Oh crap..I'm in trouble

[Willsellout]

My first kegged beer is fully carbed and it is delicious. It's funny because last night I tried it and it was still a little flat and today, perfection. I just threw in my second brew to cool down for a night and tomorrow I'll start carbing that as well. I'm going to Southern California for a couple weeks and by the time I get back I will have two beautiful beers on tap.
I have to give kudos to Kegconnection.com because I've had zero issues with the setup so far. No leaks, everything was easy to install, and the kegs were spotless; all I did was sanitize and throw the beer in.

For those that care I put the beer at 10 psi for a week and then bumped it up to 12psi the last week and I have a perfect pour/beer in a little under 2 weeks.

My only question, which I will have to tackle in a couple months when the kegs go is how am I supposed to get to the beer lines to detach them for cleaning? The top to the tower looks like it comes off but I haven't been able to budge it yet. Any ideas?


Thanks!

Dan

 

[wildwest450]

You need a cleaning kit. Here's one- http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/line-cleaning-pid-CK-1100.html
You will use the wrench to remove the tap from the tower, then you screw in the hose form the cleaning kit. Then remove beer line from corny and place in a container that will hold at least a quart of water. Pump the cleaning solution from pump bottle through beer line into container, let sit full of solution for 10-15 min. Then rinse with a couple quarts of fresh water. It's very easy once you do it a few times.

 

[phreephly]

Another solution is to fill a keg with sanitizer and push it through the lines with CO2. No need to fill the keg up to 5 gallons, of course. I'm looking to get a small 2.5 gallon corny, that I keep filled with sanitizer and disconnect the beer keg, run the sanitizer through the line and re-connect next time I drink.

 

[wildwest450]

Another solution is to fill a keg with sanitizer and push it through the lines with CO2. No need to fill the keg up to 5 gallons, of course. I'm looking to get a small 2.5 gallon corny, that I keep filled with sanitizer and disconnect the beer keg, run the sanitizer through the line and re-connect next time I drink.

Beer lines do not necessarily need to be sanatized, but they do need to be cleaned, there is a difference.

 

[Willsellout]

What about when I have to replace the beer lines? How long do they normally last?



Dan

 

[wildwest450]

What about when I have to replace the beer lines? How long do they normally last?



Dan

If you keep them clean they should last a long, long time.

 

[Professor Frink]

I usually run some Iodophor through them everytime I kick a keg. And I try to run some BLC through every few months.