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fishfilet

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If you're like me, you want your beer to taste as good as it can. Keeping clean beer lines is the best way to deliver beer to your glass. So let's go over your options. I've been through most of them, and you may be shocked to find out what the most economical solution is. I'll try and keep this short, but I do have a tendency to ramble, let's get started.

The first way I tried to keep my beer lines clean was with one of those hand pump systems. They come in different quality builds, but you fill up your pump reservoir with cleaner, fill your lines, wait, and then flush. For me, this wasn't good enough. Recirculating cleaner is far better than letting cleaner sit in the lines. So for a time I chose to pump continuously for 15 minutes, filling and dumping as needed.

Next, I was onto a new system that used CO2 to push cleaner through the lines. While the hand pumping work was gone, this eats a lot of CO2. Remember I don't want the cleaner just to fill the lines and sit. I want the cleaning power of constant fluid motion.

Next, I decided to build a recirculating pump system. I think lot's of us end up here. It seems a natural progression. There are a several YouTube videos on how to build one of these systems. There are several threads on this forum with a few custom builds as well. What I will say is simply this. As far as I have seen them, these are all inadequate. The pumps used just don't deliver the flow rates needed. Heck, the hand pumps give you a better flow rate than you'll get from one of these cheap pond pumps. Pond pumps are also not generally food safe. If you take the impeller out, you'll see that it is coated with a lubricant. Do you want this in your beer lines?

So how do you get a recirculating system that will clean your lines right? You need to achieve a flow rate of 2 gallons per minute when recirculating your cleaning solution. This flow rate is twice the one gallon per minute flow that a system should be delivering beer. Achieving this flow rate is not as easy a task as it would sound. Most pumps are marketed with a GPH or Gallons per hour metric. The problem with this is that it does not indicate the actual flow rates you can obtain. Factors that impact your actual flow rates are line diameter, line length, and lifting height. These factors come together to give you a meaningful metric that you can use. This metric is known as feet of head.

Feet of head is what you need to know, not gallons per hour. You first need to calculate how man feet of head your system needs and then find a pump that is capable of delivering such. So how do you calculate feet of head? Well, we don't have time to get into that. Just Google, pump head calculator, total head calculator, etc.

What I found is that the first pump that I used, a commonly recommended eco-something was simply not up to the task. The pump is rated at 396 gallons per hour. However, I got nothing but a trickle out of it through 8 feet of 3/16" beer line. The problem, the pump is only capable of 6.5 feet of head.

Let's say your trying to clean 5' of 3/16" ID line. That's pretty standard. This task would require about 60' of head! If you have several taps, and you want to clean your lines all at the same time, you're in for a big surprise. 10' of 3/16" would require 120' of head. Good luck finding a pump that's capable of that at an economical price.

My last recirculating system consisted of a $65 Shurflo pump. This pump is NSF listed, so it's food safe. I used NSF listed drinking water hose so as not to impart any flavors into the system. This pump is capable of 100' of head. So it works great at delivering 2 gallons per minute to about 8' feet of 3/16" line. Still, if I want to clean multiple lines at once this just doesn't cut it.

So here is a solution that some of you may want to try. Use larger ID beer line. Try 1/4" or even 3/8" beer line. There is so little restriction that you can get fantastic flow rates even through long lengths of line. Cleaning long or multiple lengths of lines becomes very easy. As an example, 5' of 3/16" line would need 61' of head pressure. 5' of 3/8" line would only need 2' of head pressure! Your cheap pond pump shouldn't have a problem with that. By way of another example, a 100' foot capable pump could pump 2 gallons per minute through about 8' of 3/16" line. The same pump could pump 2 gallons per minute through about 230' of 3/8" line.

Now I know what you're thinking. You can't use larger ID beer line without creating a firehose at the faucet. Sure this is great for cleaning beer lines, but it also fills a pint glass full of nothing but foam in under 1 second. Well here is the trick. Use a flow control faucet or put an inline valve before the faucet. I can vouch for this method. It works fantastic. You can use 3/8" ID line even at 3' if you want. Then adjust the flow at the faucet for the perfect amount of head. Long lines, multiple lines, it doesn't matter. There won't be an issue.

