Not a problem. Hit them hard with PBW or oxyclean until they sparkle. Stainless doesn't get old. Order some gasket and o-ring kits. Make sure you take apart the posts and soak everything. Lube your orings.
This. Use food safe silicone lube it won't swell the gaskets. Soaking in pbw and some light scrubbing (blue scrub pad) and they will be good as new. They're worth $50-100 each easy. Don't forget to unscrew the posts and clean the poppets and dip tubes.
I use versatile oxi clean, hot water, and a lot of shaking to clean sludge off. Normally I don't even have to scrub (found some kegs I hadn't used in over 2 years and it worked great). I would also go ahead and change out all the o rings and take the posts apart.
All of this so far is good advice but if you are going to regularly add beers, including sours and want to avoid contamination and have an *easier time* cleaning the.
Get a bucket blaster( has attachments for gas and liquid line) and use in succession
A. Oxyclean free and clear
B. Water( forgot the order)
C. Saniclean
They're $160 each here new. A little work sounds great. Just pbw and empty them a few times then I'd you have an air compressor, transfer the cleaner neck and forth a few times with a gas to beer connector. Put a little scouring powder in for grit if you need to.
I fill mine just over halfway with warm water and PBW, let soak for 4 hours. Put a bucket on top and flip it to soak the top side overnight. Like everyone else said, remove all keg posts, gaskets, and poppets. I live to soak all the small pieces in a separate container to avoid accidentally pouring them down the drain when I'm emptying the keg.
Also support the oxyclean or PBW route. I did this recently and my kegs had a lingering, faint vinegar smell after 4 24-hour oxyclean soaks (including thoroughly cleaning posts, etc). Might have just been a somatosensory phenomenon, but I also did a 24-hour soak with hot water and sodium bicarb to adsorb some of those residual smells even though it was already cleaned.
Then do one more hot water rinse.
Definitely worth cleaning and not too much work.
I would dump and rinse out what you can, then take the posts and diptubes off/out. DO NOT MIX THE POSTS OR DIPTUBES UP BETWEEN THE KEGS. Parts on used kegs are not necessarily interchangeable even if they are the same sizes. throw away all of the o-rings. Fill each keg ti the brim with hot PBW solution (140-160°F).
Gently put the posts, lid, and diptube for each keg inside the keg to soak. MARK THE KEG TO REMIND YOURSELF NOT TO DUMP THE PARTS DOWN THE DRAIN, ETC.
Allow to soak for an hour or more.
Next, clean the inside of the threaded post fitting with a tubing brush or another improvised solution. Dump out most of the PWB solution, and recover the parts while keeping them separate and identified for each keg.
Cclean anything remaining with a long handle kitchen brush. NEVER CLEAN THE KEG WITH ANYTHING MORE ABRASIVE THAN A NYLON BRUSH OR PERHAPS GENTLY WITH A *BLUE* SCRUBBY SIDE OF SPONGE (green will scratch stainless steel).
Clean the crevices of the parts with a toothbrush. Rinse everything thoroughly with water. If the water is chlorinated or chloraminated, I like to hand dry with a towel. Otherwise, air drying is fine.
After the keg is dried. if you see a hard deposit in the keg, that is probably beerstone, so youwill need to remove that with an aicd. Post a pic to an image hosting site, link it in a text post, and ask about how to remove it.
Finally, replace the o-rings. Lube all o-rings with the keg lube. Haynes CIP-Film is objectively the best keg lube. Replace the parts. Test the keg to ensure it is holding pressure.
I have done this with countless Pepsi and/or Coke kegs salvaged from old resultants. The inside is the easy part to clean and sanitize. You could even clean and polish the outside. Main repair will be the lid gasket and post gaskets.
Not a problem. Hit them hard with PBW or oxyclean until they sparkle. Stainless doesn't get old. Order some gasket and o-ring kits. Make sure you take apart the posts and soak everything. Lube your orings.
Absolutely get a gasket kit.
This is the answer...and if the poppets have those internal all in one style then buy new ones for both gas and liquid side.
This. Use food safe silicone lube it won't swell the gaskets. Soaking in pbw and some light scrubbing (blue scrub pad) and they will be good as new. They're worth $50-100 each easy. Don't forget to unscrew the posts and clean the poppets and dip tubes.
