Just wondering what everyone does in between brews with their empty beer lines? I typically clean the beer lines and then rinse them with water. I then pump the water out so there is mostly air sitting in the beer lines. Since the beer lines are sitting cold within my kegerator, I just usually leave them like that until the next keg is tapped. Just wondering what others do?
When I empty a keg, and clean it with PBW or Oxyclean, I hook up CO2 and run it through the tap that was connected to that keg. Over a period of time I run a couple of gallons through the line and faucet. When I’m done I rinse well with water from the keg after rinsing it several times. Every 2 or three months I follow that rinse with a double strength Starsan solution.
I soak the quick disconnects in pbw solution and fill a keg with pbw as well. I run solution through the lines (about a gallon or so) but lately I let the (hot) solution soak in the lines for about 20 minutes. I do the same with star San and periodically I break down the faucets and soak them.
I work at a brewery and they do the same thing weekly but with caustic acid and no sanitizer.
I soak the keg in PBW and hot water; probably about a gallon. Give it a shake every time I walk by it, turn it upside down in my garage sink, etc for about 24 hours. Then push the PBW through my beer line. I then rinse the keg with clean water, then add about a quart or two of StarSan, shake, and then push that through my beer line. Then I store the keg and leave the line until the next batch.
I put a cornie post on a half gallon garden sprayer and fill it with BLC (beer line cleaner) solution at the stated dosage. I pump it up, attach the QDC and run the solution through the beer line by opening the tap. I let some sit in the line for a few minutes, then rinse with water in the same manner several times.
Once a year I break everything down for a thorough soak in cleaning solution (PBW or Craftmeister). I replace the lines as staining or time warrants (every few years).