As do I replace my lines annually. But I don’t clean them as often as I should.
Ken,
Did you ever try dumping the first couple ounces to see if the flavor went away or did you not even suspect the beer lines until you cleaned them and didn’t test that variable?
Hi Beersk: I did not test that variable. Do you think that the beer sitting in the line absorbs a bit of whatever is “dirty” and is in worse shape than the beer that follows? It makes sense. I was actually trying to picture what was happening: Small particles of funk are stuck to the sides of the lines and it comes off when you tap a beer and you end up tasting it. But the beer in the line has had more contact with the lines and so that’s the worst part. Seeing as this was one of the more pronounced instances of ‘funky beer lines’, my strategy going forward is to clean the lines far more often. If your question is pointing to something that I’m missing, please let me know.
In related news: I have been on an EasyClean kick lately. My typical brewery cleanser is Oxi and I have used PBW too. But a few years ago someone suggested EasyClean for deep cleaning. I had a cobra tap line that was stained and nothing would clean it. I started a siphon from the sink to a bucket and nothing was working. I mixed up some hot water and EasyClean and watched in astonishment as the color flaked off and the tubing was as clean and clear as could be and the liquid in the bucket was amber-colored. Some guys on my main board looked at the ingredients and said that it looked very much like Oxi or PBW but this stuff seems to work better. On the original package I had, there were warnings about using safety goggles and impervious gloves. ???
Has anyone tried super no rinse? It’s be nice to skip a step, but I’m a little nervous to actually try it.
I had a chance to test it. Works as advertised.
A good thing to do! I totally cleaned my keezer a few days ago and coated the inside of it with Rustoleum and white Flexseal on top of the rustoleum layer. My keezer is probably about 20 years old and it doesn’t have a plastic inner lining like my newer lagering freezer does, so there was some rusting of the steel liner. This fixed the problem and it looks like new again.
I clean my draft lines and faucets with caustic about once every 4-6 weeks (I should do it more often), three rinses of hot caustic letting it sit in the lines for about 5 minutes between rinses. I then follow with three rinses of water. I did this yesterday so I could get the taps back in operation An acid rinse is also a good idea but since I will be replacing the lines in a few days with the EVA stuff, I didn’t do it. Just for my piece of mind, I disassembled a few of the six faucets to inspect them and to do some additional cleaning if necessary (they are the Perlich faucets) and they were clean as a whistle inside so my CIP method works fine.
Everyone has a different way of cleaning faucets and lines but this works for me.
Good information. I suppose the idea is to keep things like this in mind and have it reverberate through the community because it’s easy to forget. I was certain that I had some mutated yeast and it was a relief to find that I did not… I have 10 kegs of beer and to think that some amount of them were contaminated or mutated would be a real downer. Whatever method you use… just use it. :D Cheers Beerheads.
My experience over the last 10 years of kegging is that beer that sits in the lines for more than half a day doesn’t taste very good, even when the beer lines are brand new (and even after switching to anti-microbial, silver barrier tubing). I always pour the first ounce or two into a different glass and drink it separately (or dump it).
So that would just be for the first beer of the session. I could see that.
I can attest that beer sitting in the lines will pick up whatever is in the lines to a certain degree. I make a peppermint sweet stout (called Peppermint Patty Stout) every once in a while that uses a small amount of peppermint extact (a lot of my friends rave about this beer). This stuff will permeate the lines and if the line is used to dispense other beer, it picks up the peppermint flavor. My caustic cleaning cycle will remove most of it but some aroma and flavor still stays in the line. I simply replace that line with a new one and only use the “peppermint line” for that particular stout.
You guys are making me think I need to clean and sanitize the lines between every pour. 
[emoji23]
I am not that obsessive compulsive!!! 
I say that into the mirror 5 times each morning. I think it’s helping. Really…
Lol, me too…funny thing is I have everything to make a new kegerator. 3 Ventmatics and 2 Intertaps, cobra taps are easy.
Yep, that was kind of what I was getting at. The beer sitting in the line absorbs it and affects the flavor. Not an issue with regular cleaning though. I think a thorough cleaning every 3 or 6 months is probably about all you need depending on your turnover. I mean, if you cared about longevity of your beer lines, after every keg blows works, but that’s just more work than I want to put in. Since I change my lines out annually, I don’t worry about it too much. But then again, it really isn’t that much work…and I’ve got all kinds of time these days.