Plastic taste

[Metsbrew]

I kegged my first batch a stout, this Saturday was the first we tapped into it. It was awesome and everything worked great. However tonight when we poured a glass, the first one had a plastic taste. Everyone after was great. Will this always be this way? It is a 5 foot line with a picnic tap for now.

 

[BillyBroas]

So if I understand, that was the first glass with your kegging setup that tasted like plastic, but every beer after tasted fine? If so I wouldn't worry about it. Probably just from the new beer line. Did you flush it with anything beforehand?

 

[Scut_Monkey]

It's a common problem with beer line especially cheap beer line. I don't have a great solution but this thread might have one for you. Most people resort to discarding the first 3-4oz for the day.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/beer-line-tests-solution-plastic-taste-60380/

 

[Metsbrew]

Sorry I was unclear. The first day it was fine. But then it sat for a few days and the first pour was bad but the rest were good. I did flush it with oxy clean and then one step. Also off topic a little but is there any way to flush line without having a spare keg? My one keg is serving now and the other keg is carbing. But I forgot to flush the tap for the second keg. Thanks and sorry for being all over the place.

 

[cheesecake]

every first pour i have tastes like plastic. its the keg connection line i have no idea why i flushed the line out with oxiclean and starsan but the beer that sits in the line gets a funny plastic taste to it

 

[tincob]

I got my lines from keg connection too and I definitely notice the plastic taste.

Does it go away after some use? I just put together my keezer and the taste is pretty strong, especially on my sparkling water set up. If the taste doesn't go away, the sparkling water will go bye, bye according to my wife.

 

[cheesecake]

I hope it does...im going to be trying different lines soon

 

[tincob]

It's a common problem with beer line especially cheap beer line. I don't have a great solution but this thread might have one for you. Most people resort to discarding the first 3-4oz for the day.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/beer-line-tests-solution-plastic-taste-60380/

Scut_Monkey, I just read that thread from front to back.

What did you wind up as your solution? Did the HD poly work?

It looks like the two recommended lines were:
Tygon Food, Milk, & Dairy Tubing B-44-4X which comes in 3/16" ID
Bev-Seal which comes in 1/4" ID

I wonder why some people can taste the plastic flavor and some can't? My wife and I noticed the taste immediately. I'm not very optimistic that the plastic will go away.

I may have to resort to ordering the Tygon tubing.

Cheesecake, post back on what tubing you plan on trying.

 

[cheesecake]

I already bought the line from mcmaster. 50 feet was 8 dollars so i said why not but i will. ill be using it on my next keg wich will be getting tapped on tuesday

 

[Scut_Monkey]

Scut_Monkey, I just read that thread from front to back.

What did you wind up as your solution? Did the HD poly work?

It looks like the two recommended lines were:
Tygon Food, Milk, & Dairy Tubing B-44-4X which comes in 3/16" ID
Bev-Seal which comes in 1/4" ID

I wonder why some people can taste the plastic flavor and some can't? My wife and I noticed the taste immediately. I'm not very optimistic that the plastic will go away.

I may have to resort to ordering the Tygon tubing.

Cheesecake, post back on what tubing you plan on trying.

Right now I just have standard 3/16" Polyvinyl tubing. I do have the PE tubing from HD down in the basement but I haven't hooked it up yet as it's smaller than 3/16" (it's actually .170) and therefore hard to get onto my fittings.

The standard tubing is working ok for me right now with two kegs. I do have to dump out the first 3 oz which is annoying but it is temporary. If I don't pour it out it definitely does taint the beer flavor.

Is the tygon tubing you mentioned sold through mcmaster carr? I don't recall seeing it in that thread. I kind of got fed up with the whole issue as the PE tubing is difficult to work with, the lined tubing dosen't come in 3/16 and would require huge lengths and the polyvinyl tubing sucks. If you can't tell I'm still debating what to buy.

 

[tincob]

The Tygon tubing is being sold on the US plastics site.

I've used them to purchase no-chill plastic containers.

The price there is 90 cents/foot with a 50 feet minimum.

I have 4 taps with one of them being a sparkling water set up so I would use most of that 50 feet. If I had a high degree of confidence that the Tygon tubing worked, I could swallow the cost and throw away my kegconnection lines (even if I've only used them for two weeks).

I may email them to see what they say regarding the plastic taste of their beverage lines.

 

[Hotspur]

I've been using the Tygon lines for a while now, closing in on 8 months or so. No off tastes at all. Yeah it was $45 for the 50', but I didn't ruin any beer in the process, and I've only built the system once.

The one thing I've noticed is that the Tygon lines definitely have less friction - I have 10' on each tap and have had to fiddle a bit more with pressures to avoid problems dispensing. That is, even with 10', if you're using higher pressures for Belgians, you can have some of the same issues folks have with shorter lengths of the cheaper, non-lined stuff.

 

[RichBenn]

The Tygon tubing is being sold on the US plastics site.

I've used them to purchase no-chill plastic containers.

The price there is 90 cents/foot with a 50 feet minimum.

I have 4 taps with one of them being a sparkling water set up so I would use most of that 50 feet. If I had a high degree of confidence that the Tygon tubing worked, I could swallow the cost and throw away my kegconnection lines (even if I've only used them for two weeks).

I may email them to see what they say regarding the plastic taste of their beverage lines.

Tygon is available on the McMaster-Carr site, 10 ft. minimum. 3/16".

