Great Beer Needs Clean Kegs!
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- čas přidán 4. 09. 2024
- Adam Mills, Head Brewer at Cartridge Brewing gives an in-depth behind the scenes look into how he cleans and sanitizes kegs. This video is full of techniques, concepts, and tips for homebrewers, and those looking to enter the industry.
Instagram: @adam_makes_beer ~ @jungbrudekk
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Hello, I am Adam! I am Head Brewer at Cartridge Brewing outside of Cincinatti, OH. I am a former high school and university educator, and I have been making beer for a living for over a decade. My goal here is to give a behind-the-scenes look into the craft brewing industry, and to share any knowledge I have. I am not the perfect brewer, but I am always pushing myself to get better and to learn more. I have an amazing team behind me, my Assistant Brewer, Maggie, and Josh, our cellarperson and packging lead. Our goal in the brewhouse is to always aim for the bullseye, knowing we will never hit it. That mantra keeps us focused on continual growth, and helps us appreciate the journey of improving as brewers.
Hey Adam, for someone who is starting up a small brewery in Australia, videos like this are invaluable to me. I look forward to you starting up your Patreon, so I can give something back. There's no doubt your channel will become very popular soon. Great work👍
Wow so kind of you Annie! Please consider sharing the channel with your beer loving friends, and I do hope to start a patreon later this year 😊
@@adammakesbeer will do👍
Hi Adam,
I'm enjoying your channel pretty much - so good content which I can use for our teeny tiny brewery which I run with my best friend besides our regular jobs. We always say, others go playing tennis - we go into our brewery.
I'm having two quick questions.
1) Whats the performance data of your KEG washer pump?
2) What kind of cleaning products do you use in your brewery? Iso, H2O2, caustic, non-caustic?
Thanks and keep up the great work!
Greetings from Germany.
The big risk using caustic in a sealed CO2 rich environment is creating a vacuum. Sodium hydroxide mixed with CO2 converts the gas into a solid (sodium bicarbonate) and therefore takes up less space. Pretty easy to implode a tank that way. Just a thought, I enjoy the videos! Keep em coming!
For sure. That is why the manufacturer includes the extensive CO2 evac steps. Thank you!
@@adammakesbeer Year for sure, I've used mostly a 3 head premier, but same thing. I guess I was just more referring to tanks, where its not so automated.
Greetings from México i am learning a lot
How to clean it manually?
So, after washing, it'd be perfectly OK to use the KEG for storing (emergency ) water ?
could you clarify the question? what do you mean be emergency water?
@@adammakesbeer Disasters where water is cutoff (need drinking water)
@@cafemolido5459 Yes
Adam I've noticed you use 70% isopropyl alcohol for some sanitation processes. Is this a cost saving measure? And in what areas of homebrewing could this replace starsan? Thanks 🍻
70% iso is super effective, and stable as a sanitizer. I dont see a lot of starsan being used in commercial production of beer, not sure why. I remember at one point the five star people said it is best to dilute starsan with RO water, and that it can lose its effectiveness over time. Depending on your gear, there might be room for iso in your processes. I know it can dry out and crack some plastics, think auto siphons.
hi Adam, thanks for your video, and I have a question. if we clean the keg with sanitizes, and the liquid still inside the kegs a bit, can it spoil beer ?
What sanitizer are you using?
@@adammakesbeer I use PROXITANE 15:23 “15% peracetic acid , 23% hydrogen peroxide
yes. doing a deep dive on your question this monday on the livestream!
ok thanks@@adammakesbeer
Hi Adam. How are you? Where I can find this keg washer? Look compact and great.
Premiere Stainless
Hi Adam, thank you very much for your video. The explanation was very clear and it fits the needs of my project. I wanted to ask you about the sanitization of beer cans before filling and sealing. Could you help me with that?
Adam, another question, are the barrels you use returnable?
I am answering this on the livestream this friday!
Hi Adam, thanks for making this video. I’ve got a question for you. My current keg washer contains 2 tanks, one for caustic and one for paa. We notice that while heating up the caustic, the paa got fairly warm due to the tanks only separated by only a stainless sheet. Is it wise to switch out the caustic and just use room temp acid cleaner instead? Thanks
answering on the livestream tomorrow!
So I typically use some caustic cleaner, but if I have more than one keg to clean, I just use the same solution, pushing it from one keg to another. Do you think that is a bad way to do it? That stuff is so extremely expensive.
Can you explain the process as thoroughly as you can? I want to give the best answer possible. Also, can I answer this on the March livestream?
@@adammakesbeer Of course you can answer on the livestream. Would be pretty cool to be honest :D. I'll try: I have NC kegs which typically become empty at the same time. To clean them, I release the pressure, open them and roughly clean them by using a water hose. So on surface, there shouldn't be anything left.
Then I fill keg no1 a little bit more than halfway up with hot water and add "enzybrew 10"... i think i was wrong with it being caustic but it cleans very well (particles and proteins). For the first 20 minutes i also add all the tubes from the kegs and turn them at the 10 minute mark. I use some of the solution to put into a small container and add the ports. After 20 minutes, i put all the tubes and ports back, close the kegs and turn keg no 1 on its head (to clean the other half). I just let it stand for 20 minutes. After that I use co2 to push the cleaning solution from keg 1 to keg 2, using both liquid ports. I thought this pushing might be better to clean the dipping tube.
From then on it's simple. I turn the keg upside down again (after 20 minutes for 20 minutes). Theoretically, I have 4 kegs, but i at most cleaned 3 kegs with this method, so pushing the solution through two times. After the last keg, I push some of the solution through my beer lines.
After that, I do the same thing with star san (without the 20 minute waiting times). After that the kegs are mostly empty and pressurized with CO2 (which wastes a lot but I was never quick enough to disconnect right after the fluids are through).
Well this was quite a wall of text. Basically, I don't know if the cleaning solution might become "too dirty" to use after the first or second keg. It's about 12 liters of solution (i have 20 liter kegs).
I hope this makes sense. I'm kind of a bad writer and english isn't my first language. If you have further questions, I'm happy to answer them. And thank you very much for taking the time to help some rookie out :D Very much love your channel since I found it, it's really nice to hear about the techniques, pro brewers use.
on the list
? Why are your videos shown backwards aka mirror image?
Because I am an unskilled video editor. 😂