Mold in my keg lines

[muse435]

I love to keg my beer but at the same time I am a slow beer drinker. Since I am the only one in the house who drinks beer I tend to make beer fast than I can drink it. As a result I give a lot of beer away to my friends and family in bottles. The best part of my kegs is that the beer ages nicely by the end b/c of how slowly I drink it.

The problem I have is, the last time I poured myself a glass of beer there were a few pieces of mold that were floating on the top. I assume that this was caused by mold growing in my taps (I use picnic taps) is there a way to get around this or just routinely disconnect my taps and clean them? If so how often is recommended? When I got my kegs I was told I only need to clean them when I change kegs, but I might drink to slowly for this to apply.

 

[MultumInParvo]

mold in your beer seems a little weird. I am in the same spot as you. I am the only beer drinking in my household, and don't even drink that much. Do you know the abv of your beer? I have had 3.8%ers (I love English milds) sitting there for close to a year with no issues.

I would say maybe get some PBW and clean them out really well. Then hook everything back up and my guess is you will get good for a long time

 

[muse435]

I am 95% sure that the mold is not in the beer or the lines, only on the outside of the closer for the tap. This is where only a few drops of beer remain after pouring a beer.

I think since the tap is in contact w/ the beer the alcohol would evaporate and hold can grow

 

[samc]

Keep a bottle of StarSan solution made up and spray some in after you're done drinking for the day. Wait a minute or so and shake it out. If you leave it inside sometimes it will dry into a film and fall into your next beer and look gross. Maybe once a month disconnect the tap, take apart and soak in a bowl of oxiclean - then rinse and assemble.

 

[DeafSmith]

If you have a keezer and you are keeping your picnic taps inside, maybe there is condensation keeping the taps moist, promoting mold growth. Maybe adding a fan and using DampRid would keep everything dry and prevent the mold from growing.

 

[birvine]

Is it possible that it is a bit of hop debris or yeast?

If you drink it slower than most, maybe keg a little less and bottle a bit more. I bottle some brews that I wouldn't want every day and keg the quick-consumption ones.

B

 

[KevinM]

Could be hops, could be mold. I just cleared out my keezer because of mold. Same situation here where I don't drink often enough. The black rubber parts of the keg all had layers of mold fuzz on them. I think it really sprouted recently with the humid weather in my area. A lot more condensation than before. At this point, I'm just making sure I spray with sanitizer regularly and keeping anything with labels or paper out of the keezer.

 

[muse435]

If you have a keezer and you are keeping your picnic taps inside, maybe there is condensation keeping the taps moist, promoting mold growth. Maybe adding a fan and using DampRid would keep everything dry and prevent the mold from growing.

have you ever used dampRid? does it work?

 

[DeafSmith]

have you ever used dampRid? does it work?

I just recently started kegging and only started using DampRid a couple of weeks ago. It has definitely made a big difference. I still need to add a fan to my keezer to equalize the temperature and help the DampRid work even better.

 

[samc]

Damprid is excellent. After you use up your first batch you can fill the containers with the Calcium Chloride snow melting stuff from the hardware store. Much cheaper, but make sure you get the right stuff!

 

[muse435]

thanks for all of the help guys. I just took apart the picnic taps and found some gunk/mold in one of them. I think that was my problem. I still plan on getting damprid to prevent other mold issues. It is humid as hell here in NC.

The other thing I plan on doing is leaving the lines disconnected until i want some beer. then spray the taps w/ star san at the end of the night of pouring drinks.

 

[muse435]

OK, so when I cleared my keezer to wipe out the little water that has accumulated at the bottom of the chest I found some mold inside of the cardboard cases i had on the hump. I wiped down the whole thing with star san and removed the paper products and replaced the bottles. I now have two DampRid buckets in the bottom. As of right now I have a small pc fan that turns on when the compressor does. I am debating on weather or not to make the fan run continuously.
Hopefully this will help keep the mold at bay.

 

[NWMOBrewer]

How soon can you get taps? Seems like they are easier to clean for me. I have both rear-sealing and perlicks

 

[muse435]

How soon can you get taps? Seems like they are easier to clean for me. I have both rear-sealing and perlicks

how often do you clean the perlicks?

I want to upgrade, but it is all about convincing SWMBO it is worth it

 

[NWMOBrewer]

I disassemble every few kegs, or when they need it, between kegs I am making a pump out of a garden sprayer I found on here somewhere. Do that between every keg.

 

[muse435]

I disassemble every few kegs, or when they need it, between kegs I am making a pump out of a garden sprayer I found on here somewhere. Do that between every keg.

how long does it take you to kill a few kegs?

 

[NWMOBrewer]

A while, I drink little, but have friends over. I expect 4-5 months at the longest