Aggressive boiler cleaning help.

[Nightforce]

I see lots of posts about cleaning runs of newly built stills but I'm looking for some help specifically with cleaning a keg boiler. I know that my still heads are clean, I've run them on a 1/4 keg boiler and they produce fairly clean water distillate; only a slight metallic taste to the water which is to be expected. My 1/2 keg boiler just won't seem to get clean. I've boiled a lye solution in it (1# in 15gallons water), a salt solution and multiple water cleaning solutions but there is still a slight presence of an off odor and flavor in both the water and alcohol runs. Does anybody have a good method to aggressivly clean a SS boiler. It was a really old keg that sat outside for many years before the person gave it to me. It seems fairly clean inside but I can't get rid of the the off odor and flavor that comes through.

Thanks.

[rtalbigr]

I would try borax. It it a deoderizer and water conditioner and it will remove odors from clothing by soaking. I'd get a box from the laundry product section, mix with water , and fill your keg and let it soak for a few days.

Big R

[junkyard dawg]

I'd be surprised if anything was left in there after boiling a pound of lye in it!

Have you let anything sit around and age naturally for a few months? Many smells and off notes will disappear on their own with time.

If you do have something still stuck in there... I've had luck cleaning kegs using a few handfuls of sand and a length of chain and lots of rolling... You can take a metal rod, bend one end to hold a scotchbrite pad and chuck the other up in a drill... the powerwasher helps too.

Ultimate Brewery cleaner is great for cleaning...

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_i ... s_id=11202

[Nightforce]

Thanks, I'll try the borax next and then the cleaner from Austin Home brew it that doesn't work. I've not done the scrub pad but I've also power washed it once in the beginning. I don't know where the odor is coming from but it's definitely the boiler as I can sniff test the keg and detect the same odor faintly. I couldn't imagine anything organic lasting through a pound of lye in 15 gallons of 150+F water either but it sure did. It helped a lot but it's still there. It probably didn't help that I forgot a wash after running one last year and it sat for about 8 months growing a huge culture. Once I get this clean I'll not do that again; I've also gotten some tri-clamp caps and gaskets to seal the kegs when they are not in use. I certainly pays to keep things clean....lesson learned.

Thanks every body.

[stillcyco]

Interesting. Are you positive its from the keg? What kind of keg? Are all the original parts removed? Any welding done to it?

I've been around a lot of SS kegs, hundreds of them, and never noticed anything of the sort. All sorts of off smells but a quick wash and they are fine. Stainless steel doesn't have an odor normally.

Are there hot water heater elements in there? Has it been exposed to very high heat? Any discoloration of the metal itself?

Don't get too crazy with the corrosive cleaning, that can do more harm than good. You can etch and pit the metal, harm welds, etc.

Any idea of the history of the keg? Has it had motor oil, corrosives, industrial products stored in it?

I'd just let it soak with soapy water for a while, set it outside full of soapy water for a month or two then clean it out. Simple green works well.

[Dnderhead]

if you can see something in the keg you mite have "beer stone" tho this should not give off flavors .it can be removed with acids maybe try vinegar.

[Nightforce]

stillcyco,

It's a standard 1/2 keg and as far as I know it only had beer in it then say for several years outside before it was given to me. I looks fairly clean inside with only a few black spots that look like mold to me. It's survived several washes, multiple boilings, and a few lye treatments. There isn't an odor to the inside when I smell it but after a water run the distillate is worse coming out then going in (I'm on municipal water but it's pretty good water). There is a definite difference between this keg and my 1/4 keg; that one produces a cleaner output utilizing the same still heads. Using the 1/4 keg and both my pot still and slant plate, the water distillate only has a slight metallic taste to it and almost no odor. Running them on the 1/2 keg I get the metallic taste along with a musty flavor and, as best as I describe it, "dirt" odor.

I'm going to give it another soak with a lye solution to see if there is anything on the top side of the keg. I got an extra tri-clamp, gasket, and blank plate, filled it with about 3 gallons of strong lye solution and inverted the keg to see if there is anything on the undersie of the top of the keg causing the off odors and flavors that I can't see. I'll let that soak for a day or so, then do another water run to see if it cleaned it up.

Dnder,

If that doesn't work, I'll try a vinegar solution too. Tho I might just try both.

Thanks everyone.

[Dnderhead]

whatever you do avoid strong chlorine as chlorine can etch stainless.

[stillcyco]

You haven't run a wash through it yet? Give that a try, hot boiling wash and alcohol is a very good cleaning solution. I have no idea what our municipal water tastes or smells like after being run through my rig.

I know that whats left in my boiler after a good run is foul smelling and really funky, but the distillate is pure and clean.

Might just take some "seasoning" with a run or two.

I took my boiler keg to the car wash to clean it, the high pressure wash there worked great.

[Nightforce]

Finally clean!

I mixed up another lye solution and let it sit in the keg upside down for a few days. I rinsed it out and mixed up a solution of borax and shook it all around, then rinsed again with fresh water twice.

I ran a test run of plain water and it came out perfectly. Just a faint hint of a metallic flavor and no odors or bad smells. Must have been something on the underside of the top that I couldn't see but it's clean now.

Next run, 10 gallons of UJSSM and all grain mixed stripped runs for a tight cut spirit run.

[heynonny]

Try using dishwasher detergent, (a lot). It works by soaking over a period of time, I think the word is 'surfactant'. -hey-

[ozone39]

I had a similar problem with my keg (it was given to me and sat in a field for who knows how long). I ended up blasting the inside with 250 grit silica sand. That cleaned it right up....

[DamianRyan]

Hi all,I have just done a 700L Carrot wash all I got was 55L of alcohol out of it and then on the second run the bloody alcohol was tinted blue.I ran it until it cleared that took about 6L.When I came to test the alcohol at about 15L the faint blue tint had reappeared.
Now I'll grant that the still has stood since last year, my big concern is where in the process is the blue being picked up could it be the boiler the piping or the copper tank I'm distilling into, and will the idea of running diluted vinegar through the still clean it? Naturally I've scrapped the lot. Man I have to build a smaller still. Damian

[Dnderhead]

other than in need of cleaning,was the wash alkaline?

[DamianRyan]

other than in need of cleaning,was the wash alkaline?

Oh Oh! You've got me there Dnderhead didn't test for alkalinity. Damian

[DamianRyan]

I spoke to the wife of the guy who started this still and she say's the blue did happen to the old guy but she can't remember what he did for it. So this is not unique to me. Damian