How to clean your taps

[JonyMac]

I have been researching the easiest way to clean my 8 tap T-Bar Micromatic tap system and have found the method below to be very effective. I ordered 2 beer cleaner faucet jumper hoses and hooked them to an aquarium pump in a bucket to clean 4 taps at the same time. I run PBW through for 20 minutes, star san through for 20 minutes and then re-hook my beer lines to the system. I will be cleaning the taps every two months in this way. I picked up two ball lock couplers to create a loop in the kegerator.

I send the cleaner in through tap 1 which is coupled with beer lines 1 and 2 in the kegerator, out through tap 2 through the jumper line to tap 3, coupled in the kegerator with lines 3 and 4 and out tap 4 back into the bucket. I do the same setup with taps 5-8.

Here are some pics:

IMG_0473 by jonymac, on Flickr
Pump to Tap 1, jumper between Taps 2-3 and output back to bucket from Tap 4

IMG_0474 by jonymac, on Flickr
Ball lock couplers connected between beer lines 1&2 and 3&4

IMG_0478 by jonymac, on Flickr
Ball lock coupler

IMG_0479 by jonymac, on Flickr
Tap jumper hose

 

[msexton]

Exactly what I had planned to do also. Great set up!

 

[Natdavis777]

I love the backsplash. I typically run an empty line with pbw followed by starsan and let it sit until a new keg comes to tap. I am consistent on rotating taps so I dont have to worry about lines staying stagent for long.

 

[normonster]

That coupler is sweet. That whole setup is awesome too.

I have a similar thing going on with a simple double tap keezer but using a mark keg washer (basically an aquarium pump). Cleans my kegs, SS Bucket Fermenters and my beer lines! One of my best ever purchases. If it would also accept my kettles it would be The Answer.

 

[JonyMac]

Yep, I have a cleaner keg in the Keezer that has Star San in it - I leave Star San in the lines as well after a keg goes to beer heaven.

 

[mongoose33]

Nice!

I looked online to see where I might get those ball lock couplers--and struck out. Where do you get them from?

EDITED TO ADD: Never mind--MountainSax found it below.

 

[Mountainsax]

I just found one at BrewHardware!

http://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/ball_lock_jumperpost.htm

 

[mongoose33]

I just found one at BrewHardware!

http://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/ball_lock_jumperpost.htm

I did too--and when I went to post it, you'd already beat me to it!

 

[Mountainsax]

Just lucky timing!! This is a great setup! I've been wanting a better way to clean my lines. Thanks!

How long can you let Star San sit in the lines?

 

[JonyMac]

I let it sit until I have a new beer to put on, then I run it out with some clean water and then the beer.

Yes, brewhardware is where I got my couplers and micromatic is where I got my jumper hoses.

It is really nice to be able to clean 4 taps at once - saves a TON of time!

 

[gnef]

If anyone is using John Guest fittings, it makes it really easy to create cleaning loops.

I use 3/8" OD bev seal ultra and all John Guest fittings, so when I do my cleaning loops, I can easily use a spare manifold that has John Guest fittings, or just John Guest Tees. I have a small stainless pot that I added a valve to the bottom filled with BLC or Penetrate (a higher concentration than BLC), I heat with a camping stove, and use my chugger pump to create the recirculation loop, which is input into one tap, and then through the liquid line to the manifold that is connected to other liquid lines, then comes back out and into the pot. I like to keep it in the 130F range or so, though I need to double check on the max safe temp (I think it is 140F) of Bev Seal. I haven't done this since switching to bev seal, only with PVC lines, but I was using John Guest fittings with the old tubing as well.

This is also the way I do a deep clean of my jockey boxes as well. I just set it up, and let it pump for about 15 minutes per set.

The manifold with John Guest fittings is the easiest way for me to increase my efficiency and create more loops, which is helpful since I have 14 taps on the coffin box, and if I am doing my jockey boxes, that is another 13 (a 6, a 5, and a 2 tap)!

 

[JonyMac]

gnef - pics?

 

[gnef]

I cleaned them months ago and took some pictures. I'll have to dig through my picture folders to see if I can post them later!

 

[gnef]

I thought I took more pictures of when I was doing this, but this is all I could find:

Here was when I was first starting, and doing a single loop, so I was only cleaning two of the faucets. You can see the small pot with the darkened solution (it had been running a while already before I took the pic, I think), going down to the pump, then from there into one faucet. Inside the walk-in, the two lines are connected (this picture was before I converted everything over to 650ss faucets and bev seal ultra line, so things would be slightly different now) with a union. The camping stove is a bit hard to see, but it is directly beneath the pot, on top of the sanke keg.

