Kegs and the cleaner

Thanks to the busted keg cleaner part, I have a two-week-deep pile of dirty kegs in the cellar. The part arrived late Wednesday afternoon, so I installed it today.

This piece broke...

...so I had to buy this whole thing.

The damned machine still refused to clean the first keg, lighting the "reject" lamp a few seconds after starting the initial rinse. There's a sensor probe in the drain line that is supposed to detect the difference between water and air; it often fouls, so I took it out and cleaned it to no avail. There's also an adjustment knob in the cabinet that increases and decreases the probe's sensitivity. A few minute's tweaking got it reprogrammed, and the day's tedium could begin.

The pub needed a few kegs of beer, and a wholesaler needed a few kegs of root beer (and one keg of Hefeweizen), so I filled them.

Adam and I had tasted the Toil & Trubbel Dubbel the other day and found it a bit sour — lactic. The final keg was about ¾ full, so I disconnected it, cleaned its draft line, and hooked up the leftover sixth-barrels from last month's Summer Arts Festival, along with a new half-barrel. So it's on tap now, but the "official" release will be tomorrow. (When a new beer comes out, we always offer the first pint at the regular price of $2.50, and the second pint for 1¢.)

The final tally: 37 half-barrels, 18 sixth-barrels, and 11 five-gallon kegs cleaned.

Tomorrow: Root Beer Shuffle.