Off taste on first pour of cola tap.

[SpeedracerIndy]

Long time listener, first time caller...

I have a kegerator with 3 taps. One is commercial beer, one is hard cider that I ferment and keg, and the third is dedicated to cola. All three are Perlick stainless steel, and have beverage grade tubing that I purchased at my local home brew store. The problem I'm having is that my cola always has a very bad "plasticy" taste to it on the first pour after it's been sitting over night. If I pour off a little bit of cola on the first pour, then fill the cup it tastes fine. It only seems to happen with cola. I put one batch of lemonade in the keg and it never had that taste. I also don't have any problems with my commercial beer tap or my hard cider tap. I've cleaned the cornie keg, lines and tap to within an inch of their lives but the taste never goes away.

Is there something about cola specifically that is causing the plastic taste to leach into the cola from the lines? Is there any way to prevent this? Can I use a different kind of line?

Thanks for any advice in advance.

 

[khiddy]

Perhaps it's the much higher carbonation level of the soda, the carbonic acid is leaching some flavor from the beverage line?

Is this just on one keg of soda, or has it happened with multiple kegs of soda? Perhaps it's the contents of the keg itself, not the lines that are the problem?

 

[david_42]

Cola is very acidic (pH 2.5-3), that might be the problem. Try discarding the first ounce or so of the pour.

 

[SpeedracerIndy]

It has happened on every keg of cola I have made so far. I have filled up 4 kegs of Coke using 2 liter bottles, and just recently mixed up a batch of cola from Sodastream syrup and had the same results. I did suspect it was a result of the acidity of cola, but was hoping there was an alternative type of line I could use. Discarding the first few ounces from each pour works, I just don't like wasting my cola. Thanks again.

 

[IrregularPulse]

There's got to be a suitable tubing. Try and find out, if nobody here knows, what fast food restaurants use on their fountains.