Following recent successes I have just had 2 brews fail on me, both after barrelling me thinks...... I pay close attention to cleaning and sterilising using a strong concentration of Brucleans followed by carefull rinsing with cold filtered mains water. I have today dumped 1.5 barrells of beer onto a frosty lawn and thought about what could have caused this. I know all steps up to barrelling were correct and that from the transfer pipe (2nd FV to Keg) the "samples" tasted like beer should do, although obviousley green! anyway after swilling out the old "Boots" keg and giving it a quick brush out I felt the inside of it; the texture is VERY rough and has heavy cast lines etc.
I can only think that that the rough interior and the extra bits of plastic sticking out has over time allowed minute bits of crud to accumalate in the pitting = infection. I have heavily bleached both barrells although I dont think I trust them enough to consign a brew to them again. I think its time to get a few more barrells from Wilko's.
Has anyone found their kegs to have such a rough interior? Thoughts on re-using the barrells?
