Storing unused beer lines in keezer setup

[Narapoia]

I just purchased a Keezer with 5 taps and was wondering if anyone has thoughts on best practice for storing / keeping lines clean long term? Asking for two reasons:

1. Got the keezer for an event at the end of sept when all 5 taps will be in use and am not planning to use the setup till then, I've got 3 batches in bottles to work through in the interim, likely my last 3 fully bottled batches.

2. Once I do move to using the keezer full time I am unlikely to need all 5 taps - I just don't drink enough. So I'll likely keep 1-3 taps going, with the others brought in for events / parties etc.

The beer tubing is EVA with plastic duotight connectors

I've been doing some research and there are a lot of conflicting opinions out there:

1. Leave beer in the line - don't want to do this for months at a time even when the lines are refrigerated.
2. Purge the lines with PBW, then water and leave that there with lines refrigerated - seems better than option 1 but might still get stuff growing
3. Purge the lines with PBW, rinse with water, run co2 through, then try store them dry. This would be my preferred option, but the lines are quite long so I can't see any way they would get completely dry and I don't know whether to trust them if not used for extended periods.
4. Purge lines with PBW - leave that in there refrigerated. Not sure what this will do chemically to the EVA lines.
5. Just replace the lines each time they are needed if it's not often - seems wasteful and would like to avoid it if possible.
6. Overthinking it and any of these options could work.
7. Leaving starsan int he lines generally not recommended long term (months) due to damage to plastic fittings and potentially the tubing but not sure on the effect on EVA vs vinyl.

Has anyone got a similar setup / had a similar issue and did they find anything that worked for them?

Note: Am brand new to kegging.

 

[Dave70]

I've used option 7 for ever and ever without issue, at least the one with the 'liquid / liquid' fitting on each end I use to transfer from the fermentasaurus.

After clean up, I flush the line with 'starsan' from the fermenter into an empty keg and pop the connector off on the keg side so a little pressure remains in the line. Hang it up and forget it for months at a time.

My reasoning is phosphoric acid isn't harmful to plastic, even in highly concentrated form.
Based on the fact that if it was, the plastic bottle it came in and the spare fermenter I store the about fifteen litres of ready to use stuff would have failed years ago.

Science..

 

[Narapoia]

I've used option 7 for ever and ever without issue, at least the one with the 'liquid / liquid' fitting on each end I use to transfer from the fermentasaurus.

After clean up, I flush the line with 'starsan' from the fermenter into an empty keg and pop the connector off on the keg side so a little pressure remains in the line. Hang it up and forget it for months at a time.

My reasoning is phosphoric acid isn't harmful to plastic, even in highly concentrated form.
Based on the fact that if it was, the plastic bottle it came in and the spare fermenter I store the about fifteen litres of ready to use stuff would have failed years ago.

Science.

Ah, interesting. Some of the experiences I have read about online were the that the lines seem to be fine with Starsan/stellarsan but some people reported their plastic connectors corroding/going brittle - maybe due to a different polymer used for the connectors.

However if you have been using it in your lines for long term storage for your lines then I am definitely happy to go that route - I've bought some silicone hose and interconnectors so I can string all of the taps together and push cleaning solution then starsan through them in a loop with a submersible pump. Seems like the least wasteful of C02 and quickest way to get cleaning solution moving through all of the taps at once.

Will see how it goes and thanks for your reply.

 

[Narapoia]

Actually, that reminds me. On my current bottle of stellarsan the lids cracked and broke, both of them. The bottle wasn't dropped or anything like that, they crashed and shoot while it was sitting in storage. I ended up having to use cling film as a barrier with the broken lids to get a seal and stop them deteriorating further.

It seems weird they would use a polymer in a packaging component that is susceptible to phosphoric acid, but stranger things have happened. I might chuck one of the spare connectors I have in some and see how it goes long term.

 

[solidute]

I just purchased a Keezer with 5 taps and was wondering if anyone has thoughts on best practice for storing / keeping lines clean long term? Asking for two reasons:

1. Got the keezer for an event at the end of sept when all 5 taps will be in use and am not planning to use the setup till then, I've got 3 batches in bottles to work through in the interim, likely my last 3 fully bottled batches.

2. Once I do move to using the keezer full time I am unlikely to need all 5 taps - I just don't drink enough. So I'll likely keep 1-3 taps going, with the others brought in for events / parties etc.

The beer tubing is EVA with plastic duotight connectors

I've been doing some research and there are a lot of conflicting opinions out there:

1. Leave beer in the line - don't want to do this for months at a time even when the lines are refrigerated.
2. Purge the lines with PBW, then water and leave that there with lines refrigerated - seems better than option 1 but might still get stuff growing
3. Purge the lines with PBW, rinse with water, run co2 through, then try store them dry. This would be my preferred option, but the lines are quite long so I can't see any way they would get completely dry and I don't know whether to trust them if not used for extended periods.
4. Purge lines with PBW - leave that in there refrigerated. Not sure what this will do chemically to the EVA lines.
5. Just replace the lines each time they are needed if it's not often - seems wasteful and would like to avoid it if possible.
6. Overthinking it and any of these options could work.
7. Leaving starsan int he lines generally not recommended long term (months) due to damage to plastic fittings and potentially the tubing but not sure on the effect on EVA vs vinyl.

Has anyone got a similar setup / had a similar issue and did they find anything that worked for them?

Note: Am brand new to kegging.

Ok so you don't drink that much? That's perfectly fine. But...

Curious as to why you just couldn't have different types of beer on the go for all the taps instead of just leaving lines unused?

You don't have to drink more beer because you have more taps... This just gives you more styles to enjoy as you go. Once started, you will probably end up brewing less - just be sure not to drain them too evenly or you'll have 5 empty kegs and no beer.