Beer Going Sulphury In Lines @ Room Temp

[floppinab]

Not sure where to post this one but thought this is prolly the best place.

My kegging setup is as follows :

4 kegs in a freezer with a bucket of water and a pond pump in there as well. All the lines and flooded font lines pop out a hole in the side of the freezer through an insulated tube around 3 - 3.5m into a 3 tap flooded Andale cobra font fitted with Florytes (sp??) sitting on the bar.

I don't have the pump on full time and only turn it on when I'm using it, thus the beer in the lines is at room temps (it's in a cool part of house ~ 17 deg in winter, never above 24 in summer) until I pop the pump on around half an hour prior to when I want to start serving.

Recently I've noticed that the beer in the lines goes quite sulphury, i.e. if I haven't poured for say 5 days the initial pour from the lines is very sulphury, once it runs through and I'm getting beer from the keg it's fine, it's just the initial pour from what has been hanging around in the lines.

I've run hot caustic through the lines and although it appeared to help the problem initially it was back within a few weeks. Any thoughts on what be causing this??? My initial thoughts was something leaking inside the font into the lines but I'd be surprised if was effecting all three taps.
My thoughts now are something to do with the beer sitting at room temps in the plastic for an extended period doing something weird there. I don't really want have the pump running full time, it's a noisy beast.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

The smell is with the beer lines still holding the residual beer from the last pour I'm guessing ? So the smell has to be the beer in the line doing .. something ? Sulphur-like is a most unusual smell (rotten egg gas .. decomposing .. ?). Strange Mr G, very strange. We need some chemists on this one to see whether the beer at room temperature is supposed to decompose this radically ! Main reason this is unusual is most beer lines are not exposed the length yours are without a cooling system.

I remember your bar :icon_drool2: and for the sake of your family's health want you to immediately dismantle and send to my place. :super:


Best of Luck

FGZ

 

[itguy1953]

Not sure where to post this one but thought this is prolly the best place.

My kegging setup is as follows :

4 kegs in a freezer with a bucket of water and a pond pump in there as well. All the lines and flooded font lines pop out a hole in the side of the freezer through an insulated tube around 3 - 3.5m into a 3 tap flooded Andale cobra font fitted with Florytes (sp??) sitting on the bar.

I don't have the pump on full time and only turn it on when I'm using it, thus the beer in the lines is at room temps (it's in a cool part of house ~ 17 deg in winter, never above 24 in summer) until I pop the pump on around half an hour prior to when I want to start serving.

Recently I've noticed that the beer in the lines goes quite sulphury, i.e. if I haven't poured for say 5 days the initial pour from the lines is very sulphury, once it runs through and I'm getting beer from the keg it's fine, it's just the initial pour from what has been hanging around in the lines.

I've run hot caustic through the lines and although it appeared to help the problem initially it was back within a few weeks. Any thoughts on what be causing this??? My initial thoughts was something leaking inside the font into the lines but I'd be surprised if was effecting all three taps.
My thoughts now are something to do with the beer sitting at room temps in the plastic for an extended period doing something weird there. I don't really want have the pump running full time, it's a noisy beast.

 

[oldbugman]

Tried leaving the pump on for a week to see if it solves it?

 

[oldbugman]

Tried leaving the pump on for a week to see if it solves it?

Also I dont remember looking at what type of lines you had. I remember it was insulated but is it a true python with the cooling lines?

 

[itguy1953]

I've run hot caustic through the lines and although it appeared to help the problem initially it was back within a few weeks. Any thoughts on what be causing this??? My initial thoughts was something leaking inside the font into the lines but I'd be surprised if was effecting all three taps.
My thoughts now are something to do with the beer sitting at room temps in the plastic for an extended period doing something weird there. I don't really want have the pump running full time, it's a noisy beast.
[/quote]

Sounds like you have an infection in the lines. You could try pushing a no rinse sanitiser through the lines and leaving it in the lines for a few days. Try something like Iodophor which is based on iodine (what used to be used in the milking industry) and is quite good. When you go to use the system again, pour enough beer through the tap to flush out the iodophor first.

If this does not fix it, you might need to disconnect all of your fittings and soak everything in boiling water first, and then leave soak in iodophor overnight. Then put the system back together again and push iodophor through it again.

The infection could be coming from your balls .... I mean your ball locks. Make sure you pull the ball locks apart and treat with the other bits. You could also drop the pressure in your keg and take off the ball lock posts and pull these apart and wash in iodophor. One of our club members had a constant infection problem like you are reporting. It turned out the it was coming from his ball locks, and getting into the beer lines, and when he switched kegs, the infection got backwards into the ball locks of the next keg. He kept cleaning/sanitising his beer lines and could not get rid of it, until he cleaned up his balls.

Barry

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Me again, just a simple thing. Does the smell come from each and every beer line ? Say cos think of India Pale Ale - brewed super strong to ensure didn't go off on long trip to the colony. Do all your beer lines smell. or just one or two ?

Other than running pump full time as suggested above, have you also tried changing the beer lines themselves ?

 

[floppinab]

Thanks for the responses.

No chance on the bar Ian, its mine mine MINE

It's not a real python Luke, some of that tubey insultation stuff (I'm sure it's got a real name) from Clark Rubber, with the lines and flood plumbing stuffed inside.

Would be surprised if it was the ball locks Barry, I'm pretty good at cleaning and sanitising the kegs, I make sure the locks get a good flush of cleaner and iodophor prior to filling, but it could be a possibility.
I'm leaning more toward your suggesting of something in the lines/discos but would've thought the caustic would've killed anything there. That said I'll try your suggestion of leaving the Iodophor in the lines following another caustic flush.
Are the commercial line cleaners worth a try/any benefit over caustic???

 

[itguy1953]

That said I'll try your suggestion of leaving the Iodophor in the lines following another caustic flush.ush
Are the commercial line cleaners worth a try/any benefit over caustic???
[/quote]

I have heard that Iodophor is one of the best sanitisers around. It is quite cheap to use, as you only need 10ml to 10 litres. A 250ml bottle costs about $7. It stays active for a long time, and looses its effectiveness when the colour disappears.

I am going to soak all of my gear in iodophor from now on, and have a small bucket of it in my fridge so I soak pluto taps and beer lines between use.

After I empty a keg I will wash it with napisan, and leave this in overnight, then flush out with clean water, and then put in a few litres of iodophor solution, shake and leave until I need it again. Then drain iodophor and fill with nectar of the gods.

Barry