Got a couple Used corny Kegs that had that soda pop aroma in them after a good scrubbing
and PBW + hot H20 Soak…still they smelled like Pop…
I opened a 50 cent pint bottle of Rubbing alcohol and poured half in each keg…put the lid on and posts
on loosely…Swished that alcohol around inside the kegs…let it sit in the keg upside down (concentrating the alcohol)
on the inside parts of the lid and posts…
Next Day, I removed the residual alcohol…and left the kegs open to atmosphere…when the alcohol had evaporated off,
I’ve never had a problem with stale soda smells, even root beer, after rebuilding a keg and replacing all the O-rings. That includes the lid, dip tube, and post O-rings. The trick is to disassemble everything, clean and sanitize each part individually, then reassemble and sanitize the inside of the keg.
Sometimes there’s still a hint of soda left with a newly-purchased keg, but it’s never showed up in the beer and doesn’t last after the first keg of beer.
My thoughts are YES…but I cannot say for certain. It is probably about the same strength as
the 70% rubbing alcohol I used…
I just had an abundance of rubbing alcohol and was saving my cheep vodka to spike the punch bowl with…
Wait, isn’t it PBW that smells kinda like soda in the first place? I get my cleaners mixed up - but one of em smells like lemon-lime soda in the keg. If you were talking root-beer then that’s a totally different story. Put some Iodophor in there - you won’t smell soda anymore.
I had two tainted kegs; One with root beer and the other with a soda smell. I tried OxyClean, PBW, and Starsan all couldn’t take care of the smell which was ruining my beer. I lost all hope and was about to toss them, but decided to search one more time.
So I replace the seals, AGAIN! and threw in some rubbing alcohol. I emptied them and let it sit overnight. The next day they smelled like absolutely nothing! I can’t believe it worked! I sanitized and kegged some Octoberfest. I will let you know how it tastes next weekend!