So is the best way to go? No, I don't think so. For one thing, flow control faucets are expensive at about $60 each. That's quite an investment especially if you have multiple taps. You need to buy a pump, fittings, the send and return hose, adapters, etc. You need to wire up the pump, buy buckets, etc. Let's not forget that you need to purchase your favorite beer line cleaning chemical. Remember you still want to replace those beer lines once a year even though you're cleaning them every two weeks.

So what's the best way to keep your beer lines clean? Replace them. That's right, replace your beer lines every two weeks. You can get 100' of 3/16" beer line for about $12 from a popular website that offers free two-day shipping to most people. That's $0.12 per foot. You could go almost an entire year, replacing your lines every two weeks for just $12. How fast can you replace a beer line? I can do mine in less than 5 minutes. It takes me 30 - 45 minutes to set up my pump system, flush the lines, recirculate cleaner for 15 minutes, flush the lines again, and clean up. You won't have to buy the pump, the adapters, couplers, hoses, fittings, etc. You won't even have the recurring cost of beer line cleaner which itself costs more than 100' of line.

I now to some this seems wasteful. Still, where I live, the vinyl lines are recyclable. I'm not dumping the chemical into the water system. I'm not using electricity or water.

Why don't restaurants or bars do this? Because they don't use just 5' of line to deliver beer. They have long draw systems. Glycol chilled trunks, booster pumps, etc. Expensive in-wall tubing with a long life. They have to clean all of that. So they might just as well clean those small jumper lines along with the rest of the system during a recirculation cleaning. We home kegerator users are not bars or restaurants with these complexities. Replacing you lines is more economical, arguably more environmentally safe, faster and easier.

I can't see myself wasting the time or money again to do it any other way. Give it a shot, and get to drinking beer!
 
How do you figure less than 12 bucks for a year of replacements every 2 weeks? That works out to using <4' per replacement. I have 4 taps with 6-8' of line on each one. If I replace them 26 times per year, that's 728' of beer line, which at your bargain basement pricing is $90/year in lines. Not to mention how incredibly wasteful this is...it's great that you can recycle them, but just the manufacture uses a ton of resources, which are not recoupable.
 
So, you have nice and fresh plastic leaching, and nasty uncleaned faucets?

Care to post up your spreadsheet with your calcs?
 
I just push PBR through my lines using air, not C02. Didn't take much to make an adaptor for my air compressor that hooks up to my keg quick disconnects. Fill keg with PBR to clean. After it's done cleaning the keg, hookup air-compressor to quick disconnect in, beer lines to outs and push the PBR through my lines.

Then once more with flush water. Third time with StarSan.

I do this every time I tap a new keg in my keezer.

(I can't take credit for this air-compressor idea - I got it from some other poster on these forums. Don't recall who...)

Of course this all depends on the air compressor already being owned. I'd already had one in my garage, so no biggie. Much easier than any of the water pumps I tried.

I also use a similar trick to push chilled water (from a pre-chilled keg) through my immersion cooler to drop those final last few degrees on my hot wort.

Regards,

Mark
 
You know those cleaners are designed to work by sitting in the line. There is no need to recirculate, let alone for 15 minutes :drunk: Just how dirty do your lines get in 2 weeks anyway? With my kegerator, I would run starsan through my lines between kegs and only until it ran clear from the previous beer. If was the same style, I'd just hook the next beer up. You might get a 3'rd of a beer that's mixed, but who cares. 10' of line times 2-10 taps (depending on brewer) every 2 weeks is incredibly wasteful for no reason.
 
#newbstrollin

No worries, guys. You'll win the giveaways with no problem.
 
My kegerator is filled with kegs. No room for a line cleaning device. So I must sit there with the door open while cleaning lines.

I won't discuss flow rates, etc, because I believe that a good circulation, a rest, and more re circulation is perfectly suitable for the average person who cleans their lines often enough. So IMO a small pump is perfectly fine.

What I'm thinking about right now is a through-wall port to which I can connect my line cleaning hose, and on the inside is a Beer QD that the beer line can snap onto. When it's time to flush, I merely open the fridge, connect the beer line to the QD on the inside of the fridge and close the door. Then I can hook up the line cleaning device, and start pumping. In a short while I switch to rinse water and rinse it out. When I'm done reconnect the beer to the kegs and cap the service ports.

Just have to find the right bulkhead device to mount the beer QDs onto.
 
