cleaning beer lines

The amount of cleaning I put into my beer lines is ridiculous with all this circulation and all that.  I have 3 lines to clean.  Can I just fill a keg with 3 gallons -ish of BLC, pump some BLC through and let it sit for a few minutes.  Then remove the faucet and clean it out with a brush. rinse clean.  Reassemble and flush with water?  no recirc needed?

Yes you can! Just let it sit for about 20 minutes then give it a rinse.

That’s exactly how I clean mine.

This reminds me, I need to clean them again.  It’s been a while.  ::slight_smile:

Paul

Recirculating actually saves me a lot of solution.  I only need enough to keep the pump reservoir above minimal level once the line is filled.  Less than making up a keg and flushing a couple of times.  Recirculation is also more effective  than static (“pressure pot”) soaking.  Anyway, glad you’re disassembling the faucets.  I super-simplified at one point, made a rig that allowed me to recirc without faucet removal.  God, did the crap grow in there.  So whatever is easiest for you, just check to make sure it’s really getting the job done.

This is why I took Tommy’s lead and simply installed flow control faucets directly onto the kegs. No lines to clean. Disassembling faucets is therapeutic to an old mechanic. Cleaning lines is not. I’m loving this setup.

What type of pump do ya’ll use?

300 gph fountain pump immersed in a little paint bucket. Output is 1/2" NPT so I took a PVC pipe cap, drilled and tapped it to thread in a barb, and out from there via the silicone tubing to a male flare fitting.  This either connects to a flare nut on a jumper to standard draught cleaning connector on shank, or beer line.  Beer line, or cleaning jumper, returns to this bucket.  So I can run the circulation either direction.  Very cheap, easy, and plenty capable.  With additional cleaning connectors and jump lines between shanks, you could easily do three lines at once.

That looks dope! My setup may have been too complicated.  I like the quick connectedness of it.

And if you have three lines, let’s say you have a cleaning connector on a length of tube ending in a flare nut as I do.  If you put that on the shank on (say) the left, then use a flare connector to join the beer line on the left with the one in the middle, then use a cleaning jumper to connect the shank in the middle and the one one the right – well, you can run either way like I do, but through the whole system at once.  While you hand clean those faucets and QDs.  I’m sure others do this, and can advise just how many lines you can run before you need the next beefier fountain pump (they’re all still cheap.)

I’m probably in the minority on this one, but I just don’t clean my lines.  I run about 3/4 gallon of Iodophor solution through them every time I change the keg, and once in a while I remove the clean the faucets.

I do try to change them out every 12-18 months though.

Not sure if it helps, but I’m using that Barrier Silver anti-microbial tubing that Morebeer sells.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/ultra-barrier-antimicrobial-pvc-free-tubing-316.html

There is also another alternative (I would include a picture but still can’t figure how to put a picture in this post).

I designed a line cleaner using a 1.5 gallon garden “pump” sprayer that I modified to put a beer out keg plug in place of the spray wand ( I think this might have been in a gadgets issue of either BYO or Zymurgy some years back).  I fill the sprayer with either BLC or caustic solution made with hot water, pump up the pressure in the sprayer, connect it to the tap line and flush the line into a small pail.  I do not recirculate the cleaner through the system since I am a bit of a purist and want clean caustic flowing through the lines.  The solution sits in the lines for about 5-10 minutes before I repeat this procedure (about 3-4 times) through the six tap lines I have here (the 1.5 gallon mixture is sufficient to do this) and use the stuff in the pail to clean my drip tray and any beer that may splashed on the floor at the same time.

Word to the wise!!!  When mixing the solution always add the BLC or caustic TO the water, NEVER the other way around (think adding it alphabetically, B/C to W) to prevent the BLC or caustic from splattering and possibly causing chemical burns.  The same method is used to add strong acid to water.  Strong acids and bases generate a good amount heat when they dissociate in water and could splatter out of the mixing vessel.  Adding a small amount of strong acid or base to a larger volume of water dissipates the generated heat rapidly through the cooler medium and prevents splattering.

