Advertise Here
Main · BrewSpace · Recipes · Wiki · Groups · Clubs · Gallery · Reviews · Video · Blogs · Store

Old Hops Grab Bag!We are live! Stop by and take a peek.Used liquor barrels
Go Back   Home Brew Forums > Home Brewing Beer > Equipment/Sanitation



Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 11-10-2007, 10:48 PM   #1
Senior Member
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: My House
Posts: 522
Default Cleaning Beer Lines - Oxyclean/PBW???

Is using oxyclean or pbw ok for beer lines?

I know a lot of people use oxyclean/pbw for cleaning the kegs and stuff, but do you also pump the oxyclean or pbw through the beer lines? Or do you use a seperate beer line cleaner when pumping through the lines?

Also, if you do pump oxyclean/pbw through the lines can you please specify which one. I can understand PBW being ok, but not sure about oxyclean.

One more thing... Does anyone sanitize their beer line? I've had my kegerator for almost 2 years and I have never sanitized the beer line. I clean it regularly with beer line cleaner...but never sanitized,


Thanks!


bigben is offline Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2007, 12:48 AM   #2
Senior Member
 
thebull's Avatar
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: St. George, UT
Posts: 145
Default

I use BLC and hot water as the instructions instruct. After filling the lines and letting them soak a short time I flush them with hot water. Been working well for me. I have been doing this every other keg refill.
thebull is offline Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2007, 01:11 AM   #3
Senior Member
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: My House
Posts: 522
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by thebull
I use BLC and hot water as the instructions instruct. After filling the lines and letting them soak a short time I flush them with hot water. Been working well for me. I have been doing this every other keg refill.
Yea i know, like i said i currently use BLC to clean my beer lines. I was just wondering if a cleaner like PBW or Oxyclean could be used to save time since im cleaning the keg with it already.
bigben is offline Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2007, 02:46 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
malkore's Avatar
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Nebraska
Posts: 6,887
Default

I'd say as long as your beer line never went empty and thus dried out with beer in the lines, you could use something else.

but BLC has an acidic nature that helps remove 'old beer.
__________________
Malkore
Primary: English Mild
On tap: Pale Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Gal in 2009: 27, Gal in 2010: 34, Gal in 2011: 13, Gal in 2012: 10
malkore is offline Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2007, 05:30 PM   #5
Cranky Old Guy
 
david_42's Avatar
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Willamina & Oak Grove, Oregon, USA
Posts: 24,784
Default

I tend to run sanitizer through my beer lines whenever I'm cleaning kegs. But, I still mix up some BLC once in a while. just seems to work better than anything else.
__________________
Remember one unassailable statistic, as explained by the late, great George Carlin: "Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!"
david_42 is offline Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2007, 05:56 PM   #6
United States Mashtronaut
 
WortMonger's Avatar
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Edmond, OK, Oklahoma
Posts: 2,983
Default

I use BLC, but have only used it once or twice in 3 yrs. I figure I have new beer going through the lines every month or so and usually just replace the entire line when looking bad. If they don't look nasty just stained I use the BLC for "comfort" until I change the lines. I clean everything when I replace the lines so I feel good about cleanliness.
__________________
"Beer... Nutritious and Delicious!"

"It's like a 15.5 gallon Mr. Beer!"
WortMonger is offline Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2007, 03:58 PM   #7
Senior Member
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: My House
Posts: 522
Default

ok so pbw is a no go for lines i guess. I just read people saying they pump oxyclean/pbw thru the keg to clean it. I was just wondering where it is being pump to, if not out the tap.
bigben is offline Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2007, 04:12 PM   #8
Member
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 52
Default

For cleaning kegs you can either diassemble the keg and soak all parts in PBW or just fill and soak the keg. If you have an extra keg(s) you can keep 1 filled with PBW and 1 filled with Star-San and use those for purging your beer lines and kegs using co2 saving some time, effort and mess.

You can take the output of 1 keg filled with fluid and using disconnects and tubing tie into the output/input of your second keg, open the relief valve on the 2nd keg and apply pressure to your 1st transfering the liquid.

No I do not purge my lines with PBW I exclusively use Star-san every couple weeks on my standard taps and lines until I get a all forward seal faucets. (I cant wait until I get rid of my darn sticky standard faucets, God Bless forward seal faucets)
__________________
www.thefatmanbrewery.com
jrpark22000 is offline Reply With Quote
Old 11-13-2007, 01:51 AM   #9
Senior Member
 
Brew-boy's Avatar
Recipes 
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Lapeer, Michigan
Posts: 2,228
Default

Maybe I am the odd duck here. Tonight I used 130F PBW through all my beer lines followed by clean hot water rinse and then starsan. Then I blew the lines dry with CO2. Maybe not the best but it is what I had on hand to use at the time.
__________________
Next:American Brown Ale.
Primary:
On Tap: Dusseldorf Alt, Cream Ale, Belgian Pale Ale.
Aging: Imperial Oatmeal Stout on Vanilla beans.

I rather owe you a dollar than cheat you out of it.."Dad"

http://lapeerareabrewers.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LapeerAreaBrewers/
Brew-boy is offline Reply With Quote
Old 11-13-2007, 01:38 PM   #10
Here's Lookin' Atcha!
 
TexLaw's Avatar
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 3,690
Default

I run a quart of BLC through the line every time I blow a keg. Cleaning and sanitizing are not times for shortcuts.


TL


__________________
Beer is good for anything from hot dogs to heartache.

Drinking Frog Brewery, est. 1993
TexLaw is offline Reply With Quote
Reply
Thread Tools
Display Modes


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Aquarium pumps for cleaning beer lines? RobertHSmith DIY Projects 4 11-04-2009 12:38 AM
Questions on Cleaning Beer Lines Evan! Equipment/Sanitation 7 08-08-2008 12:42 PM
Cleaning beer lines.. Bulls Beers Bottling/Kegging 12 02-07-2008 02:14 PM
Hand pump for cleaning beer lines chrome_burner_420 Equipment/Sanitation 11 09-11-2007 06:07 PM
Cleaning out the oxyclean Drunk Monkey Equipment/Sanitation 7 12-20-2005 12:49 AM





Contact Us - Top - Privacy - All times are GMT. The time now is 09:59 PM.
Copyright © Group Builder, Inc - All Rights Reserved
Craft Beer & Brewery Forum