DIY Beer Line Cleaner

[geniz]

Did anyone have trouble fitting the adapter into the firestone post? I don't know if it is a ball lock vs. pin lock thing. I bought the same brass adapter from home depot and a 3 pin lock firestone post, and I am having trouble with them fitting. The 3/8" adapter seems too small for the pin lock firestone post. Any thoughts?

When I made mine, I used a ball lock. Pin lock probably a different size thread

 

[jerryalan]

Saw this post today at work. Stopped at Northern Brewer during lunch and HD on the way home. Built it within 15 minutes of getting home. Can't wait to use it now!

Thanks for the great idea!

 

[Shackled]

Just picked up most of what I need.
Thanks to Geniz for the good picture of the adapter. Made it easy to find in the wall of parts at HD. Now I just need to swing by Brewmasters and get a ball lock liquid post.

 

[geniz]

I'm sure brewmasters is wondering why they've got a run on ball lock posts! ;-)

 

[Shackled]

I can't help that I'm lucky enough to have them as my LHBS....
Im just trying to do my part to make sure they stay in business

 

[TheBrewinator]

Great idea and thanks for sharing. I just made one of these but I went a bit different route. I have all my liquid lines equipped with the 1/4 inch barbed swivel nuts so I just put on an adapter from the 3/8ths sprayer to a 1/4 inch flare. I just take the ball lock connector off (and clean it separately) and screw the beer line onto the sprayer to push cleaner through.

 

[starsailor]

Great idea and thanks for sharing. I just made one of these but I went a bit different route. I have all my liquid lines equipped with the 1/4 inch barbed swivel nuts so I just put on an adapter from the 3/8ths sprayer to a 1/4 inch flare. I just take the ball lock connector off (and clean it separately) and screw the beer line onto the sprayer to push cleaner through.

Did the same thing myself, but I added a 1/4" ball valve between the bottle and 1/4" flare and a brass tire stem valve to the other end of the bottle to use CO2 to push the cleaning solution.

 

[geniz]

Id rather just pump. Much simpler

 

[alowell]

With this setup, can you control the flow of cleaner with the spray trigger? It's no big deal, but when I hooked mine up, the cleaner flowed through the keg post as soon as I hooked the liquid disconnect to it and the trigger didn't do anything. Thanks, great idea, I've already used it many times in the past 2 weeks!

 

[Flomaster]

if you remove the little green tip piece then the trigger valve has nothing to seal against. the keg post is now the valve, but once a hose is connected its open.

-=Jason=-

 

[geniz]

if you remove the little green tip piece then the trigger valve has nothing to seal against. the keg post is now the valve, but once a hose is connected its open.

-=Jason=-

Yep this is right. When the green tip is removed the trigger isn't functional

Tried to edit the OP to clarify this, but can't.

 

[Chrisl77]

If you take the white washer out of the green tip, flip it around and put it in the fip to flare adapter it will make a seal. I just tested it out.

 

[geniz]

If you take the white washer out of the green tip, flip it around and put it in the fip to flare adapter it will make a seal. I just tested it out.

Excellent.

 

[dtadpole]

You guys inspired me to make me one of these beer line cleaners also. Bought a 1 gal sprayer from wally world, and a few adapters from our local bucheits(hardware/lumber store) and I am in business. Will post some pics when I have a chance. thanks and good ideas!

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Yep this is right. When the green tip is removed the trigger isn't functional

Tried to edit the OP to clarify this, but can't.

If you take the white washer out of the green tip, flip it around and put it in the fip to flare adapter it will make a seal. I just tested it out.

If you have a faucet, the faucet becomes the valve.

 

[Lilrascal]

I bought all the same stuff, and made up a system. The problem I am having is the poppet doesn't fully seat when using the 3/adapter. It doesn't push it all the way in to be seated. This means I can not pressurize before connecting the QD. I should be able to connect the QD, the tap will keep system closed, then pressurize though. Anyone else having the same issue?

 

[geniz]

I bought all the same stuff, and made up a system. The problem I am having is the poppet doesn't fully seat when using the 3/adapter. It doesn't push it all the way in to be seated. This means I can not pressurize before connecting the QD. I should be able to connect the QD, the tap will keep system closed, then pressurize though. Anyone else having the same issue?

I did not have the same problem. I can pressurize the entire system before connecting to the beer line. It holds pressure just fine. Did you use the same Firestone Beer Out? If not, the threads on the adaptor may not fit.

 

[Lilrascal]

I did not have the same problem. I can pressurize the entire system before connecting to the beer line. It holds pressure just fine. Did you use the same Firestone Beer Out? If not, the threads on the adaptor may not fit.

Maybe I have a different post. I bought this one from Northern Brewer, since that is the closest shop to me: http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/plug-assembly-liq-type-a-challenger-v-vi.html

The thread fit fine (the threads on all the posts for my current keg did not). Just doesn't push the poppet tight into post. I will see if it still works by pressurizing after I connect.

