Beer line maintenence after cleaning

I clean my beer lines with BLC after kicking a keg. I let the warm solution sit in the lines for 15-20 minutes then rinse with clean water.

If I'm not going to put a keg on tap immediately, I leave the rinse water in the line until putting the new keg on tap.

I'm beginning to wonder if this isn't the best idea, as one of my currently unused lines has developed a greenish tinge near the shank.

How *should* I be leaving the lines when they don't have beer in them?

Thanks!

-Joe

Bueller?

-Joe

I use swivel nuts on the ends of my hoses so I can disconnect them when not in use.

I just leave my lines empty, connected to the shanks, but open on the other end.

ajwillys said:

I just leave my lines empty, connected to the shanks, but open on the other end.

Click to expand...

So you remove the quick connects from the lines?

-Joe

Also: does anyone find it necessary to clean the lines every two weeks, as I see recommended by the manufacturers? My kegs very often last more than two weeks, and it seems silly to pull the lines in the middle of a keg.

Just wondering,

-Joe

Nope. I only clean once the keg is kicked..

I dunno what the correct way of doing it is, but I do the BLC thing, followed by a fresh water flush. There's usually a keg ready to go at that point but if not, I run some StarSan through the line and leave the StarSan in it until the next keg is ready.

I certainly don't do this every two weeks. After each keg is all.

Yeah, I guess I'll start leaving Starsan in the lines instead of water. Does the Starsan haze your beer lines like it does the cheap HD vinyl I use for a blowoff?

-Joe

I use BLC then rinse with water and add Star San & I still get the "green" tint. I haven't had any problems with this.

I generally just run star-san through the line after I'm done with a keg, I'll leave it filled with star-san if I'm not hooking something up immediately after (yeah right...)

nostalgia said:

So you remove the quick connects from the lines?

-Joe

Click to expand...

Well, I use Sanke kegs so there is no quick connects. There is a tailpiece and a nut, which I leave on, but it is still open to the air. My entire process:

1) Take off sanke coupler and tap
2) Pump water through line to rinse out beer
3) Pump BLC, wait 10 minutes, pump some more, wait 10 minutes.
4) Rinse with water
5) Clean taps in used BLC (remember I pre-rinsed the beer out so the used BLC is still pretty clean) by soaking and brushing
6) Rinse and reconnect taps.

Also, I only do it after each keg, not in the middle. If a keg lasts a REALLY long time (more than 2 months), I will do it in the middle.

Ah, ok. The ball-lock quick connects are closed to the air, so I think leaving the water in the lines is causing my green stuff.

Thanks for the input,

-Joe

nostalgia said:

Yeah, I guess I'll start leaving Starsan in the lines instead of water. Does the Starsan haze your beer lines like it does the cheap HD vinyl I use for a blowoff?

-Joe

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I don't notice it, but like I said I rarely leave a tap empty for long. I usuallly swap the lines out for new every three kegs or so. I'm sure that's overkill but it's relatively cheap and easy to do. I disassemble the shanks and faucets at that time and soak them as well.

I guess I don't understand why people use StarSan in their serving lines. I do a cleaning with beer line cleaner, followed with a potable water rinse, and then I'm done-- I hook up the keg and go to town.

As far as I can tell, bars don't sanitize their lines either, although they go through their kegs a bit quicker than most homebrewers. I typically go through a keg in a couple weeks at the most, although I've had a couple kegs that lasted upwards of two months, and in any case I haven't had anything bad happen to my beer.

jpc said:

I guess I don't understand why people use StarSan in their serving lines. I do a cleaning with beer line cleaner, followed with a potable water rinse, and then I'm done-- I hook up the keg and go to town.

Click to expand...

Well, to be clear that's exactly what I do as well if I'm connecting another keg immediately. But if it's going to be more than a day or two until the next keg is tapped then I'll leave StarSan in the line to ward off any sort of nasty stuff growing. Perhaps it's not necessary, but it sure can't hurt.

StunnedMonkey said:

Well, to be clear that's exactly what I do as well if I'm connecting another keg immediately. But if it's going to be more than a day or two until the next keg is tapped then I'll leave StarSan in the line to ward off any sort of nasty stuff growing. Perhaps it's not necessary, but it sure can't hurt.

Click to expand...

Agreed-- it can't hurt. If I am leaving a line that long, though, I will clean it (and the tap) with water and remove them. Then, I will run beer line cleaner through it to clean it followed by a water rinse.

I guess it never occurred to me to use StarSan since I wasn't trying to sanitize the line...

Ok, I just took everything apart for the first time in over a year.

The faucets and shanks were squeaky clean - I broke them down into all their individual parts and everything was shiny and clean.

The tailpieces, on the other hand, were another story. These gaskets were never meant for cleaning-in-place.



This is what I was talking about with my beer lines. There is a slight green haze right near the shank. I'm wondering if it's oxidizing brass from leaving the water sit in the lines. That's the color it looks like to me.



-Joe

I agree it looks like oxidation to me. Same color from what your pictures show.

hmm, should I get silicone gaskets for my tailpieces then?

Wow, those tailpieces are nasty! I have nipple shanks so that particular things isn't a problem for me but that's a good reminder to break everything down every so often.