Keg and beer line hygiene etc.

[welly2]

Since my kegs are working a treat, I've got a quick question on keeping my keg and beer line in tip top condition so my beer always comes out tasty.

So - how often do you clean your beer lines? What about your taps? Or do you just keep drinking until it's done and then do the cleaning? I guess, being as the lines and everything are kept chilled, then it probably shouldn't matter but I can't help but be a bit concerned about beer being sat in the beer line, for some reason. Am I being concerned for no good reason and the beer will happily sit in the line?

 

[real_beer]

In the 1980's we used to flush the beer with water every night and clean them with caustic in the morning followed by a half hour flush with water. Now some pubs only clean their lines once a week and just leave the beer in the lines overnight, I don't know how widespread this practice is but the last job I took as a cellarman I chucked in after two days because all they wanted was a keg checker and switcher.

Just pick your own regieme to suit your timetable, but flushing the lines and taps after every keg is a sensible approach. I always squirt some starsan up the tap spout at the end of a session to help stop nasties setting up, and then I fit a plastic push on cover to stop flies and bugs crawling up them.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

I have often hooked up another keg and go. At least every second keg I'll load the lines with Sodium percarb and let sit for 10+ minutes. Flush with water then let Star San sit in the lines for another 10 mins or leave it in there until the beer is ready to go. The taps get done every 3rd keg or less.
I like the idea of plastic caps for the taps. Those little fly buggers are notorious here. Curse them when they crawl up the tap then immersed in a fresh poured beer. :angry:

 

[Rocker1986]

I'm only new to kegs myself, but I've taken to running a hot sodium perc solution (stuff doesn't react with cold water) through the line and tap of whichever keg blows dry (have 3 taps). Then a rinse through with hot water and a Starsan. I just use the empty keg for this. Mainly started on this because up until now when one blew dry there wasn't another one to replace it straight away so I didn't want beer residue sitting in the line/tap for ages. Still isn't one ready if one blows in the next two weeks, but I'm slowly building towards a stockpile of kegs in waiting. Maybe then I'll not clean each line/tap after every keg, but I don't know yet.

 

[real_beer]

Personally for me cleaning the lines is a great excuse to spend some quality time with the kids kegs. I like fiddling with all the gear and equipment as much as brewing so cleaning it is a labour of love for me :wub:

 

[Moad]

I just replaced all lines and rebuilt taps after 2 years. There was some gunk in the taps but it wasn't horrible.

I've put a calendar reminder to pull them apart every 6 months now.

I run some sodium perc through when I think of it but I will start to clean them more often after seeing the gunk.

 

[Kiwimike]

Every brew when cleaning the next keg I run a couple of litres of hot water through the line - it doubles to clean out the pickup tube in the keg, but also gives the beer line a clean. Then soak the beer disconnect in that water for a bit to give it a clean also. From time to time I also take the tap apart and get rid of all of the gunk that builds up.

 

[Cervantes]

I work a month on / month off rotation, so disconnect the beer lines and flush through when I leave for work, so every second month.

They may also get flushed between kegs, but then again they may not.

Edit:

I leave the beer disconnects soaking while I'm away. This stops them getting sticky and makes them easier to connect and disconnect.