 

[tsisson]

Maybe I have a different post. I bought this one from Northern Brewer, since that is the closest shop to me: http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/plug-assembly-liq-type-a-challenger-v-vi.html

That's the same post I bought at NB two days ago. Mine works but it is a little tricky to get the connector to attach correctly.

 

[geniz]

Your post from NB seems identical to the one I used from BW.

Here is the one I got from BW:

http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/product/0102273/ball-lock-liquid-post-assembly-firestone

Didnt have any problem fitting it to the adaptor. Could your poppet be bad or sticking?

 

[Lilrascal]

OK. So I went back, and decided to try a new poppet. Don't know if I needed to, but I also put a gas/liquid post o-ring between it and the adapter, figuring it would help to push the poppet tight against the end. Now it works fine. :rockin:

 

[alowell]

Yeah, I was going to tell you that I got a couple nylon washers and put them in against the legs of the poppet. Therefore, the fitting and washers would then be flush against the poppet. It worked great

 

[nestorlinks]

Does anyone know of an easier way to connect this to a sankey?

At first I was thinking that I could just unscrew the coupling hex nut and get an adapter to adapt that to the pump. But it looks like the thread for the coupling hex nut is an odd size (7/8"-14 (5/8" BSP) (U.S. Beer Industry Standard)) and I could not find an adapter at HD.

Looking at the picture above, I do not have the keg innards to just connect the whole coupler to.

Finished mine,

I had an extra ball valve, so I attached that to a quick disconnect and now I can do both sankey keg attachments and corneys.

 

[jafo28]

Just put this together yesterday, works great. Thanks.

 

[jaginger]

subscribed!

 

[doctorRobert]

Awesome idea thanks... building a keezer tomorrow, just tapped my 2nd batch via keg, and I was wondering how people cleaned the lines without taking everything apart...

I love it. Thanks

 

[gmoney51]

A nice easy build with idiot proof photos. It took me longer to find my Teflon tape then it did to build it. Thanks for sharing.

 

[rekoob]

Dang forum... now I have to adjust my projects to get this one going before one of my kegs goes empty. Great idea! Thanks.

 

[ultravista]

Awesome idea. I'll add this too to my list of projects.

 

[FSR402]

Put mine together last night.
Had a post from a keg I used to make my flash boiler. So all I needed was a sprayer and a way to hook it up.
Came up with this. Used a male to female 3/8 flare fitting and some thread tape to hook the post onto the sprayer wand.

 

[geniz]

Put mine together last night.
Had a post from a keg I used to make my flash boiler. So all I needed was a sprayer and a way to hook it up.
Came up with this. Used a male to female 3/8 flare fitting and some thread tape to hook the post onto the sprayer wand.

Looks great

 

[Jorgen]

I love this place. I log in tonight looking for line cleaning advice, this is exactly what I was hoping to find. Only wish I would have thought about it before picking up supplies this afternoon. I guess I will just have to make another trip to get the post.

 

[chemman14]

I went to home depot today to purchase all of the supplies and just my luck they were out of the flare coupling piece
the guy sold me this

it fits on the sprayer fine but when i screw on the liquid out post it doesnt screw on far enough, causing the poppet not to seal correctly. it seems like the same 3/8in flare on the brass one. Did I get the wrong liquid out post? Here is a picture of that as well.

 

[StMarcos]

Calentador de espacio. Teacher should have had us wander around hd in high school. I've added a lot to my Spanish vocab over the years from hardware stores.

Nice idea for cleaning. I prefer to disassemble all bits each time. Pisses me off that the plastic ball lock connectors aren't made to be repeatedly disassembled. I bought some from micromatic years ago that had metal 'whatever you call the little thingers inside that are normally plastic'. Are the all stainless ones any good? IMO the ventmatic faucets are much better than the normal ones. Wish there was a ball lock qd counterpart....

 

[FSR402]

I went to home depot today to purchase all of the supplies and just my luck they were out of the flare coupling piece
the guy sold me this

it fits on the sprayer fine but when i screw on the liquid out post it doesnt screw on far enough, causing the poppet not to seal correctly. it seems like the same 3/8in flare on the brass one. Did I get the wrong liquid out post? Here is a picture of that as well.

Put an O-ring in there to take up the extra space.

 

[chemman14]

Put an O-ring in there to take up the extra space.

ok will see if I have any spare post o-rings

 

[nunyafnb]

Was worried about how I was gonna clean kegerator lines, figured I probably wouldn't if it was hard. Then I built this. Works awesome! Thanks!

 

[geniz]

Was worried about how I was gonna clean kegerator lines, figured I probably wouldn't if it was hard. Then I built this. Works awesome! Thanks!

Glad you like it !

 

[Jorgen]

Was worried about how I was gonna clean kegerator lines, figured I probably wouldn't if it was hard. Then I built this. Works awesome! Thanks!

Have to agree, I got all the stuff I needed this week and tried it out before pushing my first (first two brews ever) 2 batches that had been carbing through my newly made kegerator. Worked great, the beer is great as well.

 

[Bigscience]

To take up the extra space and make the poppet seat, I used a stainless washer inside the post.