Tip on cleaning keg tube / beer line without gas

[trustyrusty]

Hi Guys, caring is sharing...(but have probably been doing this for years )

I found a way to clean keg dip tube and beer line and more especially beer line without gas...

Clean out keg with all the dregs...hot rince again..

now add liquid cleaning agent (starsan) of choice and 2 ltrs of hot boiling water...

Seal keg.....wait a minute for pressure to build, you could also shake.

Release beer line tap and the fluid will flow out quite surpirising strongly and for a while to get enough through the tube and beer line and is

pretty hot too (so good clean)

(not sure what temp. the lines can sustain but I have had no issue)...

You can leave it there and done....but if you dont want liquid in beer line tube I also found if you let it cool to room temp and hold done beer

tap and the pressure will reverse and suck fluid back into keg... (not sure how this works but it does)

cheers

 

[Old Bloke]

Thanks, seems to easy to be true.
Will try it out with my next empty.

Regards

Chris

 

[trustyrusty]

Its true Be interested to see how it works for you ...

 

[damoninja]

I do this for purging dip tubes but there's no way I'd get enough pressure from got water alone to push liquid through my whole beer line -

- though I should actually try this, assumption as when I do put boiling water in the keg and shake it I still only get a trickle out of the tap that's connected directly to the liquid post, let alone 11 feet of beer line.

Honestly I don't purge my keg lines often enough, I do it every 3-4 kegs but for the most part, the line is sealed up to the tap. I clean the disconnect in hot water then star san it, when the taps come off for whatever reason they get a good clean and lube throughout.

When I don't clean and change kegs over I just open the tap give it a spray on the inside with star san, close, wait 1 minute, hook up the next keg, run off 50mL (my lines are ~42mL in volume), drink it, I'm good to go.



I was wondering though... there'd be a basically free way to CO2 gas for this purpose but it would require 2 kegs rather than one... (hear me out)

Ferment a few litres of sugar and water with any old yeast (even bread yeast) in the keg, sealed, for no purpose other than gas collection...
Another keg has star san / hot water / sodium perc in it, half full or whatever...
Hook the gas dc from the gas filled keg to the gas line of the cleaning solution keg, pressures will equalise
You now have a cleaning / purging keg under pressure

Sounds like a bit of a **** about but if you happen to have an unoccupied keg or so... could work...

 

[n87]

I just have a carb cap and a coke bottle.

Fill with cleaning stuff
connect
Squeeze...


Thats it

 

[trustyrusty]

I do this for purging dip tubes but there's no way I'd get enough pressure from got water alone to push liquid through my whole beer line -

I was surprised myself, I have about 1.5 m of line, no issues....but water must be just boiled. This way to cleans the beer gun too. I have blichmann pressure filler that Use to fill schooner cheers

 

[DU99]

i use sodium percarbonate and hot water and place lid on keg give it a shake or roll and gas off the sodium perc should give you enough to push liquid thru the line.

 

[damoninja]

I was surprised myself, I have about 1.5 m of line, no issues....but water must be just boiled. This way to cleans the beer gun too. I have blichmann pressure filler that Use to fill schooner cheers

3.3m is vastly more than 1.5m though the pressure needed is not entirely linear as the longer the line the more liquid it has to push as well as.

I just have a carb cap and a coke bottle.

Fill with cleaning stuff
connect
Squeeze...


Thats it

**** me how did I come up with some elaborate thing of needing 2 kegs when there's this

Maybe ought to order myself one of these...............

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

You can leave it there and done....but if you dont want liquid in beer line tube I also found if you let it cool to room temp and hold done beer

tap and the pressure will reverse and suck fluid back into keg... (not sure how this works but it does)

When you pour the boiling water in the keg it replaces some of the air with steam. When the steam cools it condenses back to water and creates a partial vacuum due to the missing air.

 

[trustyrusty]

By the way when I meant beer line I meant standard 2 m beer line and tap (if you have it in a fridge), not sure about beer lines in big set ups in home bar or keezer... cheers

 

[Kingy]

When I fill my kegs with 65°water and sodium perc after a few minutes pressure builds up enough to vent through the beer out with a disconnect to nowhere.
When I cold soak my kegs with sod perc After a day or to I put a disconnect on the beer out tube to clean the pick up tube as the built up pressure vents out. It sprays for a fair bit to.
Cleaning lines is a carb cap like mentioned above.
The carb cap and coke bottle is good for sanitising inside the dip tube to.

 

[trustyrusty]

Interesting

When I cold soak my kegs with sod perc After a day or to I put a disconnect on the beer out tube to clean the pick up tube as the built up pressure vents out. It sprays for a fair bit to.

Where does the pressure come from?

cheers

 

[n87]

Na Perc + Water > +ve pressure

AFAIK the reaction gives off Oxygen which gives the extra pressure. I usually use that to push the cleaning solution through the dip tube, gas in and PRV

edit: Although, depending on what temp and how much water you put in, I think the cooling down can counteract a good part of the pressure buildup from the perc.

 

[trustyrusty]

Thanks How much water and how much na perc?

 

[n87]

About 1-5L of hot (hottest my tap will put out) water with about that much perc

 

[trustyrusty]

What? ( I assume you are not meaning powered form) You mean 1.5 ltr of a diluted solution - I dont use much but think I have some, what is the dilution rate is...

 

[n87]

I don't really measure it, somewhere between 1 and 5 litres of hot water and 'about.... that much' perc.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

i use sodium percarbonate and hot water and place lid on keg give it a shake or roll and gas off the sodium perc should give you enough to push liquid thru the line.

Yep. Its the same in a PET bottle with a carb cap.

Or. The chemistry is over my head but try just cold water and Sodium Percarbonate in a PET bottle. Seeled and left to dissolve and the pressure builds up big time. In contrary when you re pressurize same bottle with Co2 and leave it sit by next day the walls cave in as vacuum. :unsure:
Isn't science freaky.

 

[scooterism]

I use a garden sprayer.

 

[trustyrusty]

How much sodium perc in the solution of 1.5 ltrs, 1 tablespoon, 2 ? thanks