 

[SouthernYankee]

Tygon is available on the McMaster-Carr site, 10 ft. minimum. 3/16".

you have a part number?

 

[tincob]

I just checked and the part number is 5553K12

The cost is $1.21/ft under 50 ft and $1/ft for 50 ft and more. So it looks like US Plastics is cheaper (I haven't checked the shipping charge though).

Based on what Hotspur said about the lower friction, I'll need at least 50 ft. Probably 60 ft or more since I have 20 ft of the PVC tubing for the sparkling water set up and it comes gushing out.

 

[conpewter]

I got the PET lined Bev-Seal tubing from BetterBottle.com (I think you have to ask for it). If I remember right it was fairly cheap, 25 cents a foot? The barrier tubing does have less friction.

I've also used polyethelyne tubing and I don't get any off tastes from that either.

 

[RichBenn]

I just checked and the part number is 5553K12

The cost is $1.21/ft under 50 ft and $1/ft for 50 ft and more. So it looks like US Plastics is cheaper (I haven't checked the shipping charge though).

Based on what Hotspur said about the lower friction, I'll need at least 50 ft. Probably 60 ft or more since I have 20 ft of the PVC tubing for the sparkling water set up and it comes gushing out.

It looks like US plastics will do 10 ft. minimum (if I read their site correctly), it's cheaper, and shipping was only $7 to me. YMMV.

 

[RichBenn]

I got the PET lined Bev-Seal tubing from BetterBottle.com (I think you have to ask for it). If I remember right it was fairly cheap, 25 cents a foot? The barrier tubing does have less friction.

Thanks for the link. But being their smallest is 1/4" with low resistance, it'd be good for long runs but not short.

 

[RichBenn]

I've been using the Tygon lines for a while now, closing in on 8 months or so. No off tastes at all. Yeah it was $45 for the 50', but I didn't ruin any beer in the process, and I've only built the system once.

The one thing I've noticed is that the Tygon lines definitely have less friction - I have 10' on each tap and have had to fiddle a bit more with pressures to avoid problems dispensing. That is, even with 10', if you're using higher pressures for Belgians, you can have some of the same issues folks have with shorter lengths of the cheaper, non-lined stuff.

Does the 3/16" Tygon go over a 1/4" barb OK?

 

[shortyjacobs]

Does the 3/16" Tygon go over a 1/4" barb OK?

Yes.

678910

 

[tincob]

Thanks for the link. But being their smallest is 1/4" with low resistance, it'd be good for long runs but not short.

I went and ordered the Tygon line from US Plastics and should receive delivery next week. I'll report back on my results.

After I ordered, I was reading through the thread (cure for your short hose troubles) and think that the inserts mentioned on that thread might help with the 1/4" diameter low resistance issues.

 

[cheesecake]

Well so far so good with the cheap mcmaster line. i couldnt really tase or smell the off flavor like i could with the keg connection line. it had the smallest hint in the first few oz i poured and tasted but wasnt over powering or anything. so i continued to fill up the glass and when the glass was full no off flavor noticable. Im verry dissapointed in the crap keg connection sent to me and they had enough nerve to call it beer line.

 

[tincob]

Good results with the more expensive Tygon lines. I also purchased the plastic twizzle sticks so I'm getting a decent pour.

I struggled a bit to get the lines over the 1/4" nipples but in the end, I was successful.

No plastic taste at all, even in the first pour. Wife likes the sparkling water setup and even my hefeweizen tastes fine.

Cheesecake, glad to hear that the cheap McMaster line is working out for you. It might be a good first option for other since the Tygon + inserts cost quite a bit more in comparison...

 

[Mayday99]

Well so far so good with the cheap mcmaster line. i couldnt really tase or smell the off flavor like i could with the keg connection line. it had the smallest hint in the first few oz i poured and tasted but wasnt over powering or anything. so i continued to fill up the glass and when the glass was full no off flavor noticable. Im verry dissapointed in the crap keg connection sent to me and they had enough nerve to call it beer line.

I can also attest to the poor quality of the kegconnection beer line. I got my initial setup from Midwest, which came with 5 feet of bevlex tubing and a picnic tap. There was little or no plastic taste from this line. Completely happy with the whole setup from Midwest, by the way.

I bought my dual tower and faucets from kegconnection and wanted to upgrade to longer lines, so I bought line from them to lengthen my lines to 10 feet.

I let some oxy sit in the lines, rinsed about a half gallon to a gallon of water through each line, and then used a batch of fresh star san made with distilled water.

The plastic taste/smell is overwhelming. I have to pour off a few ounces, but the thing is the plastic taste comes back after only about 30 minutes or so of not pouring. You can sniff the line and smell plastic. The smell is way stronger than the home depot line I have sitting ready to connect to my immersion chiller.

I know it has to be the line because when I open my kegerator, the first thing you notice is a whiff of plastic from the 20 feet of crap line I have in there. And this is at 38 degrees.

The cost of replacing the line (gonna go with the Tygon, thanks guys) doesn't bother me as much as the enormous hassle of taking the tower off unscrewing the shanks, reattching beer line and then trying to put the whole thing back together. People who have dealt with the tight space inside a tower know what I am talking about. For me at least, it will be a couple hours of swearing, grunting and hoping that I don't break anything in the process.

I have some BLC that I could try to run through the lines first, but I think if the plastic taste is that bad, nothing will help it.