[jptheelder]

Do any of you use sankey kegs for your homebrew? If so, how do you clean or fill them? is there a tool that removes the valve w/o destroying it?

[jptheelder]

Any one? must be a bad idea then.

[dbeechum]

You can look around on the net and find instructions for removing the spear and changing it out. Yes, there are tools that do it and they tend to be dear.

As for using them for homebrew - you wouldn't be the first person to use them.

[tschmidlin]

Well, I wasn't going to say anything because I don't use them.  I'm pretty sure the pros who use them have a cleaning rig that doesn't require them to remove the spear, but they probably also use caustic which might make them feel better about it being clean without a visual inspection.

To fill, I imagine you'd push from whatever the beer is in into the keg thorough the "beer out" part of the connector while venting the pressure on the keg.  But I don't really know, not having done it.

[Thirsty_Monk]

To clean Sankey keg you would use something like this:
WASH-HEAD TAP  for  D-SYSTEM SANKEY:

http://www.brew-magic.com/keg_supl_washead.html

And here are the instructions:

To Clean:
    * The keg is inverted while wash solutions are injected under pressure through the
      beer ( center ) inlet. 

    * Rinse water, caustic, sanitizer, steam, etc, is introduced into the keg, via the keg
      valve dip tube. It then cascades down the inverted inner surface and is
      evacuated through the keg valve CO2 port and finally out the wash-head tap's
      side outlet tube.

To Decant or Evacuate a filled Keg:
    * When the wash-head coupler is applied to an upright keg, the vessel can be
      quickly emptied by injecting air or CO2 pressure via the side inlet and evacuating
      via the center (beer) port.   Or invert the keg and reverse the connections.

To Fill:
    * Using an upright keg, pressure inject product through the center (beer) port,
      while applying a lesser amount of back pressure through the gas port.  Or invert
      the keg and reverse the connections to allow beer to flow into the vessel through
      the gas side of the keg valve.

[IHBHS]

Yeah, to wash the keg without removing the stem you need a pump, a D sanke tap with your valves on it like the picture above, and a CO2 system. Turn your keg upside down and set it on something, I used to use two other kegs to prop it up.  Drain and depressurize the keg vial the gas side.  rinse a cold rinse up through the liquid side, and then pump your pbw solution through the same side.  rinse well, two 30 second rinses works well, fully draining between each rinse.  purge with co2.  thats your basic keg washing procedure.

[majorvices]

Premiere Stainless makes a really nice automated Sankey cleaner that can be YOURS for around $15,000. 

[tom]

I have just started using "slim" 1/4 barrels for fermenting. Instead of being half the height of a half-barrel, they are the same height, but have a narrower diameter. They are as tall as a pin-lock corny, and slightly wider. They hold 7.75 gallons. Lots of homebrewers use the regular 15.5 gallon half-barrel as a fermenter, but I wouldn't be able to move it from my outside brewing area down into the basement. I often split 10 gallons between 2 yeasts anyway.

The Sanke spears can be taken out with household tools and a little perseverance. I found that an additional 1/16" O-ring will give it just the right contact so that you don't need the metal O-ring. Currently I wash them by filling them with a hot PBW solution. And the standard carboy brush fits it perfectly.

I would like to set up a keg washer station not unlike some homebrewed corny keg washers. Take your regular Sanke tap and remove the check valves. Turn the keg upside down and pump your cleaning solution backwards through the beer-out side and recover via the gas-in side.

Easy as pie.