How often to clean

[NJbeerfan55]

Hi Eberyone.


New to kegerators. I have one line and don’t drink from it often but have had a keg (lager) on for about a month. How often would you recommend to clean the line? Would 6 weeks be ok? Also how often will the beer in the keg last. Need to drink more often

Thank you.

 

[VikeMan]

How often would you recommend to clean the line? Would 6 weeks be ok?

I'd recommend cleaning the beer line and faucet at every keg change. 6 weeks should be no problem.

 

[fluketamer]

i clean my lines with new beer - lol

 

[NJbeerfan55]

Thanks. I bought a 1/4 keg and haven’t been drinking all that much lately. So may be a while for the change…

 

[Kickass]

I’m in no way suggesting this, simply sharing my experience and process. I clean my lines and faucets once a year (before our annual Oktoberfest party). It’s a PITA, to me.

I have a 4 tap kegerator and probably drink 3-4 kegs from each tap in a year. I try to minimize oxygen exposure so I leave an empty keg connected until it’s ready to be rinsed or cleaned and filled. I’m a little loosely goosey with my keg cleaning too.

I’ve never had a noticeable negative impact to my beer with this process. It’s likely not ideal for everyone but it works well for me.

 

[hottpeper13]

I have a 4 tap unit and when there are 4 emptied kegs I put them thru a 20 min cycle on the washer. When I built the washer i put 3 "T"'s on the post- 2 for disconnects, and 1 for line cleaning. Most kegs take 2 months to empty, so about 6 times a year.

 

[YeastFeast]

Amount of time doesn’t matter to me, I always clean the line right after the keg kicks. I’ve have beers on for 3 weeks and as long as 3+ years (with a bourbon oak stout). I clean the line right after it kicks so it’s ready for the next one.

 

[beren]

I also recommend using evabarrier line. It’s dual layer and doesn’t absorb flavors like vinyl and stays cleaner.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I'm on the same boat as @Kickass . I clean my lines about once a year. I figure they are in a closed environment with beer captive in them until the next keg. I will clean them if that closed environment is compromised - faucet change/repair, QD repair, etc.

 

[beren]

If it makes you feel any better, at most I spray some starsan at the shank and let it runs out the qd and rinse the faucet. Not even every keg unless I leave it open.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I also recommend using evabarrier line. It’s dual layer and doesn’t absorb flavors like vinyl and stays cleaner.

As an added bonus popping off the evabarrier beer line takes but a second. I then unscrew my faucet and break it down, soak both the line and the faucet parts in hot water/Oxyclean while I'm cleaning the keg. Rinse, sanitize, and put it all back together into the keezer. Really doesn't take that long at all. That said, I really only do this about every third keg.

 

[Kickass]

I figure they are in a closed environment with beer captive in them until the next keg.

That’s how I look at it. I consider flushing previous beer with new beer as good as a cleaning cycle.

 

[redrocker652002]

My process and in no way am I an expert is: Once the keg has kicked I tend to leave it pressurized and hooked up to the line. jI try and plan it so that I can do multiple items and not feel I am wasting it by only cleaning the keg. When I am ready to clean it I usually have a fermenter of beer at the ready, or close to. I hook up the keg to my DIY bucket washer with, as somebody said, two lines for the in and out of the keg. I put about 4 gallons of water into the bucket where my pump goes and add about 8 spoons full, the spoons in the container, of alkaline brewery wash and let it run for about 20 to 30 mins. I then take the fill the keg up with the cleaner solution and bring it inside and run that thru my kegerator lines and tap. I usually run it twice just in case, but once for sure. I then rinse the keg, and run clean warm water thru the lines and faucet. Upon kegging day, I fill the keg with a solution of Starsan and water and pump that thru my kegerator lines and faucet once or twice to get them sanitized. That has been my process for the last two or three years and it seems to be working for me.

 

[YeastFeast]

I don't take anything apart, I use a small pump (with a ball lock attached) and a 2 gallon bucket with liquid line cleaner and circulate for 10-15 min. Super easy.

 

[NJbeerfan55]

I have had a keg on tap for about 2.5 months and have not cleaned the lines as I was planning to do it when it was kicked but it was a 1/4 keg and has been talking longer. Having. A party and want to know if this should be ok.

Just tried it and seems fine. Beer on tap is a mainstream lager.

Thanks for your help

 

[hottpeper13]

What we learned in class was to pour a sample, then clean the lines and taps, then pour a new sample and taste side by each. If the new one tastes better or cleaner you should step up your regimen.

 

[BaldApe]

When a keg kicks I run Star San through it until it looks clear. I leave the line filled with the Star San until the next keg and flush it out with the new beer.
I replace the lines when they are too discolored.
My plan was to break down the Faucets once a year soaking in PBW and replacing gaskets, but I'm not that diligent.

 

[Willy]

My schedule is - about 3 times a month, when it is time to change out an empty corny keg with a new batch in a cold crashed corny keg.

The process :
1) clean the old keg out to get all the junk out. Rinse it and fill it with 2 1/2 gal. very hot water and PBW. Let it soak for 20 min. Flip it, 20 min. Clean out posts and draw tubes. Replace o rings as needed and lube o ring.

2) cleaned out corny keg is still filled with hot water & PBW. I bring it to the keezer, sitting outside the keezer on the ground and attach a longer line to the CO2. Get big empty pot to catch the cleaner coming out of the tap.

