How do you remove keg lube from the cornie o-ring? Also, from the inside top of the keg where the oring sits?
A paper towel works. You can safely leave it there, but if you have a huge amount on it then a quick wipe will take off enough. You want there to be a little left on the o-rings.
Very interesting to me…So, the guys who like the “rocking” method of carbing fear not they their brew will be sloshing against keg lube.
Keg lube is food grade and not really soluble in water or beer anyway, so I don’t worry about it.
I swapped from LubriFilm (keg lube) to CIP-Film due to the lower melting temperature. Its melting point is 120F and I don’t feel like I’ve handled a sappy Griswold Christmas Tree after using it.
https://haynesmfg.com/files/Tech/Technical%20Data%20Sheet_Haynes%20CIP-Film.pdf
I use olive oil in very small amounts. Works fabulous.
Mineral oil. That’s all keg lubes, just pastified.
Not a bit.
I like this and may steal it if my tiny stash of keg lube ever runs out. (It was a hand-me-down from another brewer and hasn’t run out in 8 years. Ridiculous!)
A lifetime supply of lube will cost you about $5.99. And by “lifetime” I mean a 6 oz tube. I’m pretty sure it’s just vaseline.
I have a tube of keg lube that I’ve had for 5 years and its still going strong. A lifetime is a strong word but may be true for me.
Keg Lube = spit, right?
Just like all other lube, or am I missing something?
love
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I’ve also wondered about lube removal. Not so much because it might touch the beer. But over time couldn’t it become a potential source of contamination?
I suppose it could. I still don’t worry about it, but if it is a big concern I just wouldn’t use it at all. Replace o-rings when they get old and you don’t really need it.
Mostly I don’t worry either. But I have one fussy keg with a slight dent in its lip. Sometimes it takes a liberal application of lube, a little magic, and more than a few swear words to get the lid to seal. Afterwards it’s a bugger to clean.
Have you seen the softer o-rings that some places carry? It helps to make up for the imperfections in the lid. I haven’t used them, but I’ve heard good things.
No, those are new to me. Seems like they should work like a charm. I’ll give one a try. Thanks.
FWIW, Amazon has the Haynes CIP low melting point lube mentioned above. In related news, people who have purchased that item from Amazon have also purchased magnetic stir bars and drip trays. Go figure.
Turned out I already had one in the baggie of miscellaneous-spare-keg-things-I-might-need-someday. Works great. Thanks again.
My parents just threw a party and someone brought a 5 gal Sanke keg of Lefthand Sawtooth. (Had I known it was going to be one of those parties, I would have brought a keg of my own!) Anyway, the stupid hand pump rented from the liquor store decided to stop working so I took it apart unfolded the wound up o-ring on the plunger and lubed it up with some olive oil! The thing worked like a charm and for the rest of the night I was the genius who made the beer work.
So the moral of the story is: olive oil works in a pinch. Not sure what it would do to the inside seals of a keg, or beer flavor.