in 180 degrees for everything, including rubber gaskets, is all you need ot resantize the kegs. I've boiled poppets in microwave. No need to replace everything IME.

Agreed—all the small parts of a keg can be boiled with no ill effects. Near-boiling water sloshed around inside the keg (be careful) works well, too, as has also been suggested. Another approach is to use a couple of different kinds of sanitizer in case you have a resistant bug. I normally use StarSan, but I whip out the Iodophor once a year just as a precaution.