Beer line cleaning tips and tricks

Looking for tips and tricks on cleaning beer lines. I found this video from kegworks on the process but I wonder if there is a better way than using that device. I think I saw one person who just had a spare keg with StarSan that he ran through prior to hooking up a new keg. I liked that idea but I don't have a spare keg now and I wasn't sure just running StarSan really counted as cleaning.

I us an empty keg. Run oxyclean and then star-san through the lines.

I run PBW or similar through, then water, then sanitizer (star san sucks for pressure or pumping as it just foams endlessly, try saniclean).

You can build one of those things cheaply. There are plans in a recent BYO or zymurgy and a thread or two here. You can also use a two liter bottle with a carbonator cap and a gas flare disconnect and squeeze the stuff through the lines.

My system is on the way, so I can't speak from experience, but I was thinking about running oxi clean and star san through the lines as I clean/sanitize the keg. That way, I don't need extra kegs just to hold a solution I have to run through the dirty kegs anyhow.

I didn't bother with the oxyclean. The next mornin after using my trashcan kegerator I just ran a couple pints of star san thru each tap. Clean as a whistle.

iron_city_ap said:

My system is on the way, so I can't speak from experience, but I was thinking about running oxi clean and star san through the lines as I clean/sanitize the keg. That way, I don't need extra kegs just to hold a solution I have to run through the dirty kegs anyhow.

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That works too. In about 3 months you'll have 25 kegs and find it's easier to clean them in batches though and it's not prudent to wait for a batch cleaning day to clean your lines.

I'm starting to favor picnic taps. They work fine, I can break the whole assembly down to clean and sanitize in about 10 seconds, and they are cheap enough I can replace the whole assembly every year or two. I still have three regular faucets but I probably will never expand that.

After my keg is kicked, I just empty & rinse it out with hot water, then just run maybe a gallon of star-san solution from the keg through the line. Worked out fine so far. The PBW/Oxyclean probably isn't a bad idea once in a while.

I just use Sani-clean whenever I feel it necessary. Which is usually only after spiced or smoked beers or when going to a very light beer. I don't know if people on here are doing it or not, but I wouldn't keep oxyclean in a keg for a long period of time as it can damage the stainless if I'm not mistaken.

Like others, I just take a clean keg, fill it with some hot water and oxyclean, and run it through the line. Let some sit for 5 minutes or so, then continue running it through. Then I either rinse with water or just go straight to the star san (it all depends on how much star san I have mixed up and if I need to use it up or not). Works great.

I use another keg of beer to clean the last one out of the lines. Alcohol kills germs right?

Seriously though I do not clean my lines as often as I should I suppose, but when I do I just push some Star-san through and call it a day.

I have started doing this as well. If it's the first time I use a keg I disassemble it totally, soak everything in oxyclean. Then soak everything in star san, reassemble the keg, lubing all the o-rings as I go.

But if its a freshly killed keg I just rinse it out with hot water till all the beer smells are gone then rinse it with star san and run some thru the dip tube with a picnic tap and refill the keg.

Might be a lazy way to do it but I don't see how it can be bad since the keg is clean and wet with star san when I fill it.

chapa said:

After my keg is kicked, I just empty & rinse it out with hot water, then just run maybe a gallon of star-san solution from the keg through the line. Worked out fine so far. The PBW/Oxyclean probably isn't a bad idea once in a while.

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I break down the keg completely & clean everything. I clean the tube and beer line with a Camelback flexible tube brush & a bit of StarSan. After putting the keg back together, I add diluted StarSan & shake, add a bit of CO2, and then run StarSan through the tube & line.

The Camelback tube brush is great for cleaning blow off tubes & siphon tubes too. StarSan is great, but some stuff just needs to be scrubbed out of the lines.

It's amazing the amount of people who think star san is a cleaner. Good luck with the beer stone.

I know its not a cleaner. But if the keg is clean why use a cleaner? I mean anything there is what? Microscopic? I am sure the star san kills it.

This isn't an old keg that been sitting around open to the air. It was sealed full of co2 and some beer dregs.

If I am rinsing it out and sanitizing it then turning right around and filling it with beer I don't see how there is any danger of infection??? If I was worried about it I wouldn't risk a batch of beer.

akthor said:

I know its not a cleaner. But if the keg is clean why use a cleaner? I mean anything there is what? Microscopic? I am sure the star san kills it.

This isn't an old keg that been sitting around open to the air. It was sealed full of co2 and some beer dregs.

If I am rinsing it out and sanitizing it then turning right around and filling it with beer I don't see how there is any danger of infection??? If I was worried about it I wouldn't risk a batch of beer.

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Infection is not a risk, I don't ever use sanitizer in beer lines. Read up on beer stone if you don't think you need to clean your lines.

Ohhh ok I just read about it. Yeah I got some actual beer line cleaner in with the tower I got for another project. Next time I use my trash can kegerator I will be sure to use that instead of Star san to clean the lines.

Hammy71 said:

I us an empty keg. Run oxyclean and then star-san through the lines.

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Do the same thing.

Sounds like the safest route would be to wait until a keg is empty, clean it, put some kind of beer line cleaner in the keg, run it through, rinse and run water through, then maybe star san, then add new keg. I have 4 faucets and 4 kegs but it might be useful to have a spare keg just for the cleaning.

I wish the small kegs weren't expensive or hard to find. Using a 5g keg just for small cleaning jobs seems wasteful. Then again, those tools for only cleaning keg lines seems wasteful too.