Quick and Cheap line cleaner

[Bsquared]

I saw in the latest zymurgy a easy to make line cleaner. I did a little bit of a different version of that one but it worked great and cost me a total $13.

First of all, I have a mix of ball lock and pin lock kegs, so all of my keg connections are 1/4" flare fittings, so you might need to get a 1/4"FPT X 19/32"post adapter it you want to connect the keg liquid quick disconnects.

1. I got a 1 gallon garden sprayer from Lowes for $9.95.
2. 1/4" FPT x 1/4"Flare fitting at ACE 2.00


First ,the Sprayer is NOT 1/4" MPT. So I cut back the excesses plastic on the end of the sprayer down to the threads. Next you will need to put on a health bit of Teflon tape over the threads. Then you will need to carefully start threading the 1/4"FTP X 1/4"Flair on to the end of the sprayer. Once it starts to bite, make sure it is straight, then slowly thread it on to the sprayer. You will be cutting new treads in to the sprayer, so you will not be able to take this fitting on an off.

After that I was able to fill the tank with Star-san and pressurize . then clear out my keg lines.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Very cool. Better than payin' $40 for a kit.

 

[jpc]

They stole my idea... even used the same exact pump tank that I have.

 

[kmat123]

Thats a great idea!

 

[Scotty_g]

I use my smaller autosiphon...I needed two hose clamps ($.49 each?), a length of hose (got it!), and a barbed fitting I can connect to the tower in place of the faucet. This way I get the tower clean as well. I hook the autosiphon up to the tower and remove the threaded fitting for the ball-lock and put that loose end in a pail, and use the siphon as a pump to circulate soapy water/PBW/BLC/sanitizer.

 

[Bsquared]

Scotty_G: I did some thing similar, if you look carefully at the two pictures of the tower you can see a length of Si hose connecting the two faucets. I connected one faucet in line to the line cleaner and the other to an empty keg. when I force the cleaner through, it cleans out both the faucets and the lines. But I can see how a pump would be a good addition.

You got me thinking...I think the next project will be an automated keg cleaner.

 

[Sacdan]

Why not just use a corney filled with starsan and pump it out the taps?

 

[Gremlyn]

Sacdan, maybe to save on CO2? Whatever the reason, it's a great idea!

 

[remilard]

Why not just use a corney filled with starsan and pump it out the taps?

Well, because star-san is not a cleaner, for one thing. Unless you like beer stone you really want to use PBW, BLC (same thing basically) on the lines.

That still doesn't answer the question about pushing any such substances from a corny, the practical answer is that it requires a spare corny and its probably cheaper and easier to keep one of these around than to keep around an extra corny that can never have beer in it.

 

[humann_brewing]

why not put some oxy or starsan in a keg and send it through?

 

[hamiltont]

That still doesn't answer the question about pushing any such substances from a corny, the practical answer is that it requires a spare corny and its probably cheaper and easier to keep one of these around than to keep around an extra corny that can never have beer in it.

No offense but if you're cleaning your beer lines I imagine you would have a spare corny that might need cleaning too. Clean & sanitize both the corny & beer lines at the same time?? That's what I do.

 

[Bsquared]

why not put some oxy or starsan in a keg and send it through?

This is what I use to do, and it works fine. But I have run out of kegs in the past, and did not want to have to keep one dedicated to line cleaning.

What really did it for me was a couple months back I needed to clean out my beer gun, but did not have a free keg to use.It was a real pain to disassemble and clean between each keg I bottled off of. It's also easier to tote around than a keg.

 

[TimWeber]

+1 for an extra keg filled with PBW. A keg costs $25.
Run a gallon of PBW though each line, then a gallon of water.
The amount of gas needed is negligible.

Great idea if you don't have extra keg lying around or don't use cornelius kegs and use standard keg tap couplers. I am going to forward this to my buddy that doesn't homebrew.

 

[remilard]

No offense but if you're cleaning your beer lines I imagine you would have a spare corny that might need cleaning too. Clean & sanitize both the corny & beer lines at the same time?? That's what I do.

I'm not offended, I just use a keg myself.

