My gas line smells like plastic and it’s coming out in my brews head.

[Erkle42]

I noticed after my first keg that my mini fridge smelled really strongly of plastic. The second keg was good for the most part but I started to notice that plastic smell in the head of my beer. What’s up? Is there anything I can do to fix this? Will it go away once the gas line is ‘worn in’?

 

[seatazzz]

What did you use for your line? Most standard co2 line is vinyl, not plastic; might that be what you're smelling? When I re-did my kegerator a few months ago I used brand-new line, and didn't have any smell issues.

 

[Erkle42]

What did you use for your line? Most standard co2 line is vinyl, not plastic; might that be what you're smelling? When I re-did my kegerator a few months ago I used brand-new line, and didn't have any smell issues.

What was the new lines material?

 

[day_trippr]

The beer is inside a metal keg, so it's unlikely ambient plastic odors that the fridge itself is emitting are somehow getting into the beer. I would be more focused on the beer line: some folks are keenly sensitive to PVC, others are pretty near oblivious to it. Chalk that up to genetics.

And, for the record, I believe I'm closer to the "oblivious" group than the "sensitive" group - I ran two keezers in succession for 15 years using Bevlex 200 solid PVC lines and never had a problem with it as far as plastic character. That said, I switched all my lines (beer and gas) over to EVABarrier tubing in 2019 because of its O2-barrier properties...

Cheers!

 

[YaleH]

Try switching lines out to Silicon ones..... Should resolve the PVC smell/taste

 

[day_trippr]

Oooh...No, never, ever use silicone tubing on beer post-boil...

Cheers!

 

[YaleH]

Oooh...No, never, ever use silicone tubing on beer post-boil...

Cheers!

Interesting..... Never have heard of that. Can you explain why??? I'm not using it for that, just thought it would not leave a plastic taste. @Erkle42 ..... Forget what I said

 

[day_trippr]

The reason is silicone is among the most gas-permeable of all tubing types, meaning beau coupe O2 ingress, which is pretty much the worst thing that can happen to beer...

Cheers!

 

[DuncB]

beaucoup as opposed to

 

[YaleH]

The reason is silicone is among the most gas-permeable of all tubing types, meaning beau coupe O2 ingress, which is pretty much the worst thing that can happen to beer...

Cheers!

Thanks..... Always learning here on HBT