Starsan through entire system

Quick question. I have hooked up a 2 faucet system to my fridge. My setup is one 5 lb C02 tank with one line coming out that is then split with a stainless steel wye which then goes into the ball locks on the in side of the keg. On the Out posts i have the ball locks connected as there are supposed to be and then 6 feet of hose from each going into the shank in the fridge door. So my question is about sanitizing this whole system. We have throughly cleaned the 2 cornies and i was wondering if I could mix up some star san dump it in the cornies charge up the system with the co2 and then run it through as you would when the beer is in the kegs....

thanks :cross:

That's what I do with Iodophor. No problems so far and it's been about 30 kegs over the last six months or so.

You can, but it isn't necessary to sanitize beer lines or faucets. It's not done commercially.

I always sanitize my lines after cleaning. I don't want to take the chance of something growing in the lines.

thanks for the replies. I really want to make sure I get this whole santization thing down. I like the oxyclean and then star san method and we have been getting pretty good at it. One more queston, if you star san something once will it stay sanitized for awhile or not. I keep all my stuff in the garage and it is not the cleanest place in the world. Bugs and crap soemtimes fly in.

Use Beer Line Cleaner (BLC) first before sanitizing. It will clean the line and remove beer stone and other deposits. I usually do that then rinse with hot water.

bradsul said:

I always sanitize my lines after cleaning. I don't want to take the chance of something growing in the lines.

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If you use a good line cleaner and your system stay's sealed, what's going to grow in there?

wildwest450 said:

If you use a good line cleaner and your system stay's sealed, what's going to grow in there?

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I don't know, but I don't intend to find out. We sanitize everything else post boil, I'm not going to take a chance with my kegging system. Why potentially ruin an entire batch to save 10 minutes? I also sanitize posts and quick disconnects (gas and liquid) before attaching a new keg.

With a good line cleaner and rinse coupled with the sanitizing effects of the alcohol in the beer. I think it's a waste of time to sanitize the beer lines but hey, its your system.

i assume the BLC can be picked up at the LHBS.


Also....when you guys run it through....do you do it under the pressure of c02 with everything connected.

Qdog said:

i assume the BLC can be picked up at the LHBS.


Also....when you guys run it through....do you do it under the pressure of c02 with everything connected.

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I use a beer line cleaning kit. http://www.kegworks.com/product.php?productid=16412 You unhook the faucet, disassemble it and place it in a container, unhook beer line from disconnect(or take the top off the disconnect)and place it in the same container. Fill cleaning jug and connect it to the tap. Pump water through until it just covers all disconnected parts in the container. Let solution in beer lines and container sit ten to fifteen minutes. Pump remaining solution through lines, scrub all parts that have been soaking, then rinse. Run 1 or 2 jugs of cold water through lines to rinse and reassemble.

I one time had some nasty black stuff grow in the faucet when I didn't use it for a week or so. I now sanitize everything before using it again, and I also spray some star san up into the faucet periodically.