Sanitize... how far should I go?

[Dene McDonald]

Hi everyone,

I've managed to get an infection/sour taste in my last couple of kegs and I was wondering if I should sanitize my gas lines? I've just replaced my gas lines and it didn't even cross my mind at the time. Would it also be possible to get an infection from my C02 cylinder?

I've used StarSan to sanitize everything so I'm not sure where the infection is coming from. Only other place could be my tap - should I dismantle and clean every time or would a soak in nappysan and then running StarSan through do the trick?

Another possibility could be the StarSan - when it arrived in the mail it was leaking so don't know if it can go off with exposure to air?

Thanks!

Dene

[MrC]

I think the most likely place for the infection would be during fermentation rather than after kegging.  Does it taste sour/infected straight after kegging or does it take a few weeks to show up?  If it's sour straight away then your problem is likely pre kegging.

I'd recommend dismantling your tap though.  I do that regularly now with my picnic taps.  

[Dene McDonald]

I usually leave it 2 days to carbonate - tastes sour by then so I guess it's probably happening in fermentation. I think it's time for a new fermenter then as I've sterilized the pants off the old one and keep getting the infection.

The option would be the water has some nasties in it???

[Chris P]

How do the samples taste during fermentation?

[Michael]

It may not be needed, but I will generally do a line cleaning and steralisation when switching kegs.

When I am cleaning a keg with Napisan, I put a little co2 in there and push the stuff through the lines. After fully rinsing the keg, I do the same thing with clean water, and then after steralising the keg, I push the starsan through the line as well.

Every five batches or so, I take apart my taps and clean them separately as well.

Having said all this, try bottling a few beers next time before throwing it all into the keg. See if those turn sour as well?

Taking a few minutes to run stuff through the lines cannot hurt I imagine, and it does not take much time.