Noticed beer stone in my corny kegs. I tried the Five Star - 26-BSR-FS08 Beer Stone Remover. I followed instructions, but really didn’t remove the beer stone.
I know dairy stone is basically the same as beer stone. Unfortunately, I have nothing around me for dairy stone or the chemicals that remove dairy stone (believe me as I’ve checked).
Any recommendations on getting beer stone out of a corny keg?
Thanks.
Try a different acid-based chemical for brewing. A stronger strength StarSan or similar acid, followed by an alkaline, such as BLC. Some use Bar Keepers Friend for the acid, as it can scrub the deposits, as needed to get them out.
I know you looked, but I use the Dairy product Sterasol (orange colored acid - it was cheap):
Cheers.
I’ve had good luck using PBW and letting it soak for a day or 2
Put several ounces of BS remover in the keg full strength. Swish it around, beer stone should be removed in 15 minutes or so. That stuff is really slow diluted, in fact I never got it to work. I had an old keg that I was refurbishing and it worked great.
The directions mention that method for really bad stone.
Something acidic. Starsan always works on my boil kettle but I did have some stubborn rough spots inside my kegs too. Know what I did? I threw some Oxi in there and I boiled some water. 5 gallons to be exact. When it was boiling I poured the water into the keg and sealed it up and let it sit there overnight (the keg was on my patio, btw and I did this when the weather was nice). Next day, pour out the water, rinse out the keg and the beerstone was gone. There were a couple spots that required the use of a kitchen scrubbie (blue, non-scratch). I did that routine for all ten of my kegs and at the end they all looked brand new (inside). 
Thanks for the suggestions.
In my corny keg the beer stone is near the bottom. I can’t reach the beer stone by putting my arm into the keg. I had no luck finding a long handle rounded brush. Find plenty of flat brushes, but one a long brush with a rounded brush end.
If you can find a short handled one you could tape it to an old broom handle with gorilla tape. Or join the two together some other way.
Paul
A toilet brush works a charm (just be sure to buy it new )
I’d be surprised if it was beer stone then. You need acid to remove beer stone.
I’m guessing the Five Star acid would have worked had you doubled the strength. Another thing is that you may have needed a cascading action to remove it. You might could rig a pump, or try a long scrubby like was suggested in contact with the acid.
I also use an acid rinse that is designed for use iin the dairy industry to remove milk stone from bulk milk tanks. I bught a five gallon jug of the stuff which will last me a lifetime as I only need about 15 ml of the stuff in 5 gallons of water. It works well. I let it sit for several hours in the keg (overnight if there is a lot of beer stone) and rinse afterwards. This product contains phosphoric acid and small amounts of sulfuric and hydrochloric acids. It works great. I also use it to passivate my conicals, brew kettle, and my plate chiller.
If you have a dairy industry supply house near you, check with them. You can also use Sterosol since it has phosphoric acid as the active ingredient. Way cheaper than Star San, Saniclean or Learacid.
I use the same stuff. I got it from Tractor Supply.
I called my local Tractor Supply. Asked if they had the dairy stone remover. Silence on the other end… Finally, “um, no, um, we don’t carry that”
I ordered it from Tractor Supply online for free in-store pickup.
Hmm… I need to check Tractor Supply again as I didn’t notice the option of picking up in the store.
“phosphoric acid”. Wouldn’t a Coke or Pepsi with a good rinse work too?
After removing beer stone from stainless steel any need to condition the stainless? If so, use what? Thanks.
[emoji2369] …from Ss Brewtech: Passivation: It’s good practice to periodically passivate all stainless-steel equipment with an acid-based solution to establish a uniform passive oxide layer that will maximize corrosion resistance. Following the pre-clean step, fill the vessel with hot water (at 140-180°F) mixed with Citric Acid (at a concentration of 4% by weight) for at least 30 minutes (up to 2 hours.) Drain, dry, and rinse with purified water. Most tap water contains various salts and chlorides (either naturally or for taste) which can undermine the passive oxide layer you just worked to create. Check out our Passivation FAQ article for more info
In the words of a NASA published report on citric acid passivation* - “citric acid passivation process performs as well as, or better than, the nitric acid passivation … The citric acid process also exhibits environmental, safety, and cost benefits in preference to passivation via the traditional nitric acid procedure.”
That ‘pre-clean step’ mentioned above involves using TSP.
Hello! Thank you for useful information!
Thanks!
Oxiclean has taken a spot of honor beside Wd-40 and duct tape in my DIY grab bag. There doesn’t seem to be much that those things can’t accomplish. Also assuming that you’re talking about “Oxi” the cleaning product and not “Oxi” the “good time pill.” 