How do you figure less than 12 bucks for a year of replacements every 2 weeks? That works out to using <4' per replacement. I have 4 taps with 6-8' of line on each one. If I replace them 26 times per year, that's 728' of beer line, which at your bargain basement pricing is $90/year in lines. Not to mention how incredibly wasteful this is...it's great that you can recycle them, but just the manufacture uses a ton of resources, which are not recoupable.

Point taken.

I think what I meant to say was that it's less than $12 for 100'. Also that this 100' would last almost a year. This is based on replacing a single 5' line. This would take you through most of the year. If you want to be exact, at $0.12 per foot, it would be $15.60. Obviously, you would need to take your circumstances and current prices into consideration.

I have at the moment a single tap converted refrigerator. Two of my friends both have a dual tap Costco bought kegerators. I would venture to say that 1 - 2 tap systems are more widespread than 4 - 8 taps for home use when buying kegs from local breweries. I think the homebrew guys tend to throw more taps out there for sure.

It is true that this does not scale. Once you start getting lots of lines, which let's be honest is awesome, you for sure want to weigh all upfront and recurring costs. For instance, if you are only going to have a single tap with a 5' line, it's just over $15 a year to replace that line every two weeks. You'll probably spend that on cleaner each year.
 
So, you have nice and fresh plastic leaching, and nasty uncleaned faucets?

Care to post up your spreadsheet with your calcs?


If your beer line is leeching, you're using the wrong stuff. Of course, you will want to clean your faucets, couplers, etc.

What calculations do you want to see, calculating head lift? Just give it a google. There's lots of info out there. Also look for line pressure drop, or line resistance, etc.
 
I just push PBR through my lines using air, not C02. Didn't take much to make an adaptor for my air compressor that hooks up to my keg quick disconnects. Fill keg with PBR to clean. After it's done cleaning the keg, hookup air-compressor to quick disconnect in, beer lines to outs and push the PBR through my lines.

Then once more with flush water. Third time with StarSan.

I do this every time I tap a new keg in my keezer.

(I can't take credit for this air-compressor idea - I got it from some other poster on these forums. Don't recall who...)

Of course this all depends on the air compressor already being owned. I'd already had one in my garage, so no biggie. Much easier than any of the water pumps I tried.

I also use a similar trick to push chilled water (from a pre-chilled keg) through my immersion cooler to drop those final last few degrees on my hot wort.

Regards,

Mark

I forgot about this option for sure. I know there are beer pumps that use compressed air to push beer through the line but the air never enters the line it just powers the pump. I would be concerned about using a standard shop compressor if the air entered the beer line. They have a tendency to collect rust in the tanks and are definitely not food safe.
 
I forgot about this option for sure. I know there are beer pumps that use compressed air to push beer through the line but the air never enters the line it just powers the pump. I would be concerned about using a standard shop compressor if the air entered the beer line. They have a tendency to collect rust in the tanks and are definitely not food safe.

I have an air/water filter near the end or my air-compressor line. If I was concerned, I'd just stop pushing when there was still a little liquid in the keg (you'd need to guess). That way the dirty "not food safe" compressor air would be limited to the (easy to clean) keg.

But I'm not personally worried about this as a source of trouble. The last thing that gets pushed is the sanitizer. There's always a little left in the lines when I'm done. So I'm not worried about nasties. Off taste from any "rust" in the compressor? Hmm.. Probably low on the list.

--Mark
 
I was going to ask for the Reader's Digest version of that text wall, but don't bother.

5' of 3/16" ID line won't work for many folks. 10' would be closer to a good solution. So there's a 2X factor right off the bat.

And the tap count multiplier is a ***** for the OP's philosophy.
Six faucets here, with 12' of line per, so 72' per change.
You'd be high if you think that's gonna happen often.

So, basically, fahgettaboutit...

Cheers ("I Love My Line Cleaner" ;))
 
You know those cleaners are designed to work by sitting in the line. There is no need to recirculate, let alone for 15 minutes :drunk: Just how dirty do your lines get in 2 weeks anyway? With my kegerator, I would run starsan through my lines between kegs and only until it ran clear from the previous beer. If was the same style, I'd just hook the next beer up. You might get a 3'rd of a beer that's mixed, but who cares. 10' of line times 2-10 taps (depending on brewer) every 2 weeks is incredibly wasteful for no reason.

