Kegerator line cleaning

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HollisBT

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Was just curious as to how often you guys clean your kegerator serving lines. Do you run sanitizer through the lines every time you change a keg?
 
kvess said:
I clean and sanitise every time I change a keg.

Would you mind sharing your process for this? I just finished my kegerator build and haven't hooked anything up to my lines yet.
 
When I am cleaning my keg, i just hook the keg up and run it throw the tap, same cleaner that I use in the keg.
 
For its first use should I need to run cleaner through the lines, or would just sanitizer be fine?
 
I just got my keg system set up. Used sanitizer for all new lines and that seems to have done good enough. No weird flavors.
 
I take apart the QD fittings and (in my case) picnic tap, run water thru it, soak the hose in cleaner overnight, then flush it the next day, maybe spray starsan in the line and flush.
 
If I'm just changing a keg, I just pump a little sanitizer through it to clear out the other beer and yeast that kicking a keg tends to leave, then I hook up the new keg.
If, however the line is sitting without a keg for a while, I'll pump some BLC through it with a DIY Beer Line Cleaner (search for it, if you haven't). Then I'll rinse that out with clean water, then sanitizer.
If the lines are going from on keg to another repeatedly, I just try to do a thorough cleaning every 6 months or so. Any more than that I think is overkill.
 
I just ran a few pints of sanitizer through the line, then poured about a half a pint of beer/sanitizer to dump. Then poured a bit of my first ever draft beer :)

I just kegged it a week ago, using the slow method of force carbing it, I suck at being patient though lol. It's pretty awesome though :).
 
I run 2-3 quarts of PBW solution through the line under 12-15 psi. Drain the keg, rinse well, add clean water and run 2-3 quarts through the beer line. Dump water in keg out and add 2-4 quarts of StarSan solution that I push through the line. Each push is under 12-15 psi to get better flow rate. If a keg is ready, I shift it into place and connect it up. I then run a few ounces through the line to remove the remaining StarSan and get just beer to flow. Then it's time to start pulling pints.
 
Sanitizer will not clean beer lines. I know this because that is what I use to use. I use to disassemble and clean my beer lines with a long pipe brush after every keg. I recently made a beer line cleaning kit using a garden sprayer and beer line cleaner and I used it after my old cleaning method. I was amazed at the amount of grime that I missed with the old method of cleaning. The best part is that I can clean both beer lines in about 5 minutes with the new set up.
 
I clean my lines when i change the keg. I fill a keg with hot BLC pressurize and run it through the the tap. Ill then rinse out the keg with hot water and fill with a batch of warm star san and run that thru. When i hook up the beer ill toss the first glass, which usually has some yeast and sediment anyways.

I have one of those pump up tap cleaners but they are a pain, it involves having to remove the faucet and the keg hookup, then i need to clean the faucet and keg fitting separately which is a pain. I've considered getting a keg post fitting on the end in place of the faucet hookup, this would make cleaning easy and not use up my CO2.
 
I use hot BLC in the hand pump tap cleaner system like mentioned above, every time I switch kegs. I don't really have an issue with it, I follow the directions where you are supposed to wedge a brush in the end of the line to put back pressure on the line, and give it a few pumps and come back later. This also allows time for the faucets to soak after being completely disassembled. You should ALWAYS disassemble and clean your faucets, this is going to be the area where you have the most chance of nasty buildup. Afterwards, I rinse the lines very thoroughly with clean, hot water and reassemble. I've never used sanitizer after that, and I've never had an issue, but I guess I can see the merit of it, especially if it's going to be a while until you use the lines again.

Also, sanitizer will not clean your beer lines. BLC is your best bet if you want to remove deposits on the lines. If you are worried about sanitization of the lines, your beer is going one direction through the lines, so there's no reason to have to sanitize if everything before it has been in a controlled environment.
 
emyers said:
I clean my lines when i change the keg. I fill a keg with hot BLC pressurize and run it through the the tap. Ill then rinse out the keg with hot water and fill with a batch of warm star san and run that thru. When i hook up the beer ill toss the first glass, which usually has some yeast and sediment anyways.

I have one of those pump up tap cleaners but they are a pain, it involves having to remove the faucet and the keg hookup, then i need to clean the faucet and keg fitting separately which is a pain. I've considered getting a keg post fitting on the end in place of the faucet hookup, this would make cleaning easy and not use up my CO2.

I use the keg post on the garden sprayer. If you run the cleaner often enough there is no need to clean your faucet as much. I clean my lines about once a month.
 
When I had a kegerator (1/2 barrel) I used to use the cleaning kit that came with it every 3-6 months. The unit was indoors and I would taste off flavors if I let it go too long. But being in a controlled environment helps and so does having perlicks. My buddy had his in his garage and he had to clean his once a month. Granted not much came out of the beer lines it was the faucet that held all the nastiness. On my keezer I have 3 taps with 2 being perlicks. I have to clean the cheapo quite often if it is not used for several days it gets stuck.
 
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