3) go thru each tap - in my case, 1-6, and attach the beer line to the PBW corny. Run it thru tap for a out 20 sec carching the cleaner in the big empty pot. I then empty PBW and rinse well with water. Fill keg 1/2:way with clean water.

4) rinse all the taps with fresh water using the same process.

5) put starsan into water corny, half filled . Run starsan thru each tap for about 20 sec. (Empty the collection pot as needed. )

6) let it sit for 10 min. The purge/flush all the lines with beer until clear. About 5 sec. Collect it all in the big pot.

7) clean outside of taps with starsan and reem inside of taps with a small bottle brush, soaked in starsan.

Drink up. We are all set and clean as a whistle.

 

[mac_1103]

3 times a month, when it is time to change out an empty corny keg with a new batch

You empty a keg every ten days? Do you have a beer-drinking gremlin infestation or something?

 

[Willy]

You empty a keg every ten days? Do you have a beer-drinking gremlin infestation or something?

I'm from Milwaukee. One of the few places that can compete with the Czechs.

I have a modest beer belly but yeah, there's a six pack underneath the blubber. Hahha

 

[wepeeler]

For those of you who "clean your lines with new beer" I urge you to get BLC and this: https://www.morebeer.com/products/ball-lock-line-cleaning-kit-mini-party-pump.html

I used to flush my lines with PBW and then Star San and let air dry. Then I got this after I found mold in one of my picnic taps. I ran BLC through my lines, and I could not believe the color of the liquid that came out. Same with the tubing I used for closed transfers from Unitank to keg. Yuck...

 

[Willy]

For those of you who "clean your lines with new beer" I urge you to get BLC and this: https://www.morebeer.com/products/ball-lock-line-cleaning-kit-mini-party-pump.html

I used to flush my lines with PBW and then Star San and let air dry. Then I got this after I found mold in one of my picnic taps. I ran BLC through my lines, and I could not believe the color of the liquid that came out. Same with the tubing I used for closed transfers from Unitank to keg. Yuck.

Cool little thing to have - not just for cleaning(cleaning kit). Nice. I need to check out BLC too. Thanks

 

[wepeeler]

Cool little thing to have - not just for cleaning(cleaning kit). Nice. I need to check out BLC too. Thanks

It's cheap enough to try. I think with the BLC it was $30. Keep liquid lines in tact, pump BLC in with soda bottle, let sit for 15 min, rinse. You'll be amazed at what comes out.

 

[Broothru]

My schedule is - about 3 times a month, when it is time to change out an empty corny keg with a new batch in a cold crashed corny keg.

The process :
1) clean the old keg out to get all the junk out. Rinse it and fill it with 2 1/2 gal. very hot water and PBW. Let it soak for 20 min. Flip it, 20 min. Clean out posts and draw tubes. Replace o rings as needed and lube o ring.

2) cleaned out corny keg is still filled with hot water & PBW. I bring it to the keezer, sitting outside the keezer on the ground and attach a longer line to the CO2. Get big empty pot to catch the cleaner coming out of the tap.

3) go thru each tap - in my case, 1-6, and attach the beer line to the PBW corny. Run it thru tap for a out 20 sec carching the cleaner in the big empty pot. I then empty PBW and rinse well with water. Fill keg 1/2:way with clean water.

4) rinse all the taps with fresh water using the same process.

5) put starsan into water corny, half filled . Run starsan thru each tap for about 20 sec. (Empty the collection pot as needed. )

6) let it sit for 10 min. The purge/flush all the lines with beer until clear. About 5 sec. Collect it all in the big pot.

7) clean outside of taps with starsan and reem inside of taps with a small bottle brush, soaked in starsan.

Drink up. We are all set and clean as a whistle.

I add an additional step to your process: I mix up a solution of B-L-C in a small 1 gallon Corny keg and run it into the keg lines and tower taps after the PBW step, just before the StarSan step. Once the B-L-C is inside the lines and taps, I let it sit for :20 minutes before flushing with the StarSan.

This step helps to dissolve (or at least reduce) calcium oxylate beer stone deposits. Beer stones in your lines will result in excessive foaming when dispensing carbonated beer.

The whole cleaning process is a PITA, and I know I don’t get ‘er done as religiously as I should (does this admission count as ‘going to confession’?). I just did a ‘semi-regular’ cleaning of the kegs. Took the better part of an afternoon from start to finish, but the reward is: two kegmenter brite tanks, five 5 gallon corny kegs, two 2½ gallon and two 1¼ gallon kegs all cleaned, sanitized and CO2 purged, just waiting to be filled. Let the games begin!

 

[Dland]

I use one line, switch between kegs as I choose the next pint. It gets flushed out every night, and it is all at very low 30's F

I do clean everything out occasionally, just for good form, but baring an infected batch, or when the line freezes, I can leave it alone for months.

 

[odie]

I leave the empty keg in place until time to tap a new keg. everything stays sealed and cold.

At keg swap time, I will put some very hot water in a mini keg, maybe a couple quarts. Flush the QD, line and faucet all at once. Tap the new keg.

I guess about once a year, the faucet, QD and line will get broken down for detailed cleaning.

After EVERY drinking session, I remove the faucet nozzles and soak/rinse/dry. The faucet opening gets several blasts with StarSan no rinse from a spray bottle to rinse out and drip dry.

I suppose I could clean much better but I am lazy...