My cleaner says to recirculate for 15 minutes. The Brewers Association Draught Beer Quality Manual is a great read. It's free, just google it. Lot's of great information. That manual and other sources will recommend recirculation cleaning over letting cleaner sit as well as flow rates. Are you saying that circulation cleaning is not better than solution left sitting is the line?

I do know a guy with a kegerator that has never, in several years, cleaned his beer lines, lol. It does not seem to bother him. I would prefer my beer to taste like the recipe or brewery intended it.

There are going to be people that think that every two weeks is unnecessary. That's personal prefference I guess. I don't think I want to wait to clean my lines until I taste off flavours. I think my lines should be cleaner or as clean as a retail establishment keeps their lines.
 
I clean my lines when the keg attached to it kicks. I work it into my keg cleaning process. Give the keg a quick rinse with water. Add Pabst Blue Ribbon(TM) Line Cleaning Solution to the keg, and run it through the line. Then do the same with Star San. Then run a bit of CO2 through the line to clear it out.

Easy peasy. Arbitrarily cleaning the lines every two-weeks is insane, let alone needlessly replacing them.
 
My kegerator is filled with kegs. No room for a line cleaning device. So I must sit there with the door open while cleaning lines.

I won't discuss flow rates, etc, because I believe that a good circulation, a rest, and more re circulation is perfectly suitable for the average person who cleans their lines often enough. So IMO a small pump is perfectly fine.

What I'm thinking about right now is a through-wall port to which I can connect my line cleaning hose, and on the inside is a Beer QD that the beer line can snap onto. When it's time to flush, I merely open the fridge, connect the beer line to the QD on the inside of the refrigerator and close the door. Then I can hook up the line cleaning device, and start pumping. In a short while, I switch to rinse water and rinse it out. When I'm done, reconnect the beer to the kegs and cap the service ports.

Just have to find the right bulkhead device to mount the beer QDs onto.

I had the same situation when using the pump. If I don't replace the lines and I choose to do a recirculation cleaning I want to do the same thing.

I first thought I would just put another shank and use it as a cleaning port exclusively. Then I though, why not just put it up with the other tap and make it a dual tap system.

To make this work I see two options. Either use a coupler to connect lines from two kegs together and then recirculate from one tap through both lines and out the second tap. The downside here is that you are increasing the length of beer line which can drastically drop your flow rate. If you want flow rate to stay the same then the second option would be to connect your single beer line to the shank of each faucet on the inside of the fridge. For this, it's probably best if your shanks are not the nipple shanks. You would have a beer nut at both ends of the line. You could then leave the line connected to say faucet 1 and disconnect the other end from the keg coupler and connect it to the shank of faucet 2. Now you don't need the door open and your still only going through a single line retaining your flow rate. The down side to this, is that you might need to buy new shanks.
 
For those interested, here is my line cleaning pump. It has a 45psi (100' head lift) pump from Shurflo. I built it on a cheap shelf from the hardware store. Threw in some handles, rubber feet, a fused switch, and a nice long cord. I use food safe hose that doesn't impart hose water flavor to the liquid, etc.

IMG_5712.jpg
 
Along the lines of the flow control faucet, here is another pic.

This beer was poured through 3' of 3/8" line. These faucets are nice! If I go back to cleaning lines, I'll install another one of these faucets, which will be nice for beer selection. Then I'll use 3 to 4 feet of 1/4" or 3/8" beer line.

1/4" would give me over 4GPM flow rate. 3/8" would give me over 12GPM. Plenty of head room for more taps!

IMG_5741.jpg
 
If your beer line is leeching, you're using the wrong stuff. Of course, you will want to clean your faucets, couplers, etc.

What calculations do you want to see, calculating head lift? Just give it a google. There's lots of info out there. Also look for line pressure drop, or line resistance, etc.

If your beer line is $12/100ft, it's leaching and you're using the wrong stuff.
 
If your beer line is $12/100ft, it's leaching and you're using the wrong stuff.

Ridiculous assumptions not based on any facts are simply not useful. If you choose to pay two or three times the price for the same product due to markup you are not getting a better product.
 
I clean my lines when the keg attached to it kicks. I work it into my keg cleaning process. Give the keg a quick rinse with water. Add Pabst Blue Ribbon(TM) Line Cleaning Solution to the keg, and run it through the line. Then do the same with Star San. Then run a bit of CO2 through the line to clear it out.

just curious hunter - are you burning a little co2 with each step? a bit with PBR, a bit with sani, and a bit just dry?
 
