Draft Beer Lines -- Berliner Weisse

[Lost_Arkitekt]

So, I brewed my first sour beer a few weeks ago, an amazingly tasty Ginger Lime Berliner Weisse, but I noticed something. My DIY QuickCarb and my picnic faucet lines all smell like the beer (guessing the acid did something to them). I cleaned at length with PBW and then Saniclean (StarSan low foaming version), but the smell is still there. It's also in the rubber stopper that held the airlock (even though krausen never touched it).

My question is this...will actual Beer Line Cleaner (BLC or similar) take that out, or do I have to replace my lines. My keezer also has the Berliner Weisse in it right now. The keezer faucet and picnic tap both have the anti-microbial expensive lines. I'd hate to have to throw them out after every beer if it is a soured one.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[doug293cz]

Most brewers keep any plastic/rubber that has touched a sour beer separate from their other equipment, and only use if for sours. The safe assumption is that you cannot clean/sanitize the plastic/rubber adequately to prevent infection of non-sour brews.

If you had an autoclave on the other hand (and materials that would withstand the temps) ...

Brew on

 

[Lost_Arkitekt]

Most brewers keep any plastic/rubber that has touched a sour beer separate from their other equipment, and only use if for sours. The safe assumption is that you cannot clean/sanitize the plastic/rubber adequately to prevent infection of non-sour brews.

If you had an autoclave on the other hand (and materials that would withstand the temps) ...

Brew on

From what I understand, the separate hoses are on the pre-carbonation end of the process. Plenty of bars serve sour beers and then non-sours afterwards. I doubt they have separate lines for this. I may be wrong. I was able to reuse my transfer line as I just recirculated 212*F hot water through it for 15 minutes or so. I also fermented/soured in a stainless conical, so that was able to be sanitized pretty good.

My question is the serving lines. Since beer is under pressure, the line can't really infect the keg, and at 37*F, the lines probably won't infect beer running through it and into your belly! However, the smell of the ginger lime was infused into the lines by the lactobacillus (I'm assuming), and I'm just looking for a way to get the smell (and probably taste) out of there so it doesn't change taste of new beer.

 

[doug293cz]

From what I understand, the separate hoses are on the pre-carbonation end of the process. Plenty of bars serve sour beers and then non-sours afterwards. I doubt they have separate lines for this. I may be wrong. I was able to reuse my transfer line as I just recirculated 212*F hot water through it for 15 minutes or so. I also fermented/soured in a stainless conical, so that was able to be sanitized pretty good.

My question is the serving lines. Since beer is under pressure, the line can't really infect the keg, and at 37*F, the lines probably won't infect beer running through it and into your belly! However, the smell of the ginger lime was infused into the lines by the lactobacillus (I'm assuming), and I'm just looking for a way to get the smell (and probably taste) out of there so it doesn't change taste of new beer.

If you had constant flow thru the serving lines, then bacteria probably wouldn't be able to migrate against the flow back into the keg. However, when the taps are closed, and there is no flow, there is no pressure differential between the lines and keg either. Bacteria can migrate back into the keg under no-flow conditions.

That said, if you got all the plastic/rubber parts above 160˚F for 10 minutes or more, then you are probably safe from future infections (ref: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.1946.tb01593.x/pdf.)

Brew on