Here is another photo I found of the manifold I would use:

What I would do now, is use the manifold on the inside of the walk-in, with one of the ports as the input, and the other ports connected to the other lines as the output. From the lines used as the output, these will go back to the faucets, which will have tubing to redirect the flow back in to the pot.

Here is a look at the John Guest fittings on the shanks and the bev seal ultra tubing in the coffin box:

Here is a look at one of my jockey boxes that I've converted to John Guest fittings:

I am in the process of converting all the tubing on the jockey boxes over to Bev Seal Ultra 235 tubing. I have everything I need, I just need to set my mind to it. Where the ball lock fittings are, for me to clean next time, all I need to do is pull off the disconnect, and connect the liquid lines to the manifold in the picture above, then clean as many as I can at once.

ah, I found a slightly better picture here:

Here you can see the camping stove better, as well as the thermometer I use to make sure I stay within the safe range for the line.

I know that is a lot of random pictures, but that's all I could find of what I've already taken pictures of!

I hope the descriptions are good enough, if not, let me know if you have any questions!

edit - I forgot that I have camlock fittings put together so that I can go directly from a camlock to the John Guest fitting, and from there plug in any of my beverage line to be flushed using my chugger pump (I also have one to a 1/4" MFL, and another one to a garden hose disconnect to flush my tubing and pump at the end of brew day).

 

[Yesfan]

^^^ Awesome ^^^^ I never tire of looking at that line of taps.

 

[gnef]

^^^ Awesome ^^^^ I never tire of looking at that line of taps.

Haha. Thanks, me neither! That picture is also before I made my own 3/4" hex stainless tap handles for all the taps on the coffin box, as well as the jockey boxes. I've also been contemplating adding another two taps on the side of the coffin box, but we'll see if I go through with that.

With so many lines though, I needed to find a more efficient way of cleaning, which is why I plan on using the manifold from now on (I didn't use it the first big round of cleaning), plus using the pump and camping stove allows the cleaning to work without my direct input, which allows me to take care of other things during that time. Though, now with the bev seal ultra, I don't think I'll need to do such intense cleanings.

 

[kal]

It is really nice to be able to clean 4 taps at once - saves a TON of time

+1. I do exactly the same thing as JonyMac to clean my taps (I have the same 8-tap tower so it saves a lot of time as compared to doing each tap separately).

Kal

 

[Yesfan]

.............What I would do now, is use the manifold on the inside of the walk-in, with one of the ports as the input, and the other ports connected to the other lines as the output. From the lines used as the output, these will go back to the faucets, which will have tubing to redirect the flow back in to the pot............

I meant to ask you before (or anyone for that matter), is that just a standard co2 distributor you're using? I have a spare 3 port distributor I thought about using, but didn't know of those were for gas only connections. If those can be used in a clean in place system for beer taps, can you reuse it on co2 lines or is "tainted forever" after running cleaner/sanitizer through it?

On another note, is it better to split the lines if you're doing two or more taps, or keep it daisy chained?

 

[gnef]

Yup, it is a spare CO2 manifold. Mine is just plated brass (edit - now that I think about it, it could be anodized aluminum, but I am still not concerned), so I don't see any problem using it, then rinsing it out to dry for later use with CO2 if I want to. You definitely don't want to leave any cleaner or corrosive liquid, even if using it only for cleaning.

I personally like to split the lines because it runs the lines in parallel, reducing the overall resistance of the lines (much like in electrical resistance), which allows the pump to have an overall greater throughput. When you run the taps in series, you are dramatically increasing the total resistance, which slows down the recirculation.

If you have a strong enough pump, it doesn't really matter, I suppose, but I would always prefer to run in parallel. This also allows me to increase the throughput of the recirculation through individual taps if I want to by closing off some, and forcing it through a single line to mimic a single loop.

 

[Yesfan]

Awesome. Thanks for replying back. I'll definitely try it that way.

 

[JonyMac]

Cleaned my lines for my garage fridge taps today using the same system for my basement taps. They hadn't been cleaned since the summer and they were FUNKY! I put my Fresh Squeezed clone on tap once everything was sparkly.



IMG_6869 by jonymac, on Flickr



IMG_6848 by jonymac, on Flickr

 

[Yesfan]

I did a bastardized version of Gnef's setup. I had a spare 3 port distributor not being used, so I gave that a whirl. Mixed up some BLC in my 5 gallon kettle and used a sump pump for recirculation.

The tea strainer is also good to use to soak the small internals of the beer disconnects.