Cleaning draft lines with a chugger/march pump and line cleaner

[markstache]

Can anyone give me a reason I should not use my kettle and my chugger pump to push Five Star Liquid Line Cleaner through my draft lines?

I haven't seen much information one way or the other on this idea. Thanks.

 

[TallDan]

Only reason I can think is that it's overkill. I use a cheap small submersible pump to clean my draft lines with BLC.

 

[NeoBrew]

Doooo iiiiiit!

The only problem you might want to look out for is that your pump is absolutely clean before you start. You wouldn't want a chunk of dried up gunk to get pushed into your draft lines.

I clean mine with a bucket and a cheap submersible pump from Harbor Freight.

 

[aspiffymofo]

Nope, other than it might be a waste of line cleaner. I use a smaller container to pump out of/ in to.

 

[markstache]

To sum up, don't buy a chugger for this purpose, but if you already have one, Doooo iiiiiit!

Off to buy a few fittings and then time to clean my lines with Overkill (tm).

 

[markstache]

Follow up: it worked great. Next time, I'm. going to make a manifold to do all three lines at once. I did a water rinse to test and clean out gunk. Then made a gallon of LLC and pushed for 10 minutes per line. Finally, water rinse pushed for 5 minutes. A fresh pint is a great reward.

 

[gnef]

this is how I clean my draft lines. I have a smaller kettle that I heat using a camping stove, and then use my chugger pump to go in to one faucet, and then used a manifold on the inside to split to more faucets and drain back to the kettle. I like to have the BLC solution up to around 130-140F and do a 15 minute circulation.

 

[bossman]

markstache, do you have a picture of your setup? I'm trying to figure out the best way to connect the lines to the pump. I've got the jumpers to clean all my lines at once and this seems like a good way to go for pushing cleaner.

 

[psujeeperman02]

I don't have a pump (yet), but I simply fill an empty keg with PBW, connect the co2, and let that flow out of the tap for a few minutes into a bucket. Repeat that on my second tap.
Once the PBW is gone, I then put some star San in the keg and repeat the process.

It does clean out the gunk, but is this not a recommended process?

 

[k1ngl1ves]

I don't have a pump (yet), but I simply fill an empty keg with PBW, connect the co2, and let that flow out of the tap for a few minutes into a bucket. Repeat that on my second tap.
Once the PBW is gone, I then put some star San in the keg and repeat the process.

It does clean out the gunk, but is this not a recommended process?

That's how I do mine, but I flush water through between the cleaner step and the starsan. It's a waste of co2 though, and a cheap HF pump and a bucket would probably be better.

 

[ChemEng]

Reviving an old thread, but i was trying to use my chugger pump to clean my beer lines and found this little stainless nugget of usefullness on the Brewhardware site. I have all camlock fittings on my brew rig, so for a few bucks i can use my existing tanks, fittings, hoses and pumps to clean my beer lines. Much better than piecing together brass fittings from Lowes:

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/camtoball.htm

sometimes it feels like Bobby is developing products just for me...