Beer Kegs as Fermentation Vessels?

Hi Bruce

Kegs are great for bulk storage. There is a stainless steel ring that holds the dip tube in place. Removing it is not hard. First and foremost relieve the pressure in the keg. The easiest and safest way is by installing a tap and opening it up. This will allow the CO2 to escape along with any remaining beer. If you don't have a tap place a rag over the ball and press on it with your thumb, or you can use a dowel rod. Once you are absolutely sure the pressure is out of the keg you can proceed. Look closely at the top of the dip tube and you will see the ring. Work a tool like a small, thin screwdriver into the top of the ring at the end and pry on it until you can get enough of it out of the space to grab it with a pair of pliers. You will be trying to move the end of the ring toward the center of the tube where the ball is located. Once you can get purcase on the ring with pliers continue to pry on it with screwdriver while pulling with pliers. Eventually it move. It's springy and will resist this procedure but you can remove it. Once you've removed it twist the tube to line up the pins with the slots on the top of the tap mount and pull out the dip tube. Clean it and save the parts. You may decide to make beer someday. Thoroughly clean the keg. A number

10.5 stopper (try several: your keg may require a #10 or a #11) should fit in the hole and you are ready to go.

HTH

Frank

I figured out the trick this afternoon before I logged on. I will need the secondary fementation/bulk storage capacity once my vineyard starts producing (got in about 50 vines). I will have to check in with S&S Produce (my local winemaking supply/grape connection) when he opens for business after Labor Day for the stoppers.

This year will be some experimentation with some white varieties, hopefully I can find some decent Seyval grapes, which are one of the varieties I have planted. Last year's Zinfandel and Barbera turned out fairly well, (nobody spit it up) despite several days delayed processing of the grapes, and protracted secondary fermentation in an unheated shed. I plan to have things ready to go when I bring the grapes home.

how, exactly, is a keg cleaned??? I've always wondered about that, suppose some beer is left there and rots and leaves some crud in there, how do you get it out?

I use a jet of hot water to dislodge crud, followed by a soak in oxi-clean, rinse with plain water then use a sanitizing rinse.

Andy

You have to release the pressure, remove the snap ring and pull out the siphon tube. Then you can dump the contents and blast the inside clean with a pistol grip nozzle and hot water. Of course the keg should be upside down for the blasting nad draining (duh!). :^)

For closures, use either a large rubber stopper, a barrel bung or a Tri-Clover plate and gasket with clamp.

Tom S

Bruce, I use a standard keg for bulk aging my un-oaked reds. Once you get the guts out, hang a small flashlight in the keg to asses the situation. You'll probably see a lot of brown matter coating the walls. This is pretty hard to remove without the right stuff. You won't get anywhere w/ dishsoap and a carboy brush. Stay away from bleach. I use a slightly diluted acid-wash designed for stainless. As you pour that stuff in, the brown immediately disappears...leaving behind a clean stainless surface. Make sure you rinse after this wash.

The opening of a standard keg can be filled w/ standard silicon bungs used for 225L barrels. If you ferment in there, you can use a ferm-rite (sp?) bung.

Save the keg guts. You can rebuild the keg if you want later, you'll just want to buy a new ring...I've seen them online somwewhere. -David

is there ever a need for brushes? do you look inside and how effective is that if you can't see everything?

You don't need a brush, but it might facilitate the removal of the beer sludge sticking to the inside of the keg. The acid wash does a pretty good job of removing everything. Hanging a small flashlight inside the keg gives you a view of most of the inside, but I think it's reasonable to assume that the part you can't see is about as clean/dirty as the part you can see. The brand of acid solution I use is Five Star...got a big bottle of it at my local winemaking store for less than $10.

-David

Why? Bleach will definitely remove that stuff and it's cheap and easy to get anywhere. Just be sure to rinse it out thoroughly. After rinsing, fill the keg completely full of water, dump the water on the lawn or a flowerbed (so's not to waste it) and the empty keg will be ready for wine.

Tom S

Hanging a small flashlight inside the

sounds like a lot of guesswork. but i suppose if you get away with it you can take your chances!

Bleach wouldn't remove the brown stains from the inside of my keg. The only thing that worked for me was an acid wash. The bleach was my second to last resort because I heard that bleach would cause pitting on a stainless surface. Is there a certain exposure threshold for pitting with certain concentrations of bleach in contact with stainless? -David

True, but there aren't a whole lot of options...unless you put a small mirror on a stick (like a dental mirror), lower the mirror inside the keg, and shine a flashlight on the mirror. That might work. -David

that's what i was thinking, a mirror. or maybe a tv camera the size of a lipstick.

Not that I've ever heard of. Commercial bleach is actually pretty dilute to start with at only ~5% sodium hypochlorite.

Be careful switching back and forth between bleach and acid. You can gas yourself _bigtime_!

Tom S

I built a key system for topping my barrel and had similar issues with sanitizing. Just wondering whether or not chlorine based cleaners are advisable, given the link between chlorine and TCA? In any case, I've found oxygen based cleaners like Sodium Percarbonate are extremely effective, too.

Darin