Beer lines

Equipment / Équipement
1

Hi guys and gals, simple question for the group, how do you leave your beer lines between kegs? Filled with beer line cleaner, clean water, oxyclean or something else?

Thanks!

2

I usually blow the keg until just gas is coming out. Since I have the CBDS, I don’t pull much or any trub from the bottom of the keg.

The line is pretty empty after I remove the keg and I just hook up the next keg. If I don’t load a new keg right away, I’ll clean the line before hooking up a new keg.

Denis

1 Like
3

I’m similar to Denis. Two things I’ll add:

  1. If I’m immediately swapping in a fresh keg (e.g. the lines are still mostly wet, sitting less than 24hr), I don’t do anything other than make sure the line is at a lower pressure than the new keg to avoid any push-back into the keg. Then I pour til I get all new beer in the line.
  2. I’ll replace my lines every year or two, or if I ever notice something that looks like a problem and doesn’t go away with a cleaning.

I’ve heard of people doing everything you’ve listed, but never thought it was really worth my time. I’ll run some beer line cleaner or oxyclean through, followed by clean water if they’ve been sitting empty for a while, but otherwise it seems like more effort than it’s worth.

I’ll also add that lines aren’t the only thing to keep an eye on. You should check and clean your faucets relatively regularly as well. You’d be surprised how much gunk can build up after a couple kegs, especially for an older style faucet.

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4

I hook up all my lines (3) in series and run cleaner through them probably once every 6 to 8 weeks. It’s not a lot of work and it just seems like a good habit. I have noticed from time to time a bacterial build up in my lines, though I haven’t noticed an impact on the flavour or quality of my beers. When I see it, I clean it.

Like Sam, if I’m swapping an empty for a full keg, I don’t worry too much about it, just flush the old beer with the new and keep going.

In a somewhat related topic, if you’re going to be serving brett beers alongside your regular beers, I think it’s worth creating dedicated brett lines and marking them so as to not accidentally contaminate any other beers. It probably won’t matter if there is decent rotation of beers on tap, but it could impact beers that get bottled & stored or kegs left to mature.

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5

If one line is not used for a while, i run starsan through the line and leave it there until next use.

6

After a keg is empty, I clean it with a gallon of hot PBW. Then, pressurize it and clean my line to a small 1 gallon carboy (i save it to clean bottles). I rince the keg with hot water, fill it with cold starsan (2-3 liters) and pass it through the line.

I still use the original line. My faucet are Intertap so I can unscrew the spout and clean it with a brush.