Another plastic tasting beer line thread

[n8huntsman]

Just replaced my old keg lines with some stuff I bought from the local home brew store. The taste is awful on the first 4 ounces or so. It's okay after that but if it sits for a few minutes, the next beer is already tasting and smelling like plastic.
I will admit that I did not soak the lines in cleaner prior to using them, but I have run 10 beers of so through it and it does not seem to be improving. Should I pull them out and soak them? I know my revious lines didn't do this when they were new, but I dont recall where I got them. I only need 10 feet for each of two taps for a total of 20 feet, 3/16" prefereably. Can anyone recomend a good beer line so that I don't go through the process of changing them out a third time?
Thanks a lot. Appreciate the help!

 

[JuanMoore]

I'm sensitive to rubber/plastic flavors, and had the same issue. I switched to accuflex bev-seal ultra tubing ~2 years ago and couldn't be happier. At the time it was only available in group buys here, but now birdman brewing, farmhouse brewing, and a few other vendors carry it. There are also a couple other "barrier" tubing brands that others have had good luck with, like the tygon silver and another tygon tubing (B-44?).

FYI, most of the barrier tubing has a smoother bore which gives it lower resistance. This means you'll need longer lines to have the same balanced system. It's also a PITA to get on the barbs, but more than worth it IMO.

 

[spaceyaquarius]

Same thing happened to me. "Midwest Brewing Supplies" is what I bought. Made the beer undrinkable even after weeks. I also didn't soak it in a cleaner, but still...come on, you're selling me beer lines that ruin my beer.

 

[n8huntsman]

I never ended up changing them. I just lived with it and it did finally go away. Run a keg of bud light through it, that should fix the problem.

 

[spaceyaquarius]

How long did it take though?

 

[Hammy71]

I also am very sensitive to the plastic taste. I've tried several different brands of beer line and (it may be in my head...), I can still taste it. Now I just make a habit of wasting the first ounce or so. Yes, it's a 'waste' to do so, but....I ain't drinking beer I don't like.

 

[mtnagel]

Hmmm... I just put my kegerator together and I didn't do anything with the tubes. Didn't even think about it. Maybe I'll run a bunch of cleaner through both lines before putting beer in there.

 

[spaceyaquarius]

Hmmm... I just put my kegerator together and I didn't do anything with the tubes. Didn't even think about it. Maybe I'll run a bunch of cleaner through both lines before putting beer in there.

I'm currently running hot water from the kitchen faucet through my new vinyl tasting lines too see if that helps. If it doesn't fix it, I'm going to try running my beer line cleaner hose (soaked in sanitizer) through it a few times.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Didn't work - 5 hours of hot water and the beer still tastes like vinyl.

Just order barrier tubing online from Birdman Brewing.

 

[spaceyaquarius]

Resolution of the plastic beer line taste:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bevlex-barrier-lines-hard-fit-adapter-460896/

If you taste even a little plastic in your beer, isn't it worth it to just change out your lines instead of pouring off a portion of a pint and then pretending that you don't taste the plastic?

Some people say that the Bevlex barrier tubing is hard to coil or fit into a kegerator. I disagree. Just use twist-ties or wrap some other type of constraint (even a shoelace works) and it will adapt to the new space. Photos are included in the link.

 

[RCCOLA]

Icemaker Tubing works great

I was getting ready to make a bunch of hoses for 6 kegs and it was getting spendy. Started looking around Lowe's and saw a coil of icemaker tubing--25ft for $3.

Started researching and it turns out it is fine for beerlines. It's polyethylene, is food safe, and has good chemical resistance to acid and alcohol plus less flavor addition than PVC beerline. http://www.borealisgroup.com/pdf/chemical-resistance/chemical-resistance-hdpe-ld.pdf

Found a thread about it here where they talked about how to attach it by slipping it inside 3/16ID PVC beerline. I heated my PVC stub in boiling water and my tubing slipped in easily. I keep a pot of water boiling on the stove and heat the beerline right before inserting the icemaker tubing. I can get ~1.25" in. I secure with zip ties and they ain't coming out.

BTW, the icemaker tubing is rated to 100psi pressure, NSF safe and does not leach chemicals like PVC beerline.Voila! Cheap beerline available locally. I made 3 lines per coil, 8ft 4in each and have a great pour at 13psi.

I have a 6 tap kegerator and have been using these lines for a year now with no issues. Here's a pic of my cheapo tap setup: