Hi guys I have a keg being almost empty,should i need to sanitize it using bleach(no starsan here) or could i just wash it with tap water and refill with the new beer?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodophor There are some links at the bottom about using iodophor and about sanitation in general.
FYI StarSan is a mixture of Phosphoric acid and a surfactant IIRC. Iodophor is an iodine based sanitizer that is also often used in farming applications (although you have to make sure no other stuff such as moisturizers).
If I'm just going from a beer that just blew to kegging a new batch, often I just use dish soap and hot water to clean it. Yep. And no problems either.
I have racked beer into an unsanitized, unrinsed keg before. Killed the keg one day, decided, what the hell and racked its replacement batch right into it. Easy, no problems. Not something I do regular, but if the stars align in such a way again, I'd go for it. I'd say, at the very least boil your water first if you plan on rinsing out the keg. The one time I did it, I literally finished the keg and 15 min later I filled it. No gaurantees though.
Kegging or doing anything of the like without sanitizer is risky business. Sure it can come out ok, but it also highly increases the chance of problems. Just sayin................
I would keg without sanitizing rather than use bleach on a stainless steel keg. Bleach can cause pits in the stainless steel.
If you've sanitized your keg, filled it with sanitary beer, and kicked that keg, it will remain sanitary until you expose it. If you open it and rack another beer (preferrably the same beer) in a sanitary fashion right into the keg, it should remain sanitary, and there should be no contamination risk. Once you rinse it with tap water, you are risking microbial contamination from the water. However, if you rinse with sanitized (boiled) water, it will stay sanitary. Just restating what others have said in a slightly different way I guess.
