Cleaning lines, how do you do it?

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chemman14

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I just started kegging and am about to kick my second keg so I would like to clean my lines. I have BLC but am not sure the best way to clean my lines. I was thinking about just filling an empty 5 gal corny full of cleaner but this seems like over kill for just 3 lines.
Just curious what everyone else does :mug:
 
I just throw a gallons or two of sanitizer in the keg I'm about to hook up, and just run it thru at low pressure. I think every so often it's probably a good idea to run cleaner, and sanitizer thru them though.

I'm sure there are better methods, so hopefully somebody else will chime in. Lots of threads on it though. If you look at the bottom if the page, there are probably suggestions for similar threads.

I just picked up 4 kegs locally that I really should have broken down completely and replaced all of the o-rings. It still has a faint smell of pepsi, but I already kegged them up. I keep wondering if I'm tasting extra sweetness from the soda. The beer tastes good though!
 
After i empty the keg i put like a gallon of oxyclean in it and shake it vigorously, then run hook it up to co2 and beer line. I turn the tap on and off repeatedly to get the tap clean too. Then i do the same thing with a couple gallons of starsan. Before i keg a new beer.
 
I haven't cleaned a line yet in six months!.....I just add the next keg, run some out and on we go :)
When I run out of kegged beer (hopefully never) or maybe at some point, I will probably do like jesse and just run some oxyclean through before another keg...
If it's going to sit empty (pray that doesn't happen), I will disassemble and clean with santizer before using.
 
There are a few ways to do this and none of them are wrong and they all work just as well.

You can make a line cleaner that uses gravity to pull the cleaner and sanitizer through the lines and faucet (search BYO magazine). But that won't clean your keg.

If you are going to clean you keg anyway, might as well put a gallon of water in it with oxiclean and shake it around. Run that into your line and out your faucet. If you want to clean you faucet better, you can catch the oxiclean into a bucket and use that to clean your faucet with a brush. Then you can run water through to clean out the oxiclean from the keg and line. Then you can sanitize it with starsan. Catch the starsan and keep it in a squirt bottle for use later on.

It shouldn't take you long at all doing it that way.
 
For my 10' lines, I've found I can use a spray bottle of PBW. I have to pull the disconnect off the line, but I can use the spray bottle nozzle to push the PBW and then Star San through the line and out the picnic tap (locked open). A good rinsing and back to the keg.
 
I have a spare quick disconnect that I hook up to a small air compressor. Why waste CO2 for cleaning ...
 

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