New beer lines give me a plastic tasting beer?

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spaceyaquarius

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I have 2 Cornelius kegs in a kegerator, one Hoegaarden clone, and one Shock-Top clone.

I'm force carbonating each keg in a kegerator at 40-44 degrees F. After 1 week one beer tasted like plastic. After 1.5 weeks, both beers taste like plastic (slightly different tastes since the beer flavors are different). The glass of beer even smells like plastic before and after you taste it.

Hmmm. Is this typical for new beer lines?

The draft tower was from "Kegco" and the 10 foot long (3/16" inner diameter) beer lines were from Midwest Homebrewing ("HomeBrewStuff").

THANKS!!!
 
It's not unheard of, some people are much more sensitive to it than others. For now you can try dumping the first ounce or two, and seeing if that helps. If it continues to be a problem you might need to switch to barrier tubing.
 
It's not unheard of, some people are much more sensitive to it than others. For now you can try dumping the first ounce or two, and seeing if that helps. If it continues to be a problem you might need to switch to barrier tubing.

Confirmed, the beer lines are making the beer taste like vinyl. I read a review of "Midwest Homebrewing Supplies" and other people are saying the same thing. What a waste of money.

The good news is that it's not my beer (whew!)

:rockin:
 
I've not found a vinyl or PVC line that didn't make my beer taste like plastic, but I'm admittedly more sensitive to that flavor than others. I use accuflex bev-seal ultra barrier lines, and have no flavor tainting issues.
 
I've not found a vinyl or PVC line that didn't make my beer taste like plastic, but I'm admittedly more sensitive to that flavor than others. I use accuflex bev-seal ultra barrier lines, and have no flavor tainting issues.

Completely agree. I got that plastic taste with the first few ounces. The longer the beer sat in the lines the stronger the taste. Switched to bev seal ultra, and no more problems. I just use the epoxy mixing sticks to account for the reduced resistance of the ultra lines.

Plus, it's nice not to have to waste a few ounces of precious beer!
 
Not sure, I'll know in 2 days.

What I do know is that my vinyl lines from "Midwest" have consistently tasted like plastic for weeks now - no matter if I pour off 2 oz. or 6 oz. or 12 oz. like some others suggest.

FYI: The 1st beer lines I ever ordered were from "HomeBrewStuff" and they were just fine from the 1st pour. and were also PVC 3/16" inner diameter beer lines.


I did order 3/16" ID Tygon food-grade lines from Amazon, the wall thickness was so thin, there is no way that it will be able to stand constant pressure. The line is stamped "35 max PSI" but I can really see these things rupturing at the pressures that homebreweres force carbonate beer.
 
Now I've hooked up my vinyl leeching beer lines to the kitchen faucet and have been running hot water through them for 3 hours now. The vinyl can't leech out flavors forever can it?

We'll see what happens.

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5 hours of running hot water through the beer lines, the beer still tastes like vinyl.

I guess it's time for barrier tubing. Just ordered 50 feet of Bevlex Ultra 3/16" inner diameter for only $23 (free shipping) from Birdman Brewing Co. online. The other online stores were trying to charge $20 for UPS shipping.
 
Resolution:

Either I am "sensitive to vinyl taste" like some people on HBT describe, or these beer lines are just terrible and continue to leech out plastic flavor. Come on, who sells beer lines that make your beer taste like plastic?

I ordered the Bevlex 3/16" inner diameter food grade barrier tubing from Birdman Brewers online. Totally fixed the problem. Also had to buy special "John Guest" adapters to hook the lines up after some issues, but totally worth it.





 
It was another issue getting those barrier tubes fitted through the John Guest adapters on the other end (the tap tower outlet is a 1/4" MFI. I spent about an hour at Home Depot getting it figured out! It took 2 adapters.

Yes, I know you can order the right adapter, but Jeez the shipping costs are more than the part.
 

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