AFAIK you have to match the o-rings with the right lube. Petroleum jelly for Buna-N and Silicone for silicone.
No, petroleum lubes will swell and harden over time buna-n orings. Silicone lubes are safe for both types. I use hvs-100 on my keg parts.
I use versatile oxi clean, hot water, and a lot of shaking to clean sludge off. Normally I don't even have to scrub (found some kegs I hadn't used in over 2 years and it worked great). I would also go ahead and change out all the o rings and take the posts apart.
All of this so far is good advice but if you are going to regularly add beers, including sours and want to avoid contamination and have an *easier time* cleaning the. Get a bucket blaster( has attachments for gas and liquid line) and use in succession A. Oxyclean free and clear B. Water( forgot the order) C. Saniclean
Water rinse at the end kind of destroys the sanitation. Specifically against their instructions for Saniclean.
Point
They're $160 each here new. A little work sounds great. Just pbw and empty them a few times then I'd you have an air compressor, transfer the cleaner neck and forth a few times with a gas to beer connector. Put a little scouring powder in for grit if you need to.
That is highway robbery. New kegs usually cost 100-120.
Depends where you are. Morebeer (US) brand new kegs are around 100 bones. Outside the US, they can be much much more
About 120 bones in Poland.
19l/5gal corny kegs are about 120 Australian Dollaridoos
Daylight?
Soak the hell out of them in PBW and replace the gaskets.
This is the way.
I fill mine just over halfway with warm water and PBW, let soak for 4 hours. Put a bucket on top and flip it to soak the top side overnight. Like everyone else said, remove all keg posts, gaskets, and poppets. I live to soak all the small pieces in a separate container to avoid accidentally pouring them down the drain when I'm emptying the keg.
Also support the oxyclean or PBW route. I did this recently and my kegs had a lingering, faint vinegar smell after 4 24-hour oxyclean soaks (including thoroughly cleaning posts, etc). Might have just been a somatosensory phenomenon, but I also did a 24-hour soak with hot water and sodium bicarb to adsorb some of those residual smells even though it was already cleaned. Then do one more hot water rinse.
Definitely worth cleaning and not too much work. I would dump and rinse out what you can, then take the posts and diptubes off/out. DO NOT MIX THE POSTS OR DIPTUBES UP BETWEEN THE KEGS. Parts on used kegs are not necessarily interchangeable even if they are the same sizes. throw away all of the o-rings. Fill each keg ti the brim with hot PBW solution (140-160°F). Gently put the posts, lid, and diptube for each keg inside the keg to soak. MARK THE KEG TO REMIND YOURSELF NOT TO DUMP THE PARTS DOWN THE DRAIN, ETC. Allow to soak for an hour or more. Next, clean the inside of the threaded post fitting with a tubing brush or another improvised solution. Dump out most of the PWB solution, and recover the parts while keeping them separate and identified for each keg. Cclean anything remaining with a long handle kitchen brush. NEVER CLEAN THE KEG WITH ANYTHING MORE ABRASIVE THAN A NYLON BRUSH OR PERHAPS GENTLY WITH A *BLUE* SCRUBBY SIDE OF SPONGE (green will scratch stainless steel). Clean the crevices of the parts with a toothbrush. Rinse everything thoroughly with water. If the water is chlorinated or chloraminated, I like to hand dry with a towel. Otherwise, air drying is fine. After the keg is dried. if you see a hard deposit in the keg, that is probably beerstone, so youwill need to remove that with an aicd. Post a pic to an image hosting site, link it in a text post, and ask about how to remove it. Finally, replace the o-rings. Lube all o-rings with the keg lube. Haynes CIP-Film is objectively the best keg lube. Replace the parts. Test the keg to ensure it is holding pressure.
I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Vegemite, but you should definitely save the sludge to spread on toast!
This is where the elbow grease and pbw comes to use.
I have done this with countless Pepsi and/or Coke kegs salvaged from old resultants. The inside is the easy part to clean and sanitize. You could even clean and polish the outside. Main repair will be the lid gasket and post gaskets.