[trapae]

 Just wondering what everyone else does? I clean my beer lines after every single 5gal keg but it is a pain in the ass. I have one tap for Stout, one for IPA, and one for everything else. What does everyone else do?

[mainebrewer]

I clean the beer lines on my 5 keg set-up 3-4 times per year. It works out to cleaning a line after every 4-5 kegs.

[HoosierBrew]

After every keg kicks (meaning immediately), I run hot water through the lines and tap, to rinse any sticky residue from the faucet and lines. Then I run starsan (or more often lately, iodophor) through the lines and taps. I also use BLC 2-3 times/year.

[natebrews]

I have a pond pump with some 1/2" silicone hose on it that I slide onto the tap and run PBW backwards through it.  I put the keg end of the tubing inside the fridge into the bucket and just let it circulate for 10+ minutes.  I also work the handles back and forth a bunch of times to make sure that all the surfaces get exposed.  Then I drop the pump in a bucket of rinse water and let that go.  I do it either when a keg kicks or when it has been long enough that I feel like it needs it (once a month maybe?).

[mabrungard]

I flush with water after each keg and sanitize with StarSan or Iodophor. Since I use clear lines, I inspect the line for any evidence of buildup in the line. I use Beer Line Cleaner on those lines but find that sometimes a buildup is significant enough to warrant filling the line with hot sodium hydroxide (lye) solution and letting the line sit filled with that solution for a day or so. The lye solution has proven to always work, but its very dangerous to work with.

[Bob357]

As soon as a keg kicks I hook up another one and run out a pint or 2 to clear out the lees and then clean with BLC as soon as possible. In the event that we don't empty a keg in 3 or 4 weeks, I clean both lines monthly.

[Andor]

I run blc  through my lines every time I put a new beer on with a pond pump. I also completely disassemble and clean the keg each time. After bottling 5 years I'd feel lazy not to

[RC]

When a keg kicks: If I have another keg carbonated and immediately ready to go, I simply install the new keg and start tapping it. If I don't have another immediately ready to go, I flush the line with warm water (using a pressurized plant mister modified with a ball-lock fitting), then let it sit until the next keg gets installed. I have never flushed/cleaned the lines, after ~4 years, with anything but warm water. I do inspect the lines closely once in a while, and so far no beer stone or mold or anything else. Beer always tastes great. Cleaning with BLC or whatever once in a while is probably a good thing to do, but I've never done it, and I'm still tasting great beer on tap. One factor, though, is probably how often the line sits empty and untapped. Mine rarely do. But if your tap line sits for a long time empty, not a bad idea to run BLC through it.

[EnkAMania]

I clean after every keg.  I have an extra keg that I put hot water and cleaning solution (PBW or OxyClean)  I run a little through and let it sit in the line for a little bit.  I then run the remaining cleaner through and do a rinse with just hot water

[EThome]

Usually when a keg kicks I run BLC with warm/hot water through the lines and faucets (probably don't have to go the BLC route every time, but I do since I sometimes don't get around to cleaning the line "immediately" after the keg kicks). I use a hand pump sprayer (FloMaster) I picked up from Home Depot fitted with a pin lock QD. Saw a post for making this on another forum. After running the BLC solution, sometimes stopping the flow to allow the cleaning solution to sit in the line for a short time, I'll run hot water through the line and faucet to rinse it.

After I clean the keg, I add a couple of gallons of StarSan to sanitize the keg and then push it out through the beer line and faucet with CO2. Both keg and lines are then ready whenever I get around to filling the keg again.

[blatz]

man, I feel like a slug - I only clean every 2-3 months, which works out to every other keg or so per tap.  I daisy chain the lines together and recirc a sump pump with BLC for 45 min and then with hot water to flush out. 

[juggabrew303]

Step 1: flush with hot PBW
Step 2: flush with hot water
Step 3: flush with star San.
Step 4: tap new keg, carb, relax and have a homebrew.
Step 5: repeat


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