I do happen to clean my lines more often than I empty a keg. I think this would be more useful for cleaning out the CPBF between beers. Also probably a little easier to fill this with PBW then rinse and fill with water then fill with star-san. I think I will build one even if it is just as a backup for when I am out of kegs and need to use the CPBF. Maybe it proves better than using a corny and I use it all the time.

 

[AiredAle]

Why not just disassemble the taps and hoses and soak in BLC, then sanitize and reassemble? Doesn't cost anything but time, gives you a chance for visual inspection, and eliminates nooks and crannies that get filled with crud over time?

 

[95747brewer]

Whenever I switch my Keg I end up cleaning and sanitizing it as well. At this time is when I clean my lines. Why would it be necessary to have an additonal keg for this? The only thing I can figure is if you are cleaning your lines midway through a keg of beer on tap.

 

[Bsquared]

Whenever I switch my Keg I end up cleaning and sanitizing it as well. At this time is when I clean my lines. Why would it be necessary to have an additonal keg for this? The only thing I can figure is if you are cleaning your lines midway through a keg of beer on tap.

Ideally you should be cleaning out your lines frequently.It does not take long for mold to start in the faucets, and from there it can quickly get in to the lines. I tend to disconnect my kegs from the tap if I am not drinking for a couple days, or if I want to rotate some thing in.

I don't like to take things apart too often though, I feel it shortens the life of the gaskets and the valves if I monkey around with it them much.

 

[Sacdan]

I have been running oxyclean first, then water, and then starsan via corney. Just wondering if there was any other benefit.

 

[nickpgoodman]

Fill empty keg with hot water, add appropriate amount of BLC, run .5 gallon through each tap, let sit in lines for 20 minutes, flush with .5 gallon of BLC mix again, then flush with water.

Do this every two months or so. A bottle of BLC should last you at least 1 year.

 

[tkone]

This is what I use to do, and it works fine. But I have run out of kegs in the past, and did not want to have to keep one dedicated to line cleaning.

What really did it for me was a couple months back I needed to clean out my beer gun, but did not have a free keg to use.It was a real pain to disassemble and clean between each keg I bottled off of. It's also easier to tote around than a keg.

Why do you need to clean in between? Once you've sanitized, it's sanitized. Your beer should be sanitary as well. Which means just move it to the next keg and run it into a cup until the new beer starts coming out and then go back to bottling.

It's sort of like racking on top of a yeast cake. You don't clean and re-sanitize the fermenter in between

 

[bendavanza]

tkone
Crud starts building up on the interior of the faucets, which can get into the faucet and it's seals when opening and closing. Flies and other bugs like to get up in the faucets. Beer stone builds up on the lines. Next time you pull off a faucet notice how much crud is behind it in the shank area. Lots of reasons to clean out the lines every couple months. BLC or similar works great, I pump it through the lines, let it sit, pump a little more, then rinse with water. Nice clean lines.

 

[tkone]

I'm not referring to lines -- those I clean each time I change a keg. I was referring to the beer gun which does need to be cleaned when you're done but not when
switching between beers

 

[Bsquared]

I'm not referring to lines -- those I clean each time I change a keg. I was referring to the beer gun which does need to be cleaned when you're done but not when
switching between beers

I have All brett beers, and sour beers, and Sacch beers. I try to make it a point to keep them separate by keeping the equipment seperate. But if I am going to use the same equipment like the beer gun to bottle up beers, I start with Saccharomyces, then All Brett, then the Sour beers. Sanitizing between.
I try to make a point to be extra careful now that I have been doing sours and Brett beers, and am sanitizing a lot more than I use to, I might be being a little over kill, but I have not had a problem yet (Knock Knock).

 

[95747brewer]

Ideally you should be cleaning out your lines frequently.It does not take long for mold to start in the faucets, and from there it can quickly get in to the lines. I tend to disconnect my kegs from the tap if I am not drinking for a couple days, or if I want to rotate some thing in.

I don't like to take things apart too often though, I feel it shortens the life of the gaskets and the valves if I monkey around with it them much.

Not drinking for a couple days? The only time I do that is when my keg is empty, bringing me back to my original point.:rockin:
Maybe I drink too much, but I dont think my faucets get time to grow mold before I down the keg.