I use a submersible pump from harbor freight and a few connections. Less than $20 total.

Awesome h22lude, I looked at some rv/marine pumps at Harbor Freight but they were 12V DC. I have a power supply but I wanted to keep things simple and use an AC pump. The other pumps I saw said not to use them for drinking/potable water. Those irrigation pumps can move some liquid! Although I already have my pump system, a friend of mine is looking to build one. Do you know what model you bought?
 
So far, you've made a couple references to a "popular website" and references to googling the calcs, therefore a whole bunch of your own, what appears to anecdotal, evidence, without substantiation. If you truly wanted to help and share your self proclaimed knowledge, then maybe some links, some names, the previously requested spreadsheet and the like might get a better response and be a bit more reputable than "hey, this is what I did, don't worry about fact checking, just trust me. I mean, this is the interwebs, so what I'm saying HAS to be the god's honest truth"
 
Ridiculous assumptions not based on any facts are simply not useful. If you choose to pay two or three times the price for the same product due to markup you are not getting a better product.

You are making some ridiculous assumptions yourself, by assuming all beer line is the same when there are *vastly* different beer lines available, constructed of different materials. I don't use cheap beer line, as I hate the taste of plastic and dumping 2-3 oz of beer if it sits in the line doesn't work for me.

I'm also not sure where you're pulling this '2 gpm' flow figure from. As long as you're pushing enough cleaner that it's flowing the same as when you're pouring beer, you have enough movement. Also, some fairly high powered pumps are available relatively cheaply, making recirculation even more cost effective.

Your plan of 'just throw it away' doesn't take into account the labor or additional hardware needed to finish the job. My taps are tower mounted. To replace lines requires disassembly of the shanks and disassembly of my tower cooling fan.
 
So far, you've made a couple references to a "popular website" and references to googling the calcs, therefore a whole bunch of your own, what appears to anecdotal, evidence, without substantiation. If you truly wanted to help and share your self proclaimed knowledge, then maybe some links, some names, the previously requested spreadsheet and the like might get a better response and be a bit more reputable than "hey, this is what I did, don't worry about fact checking, just trust me. I mean, this is the interwebs, so what I'm saying HAS to be the god's honest truth"

What is it that you want to know exactly? I asked before. Are you trying to figure out to calculate head lift?
 
Awesome h22lude, I looked at some rv/marine pumps at Harbor Freight but they were 12V DC. I have a power supply but I wanted to keep things simple and use an AC pump. The other pumps I saw said not to use them for drinking/potable water. Those irrigation pumps can move some liquid! Although I already have my pump system, a friend of mine is looking to build one. Do you know what model you bought?

I believe it was this one http://www.harborfreight.com/200-gph-submersible-fountain-pump-68372.html

I can't remember if it was this one or the 97GPH one.
 
You are making some ridiculous assumptions yourself, by assuming all beer line is the same when there are *vastly* different beer lines available, constructed of different materials. I don't use cheap beer line, as I hate the taste of plastic and dumping 2-3 oz of beer if it sits in the line doesn't work for me.

I'm also not sure where you're pulling this '2 gpm' flow figure from. As long as you're pushing enough cleaner that it's flowing the same as when you're pouring beer, you have enough movement. Also, some fairly high powered pumps are available relatively cheaply, making recirculation even more cost effective.

Your plan of 'just throw it away' doesn't take into account the labor or additional hardware needed to finish the job. My taps are tower mounted. To replace lines requires disassembly of the shanks and disassembly of my tower cooling fan.

I don't recall saying anything about all beer lines being the same. Nor did I say anything about pouring 2 - 3 ounces of beer out.

This point was really being made by another poster. This person indicates that replacing a beer line itself will inherently leach flavours into your beer. As you point out that depends on the tubing. Leaving the tubing in place and cleaning it will not prevent it from leaching if it's going to do so.

I did mention that you would want to take your situation into account. Myself and others with converted refrigerators or freezers or even store bought kegerators don't have much trouble replacing a line. If I had to spend as much time replacing lines as I did cleaning them, I may not replace them either. As noted if I had lot's of lines, and someday I may, recirculation cleaning may be the norm for me. For one or two lines? I'm in the throw it away camp.