Once the cleaning cycle is complete, I flush each line three to four times with clean hot water pumped from the sprayer and I am done.  It’s easy and only takes about an hour or so to clean all my lines.

If someone can guide me on how to attach a picture to this thread, I will do so.  The attach an image icon does not work for me somehow.

I use the garden sprayer (hand pump) with keg out post mounted to it.  Easy peasy.

Every time I read a post on cleaning, it makes me clean the lines and faucets…

I think I am going to be proactive this year and calendar it for every couple months, to make sure it doesn’t slip by me.

That’s the only way I can remember stuff.

Same with me.  It reminds me when to clean my lines.  Fortunately, I just cleaned mine last week before this thread began!  I too want to get on a couple month schedule.  I kept a log and the last time I cleaned them was four months ago.

Yikes.  You guys get away with this?  I clean, at a minimum, every two weeks – commercial standard.  I’ve tried going longer, but the quality suffers.  Then maybe my beers, typically more delicate traditional lagers and ales, show flaws sooner than big, crafty hop bombs.  Well, what works.  Must be determined on a practical basis.

Commercial standard seems a bit excessive at the Homebrew level, but most of my serving is from refrigerated lines and cobra taps in chest freezers at 34F or so (with the exception of 4 faucets mounted on a fridge in the garage, which typically only has 1 or 2 beers pouring from it at a given time - garage temp during October to March is typically below 50).  The beers that I run through quickly are on lines that are changed and cleaned as each keg kicks - rarely more than a couple weeks, but sometimes as long as a month. (I serve a lot of friends - it is not my consumption rate!)

Maybe I should consider cleaning every 2 weeks, but so far, so good with my standard protocol - Cheers!

I figure it’s not the amount of beer through the line, but the time with beer in the line that determines when cleaning is needed.  My process has improved to where I might go less often and not have the problems I once did, or just go with between kegs (every couple weeks anyway) but I’m cautious,  and my system is so hassle free it just isn’t a burden.  But again, what works, works.  Do what gets you beer that tastes good to you.  I would advise that faucets should be completely disassembled at each cleaning, even  if you don’t have vents to clean, or you may be surprised.  Stuff can really accumulate around the lever and under the bonnet where there’s a region of “drag” or low flow.  I learned the hard way.

Good points, Robert.  I am disassembling faucets tonight based on the discussion and your recommendation - hopefully no gunk, but it’s a small task to ensure contaminant-free dispensing.

It is amazing what difference clean beer lines can make.

I cleaned my lines and took the taps apart on Sunday afternoon.  Once they were all reassembled and not leaking anymore (I have a question about the leaks) the beer tastes great again!

I was getting an odd, kind of infected taste from all four beers on taps in December and was wondering if my brewing hiatus during our kitchen remodel had caused me to make some major mistakes.  I had flushed all the lines and taps before kegs back in the keggerator but that wasn’t clean enough.  Alas, all my guests drank, sort of sour, beer over the holidays because of a lack of time to clean.

Now for my question; can tap shanks go bad?

I have 3 -10(ish) year old, chrome shanks and one stainless steel shank.  I don’t remember why I replaced the odd duck right now, maybe I stripped the threads or something.
 
When I reassemble everything, which I’ve done dozens of times over the years, two of taps were leaking at the junction where the Perlick faucet connects to the shank.  I had to fiddle with them to get the pressures applied in any given spot adjusted “just right” to make them seal.  I’m wondering if you all think they can wear out?  Once we clear the holiday debt I’m leaning towards replacing them with stainless steel.

Thanks!

Funny you bring it up.  This weekend I replaced my original chrome shank with stainless (already went with stainless faucet.) The chrome had completely worn off and it was all exposed brass on the interior surfaces, and just a few years old.  I’m not exactly sure what off flavors brass is supposed  to contribute but I’ll be interested in seeing what difference this makes.  Hard to say right now, I was sick all last week and don’t trust the taste buds just yet.  I just know I’d rather have all stainless in contact  with the beer.

I also noted that the new shank (Intertap like my faucet) is of a different design than my old satandard, Ventmatic type,  both the bore profile and the seat, though the threads match.  So I can see that some faucets and shanks might mate more successfully than other combinations.