Others have mentioned that two week intervals are too much for them. That's all the more reason to throw them away if you ask me. That just cuts' down on the cost of lines even more.
 
What is it that you want to know exactly? I asked before. Are you trying to figure out to calculate head lift?


I believe the content of my post was self explanatory, as to the nature of my query. I don't believe you really HAVE any facts, or you would have already posted them.
 
are you guys talking about $12 for 100 feet of 3/16" food grade vinyl line?

What's wrong with this item, for example?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E6BCXQ8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I don't think there is anything wrong with it. Are there better products, yes. If I was going to keep and clean out my beer line. I might go with some barrier tubing. It's only $1.50 or so per foot. Then again, and yes this is a figure pulled from nowhere, 99% of bars, restaurants, and kegerator owners use vinyl tubing and don't have a problem with the way it tastes. Sure commercial systems use barrier tubing in part but there are still lots of jumper lines, lines going to the faucets, etc. that are vinyl.
 
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I can't see myself wasting the time or money again to do it any other way. Give it a shot, and get to drinking beer!

I can see your points. However, I think you are missing crucial simple solutions. Converting to flow control faucets or replacing ALL your beer lines, every two weeks, just because of paranoia about dirty lines (or inability to clean them properly) is a bit over the line - at least for me.

First, let me admit I don't clean the beer lines every two weeks. My kegs last about 4-6 weeks, and I clean them every couple of kegs or so. Perhaps every 3-4 months or so.

Second, pumping warm water, or PWB or starsan through the line simply requires a pump that can provide 5-10 psi or so of pressure (per line). I am not sure why you want to clean all lines at once by connecting them in series, but even that should be doable with a good pump, or air compressor, as others mentioned. You can get 115 psi electric compressors for about $30-$40, that should be enough to pump 10 lines in series easily.

Or, you could disconnect the line and dump it in a bucket of PBW/Oxyclean. Or run warm water through it first to clean.

There are simpler and cheaper (overall) solutions than what you are proposing.
 
I believe the content of my post was self explanatory, as to the nature of my query. I don't believe you really HAVE any facts, or you would have already posted them.

I'm simply trying to understand what "facts" you are not believing. I can't point you in the right direction if you don't tell me what you disagree with. Is it flow rate calculations you don't believe?
 
I can see your points. However, I think you are missing crucial simple solutions. Converting to flow control faucets or replacing ALL your beer lines, every two weeks, just because of paranoia about dirty lines (or inability to clean them properly) is a bit over the line - at least for me.

First, let me admit I don't clean the beer lines every two weeks. My kegs last about 4-6 weeks, and I clean them every couple of kegs or so. Perhaps every 3-4 months or so.

Second, pumping warm water, or PWB or starsan through the line simply requires a pump that can provide 5-10 psi or so of pressure (per line). I am not sure why you want to clean all lines at once by connecting them in series, but even that should be doable with a good pump, or air compressor, as others mentioned. You can get 115 psi electric compressors for about $30-$40, that should be enough to pump 10 lines in series easily.

Or, you could disconnect the line and dump it in a bucket of PBW/Oxyclean. Or run warm water through it first to clean.

There are simpler and cheaper (overall) solutions than what you are proposing.

Well, I should first say that the post title should say it all. There are many options. While I can reread the post and see that it does sound as if I have taken a hard line that I would never go back to a pump, this was not the intent. Instead, it was to list options. One of which is tho simple replace the line as, depending on the situation, it may be faster and cheaper. As pointed out lot's of taps makes this more cost prohibitive.

That being said, the pump requirement seems to be cause for a lot of discussion here. I will concede that you can pump water with just about any pump. I don't think I said otherwise. My point was that to get a flow rate of 2GPM these pumps will not do. There is some simple math here that I can't see refuted. It's fluid mechanics.

What seems to be the issue is whether or not you need 2GPM of flow rate. If you don't think you need 2GPM which is not much, that's up to you. One source of this info, which I already mentioned is found in the Brewers association draught beer quality guide. This association is made up of quite a few entities. I don't want to copy and paste from their document. The acknowledgements are on page two. If you google the pdf is free to download and is a good read.

Again if you are happy with 1GPM, a slow trickle, standing solution, or never cleaning the lines, that's up to you. I just wanted to mention all of the things I have tried and what I am doing at the moment for others as options that may not have been tried and may be out of the box thinking.
 
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