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Author Topic: What do you do with keg beer lines between beers?  (Read 1926 times)

Offline trapae

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What do you do with keg beer lines between beers?
« on: April 16, 2018, 05:58:54 pm »
 Just wondering what people do with their beer lines between kegs if they have to leave them empty for a while?   Are clean mine with BLC then flush them with water. Then I try to get as much water out and leave them till next time but there is always some residual water left because my beer lines are 10 feet and not easily removed.   Then I worry that some Funk has been growing in the residual water and clean and flush again right before I hook up a keg and it is a pain in the butt to do it twice. If I left them full of water or starsan, I’m worried they will freeze because I keep my kegerator pretty cold. Anyone have any brilliant ideas?
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Offline Robert

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Re: What do you do with keg beer lines between beers?
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2018, 06:30:20 pm »
Leaving any cleaner or sanitizer in lines for any longer than the normal cleaning cycle (15-20 min) is definitely not recommended.  In vinyl lines (not the "hard" lines in parts of long run systems) these chemicals leach into the line, and then leach back out into the beer you serve later.  (For guidelines check out the BA's Draught Beer Quality Manual, and there's an MBAA podcast on draught line maintenance with really good info.) Think:  If you're afraid there's bad stuff in your line, why wouldn't it always be there?  If you don't worry about bugs in full lines, why empty ones? Do what makes you comfortable that your lines are clean, but don't leave chemicals in them.  My personal recommendation:  Brew and drink more, so you never have this problem!  ;)
Rob Stein
Akron, Ohio

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Offline Bob357

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Re: What do you do with keg beer lines between beers?
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2018, 06:53:50 pm »
I quit using BLC and here's what I do now. When I empty a keg, I rinse it several times and then fill it half full of an Oxyclean or PBW solution. After soaking for 1/2 hour or so, I invert the keg and let it soak for another 1/2 hour. Next, I hook it up to CO2 and the beer line and run a quart or so through the faucet. I let that soak for a few minutes and repeat until the solution comes out clear. I then rinse the keg several times and hook it up again. Flush the line/faucet with a gallon or so of fresh water and let it be until I hook up another keg. Once I'm ready to dispense from the fresh keg I connect the beer line and pull a couple of pints. This flushes out the water and most of the settlings from the bottom of the keg.

Every 3 months or so I do an acid flush of the lines/faucet using Starsan. After reading a post on Brewer's Friend, I'm going to try using a citric acid solution instead of Starsan. 10 grams/liter is what was suggested.
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Bob357
Fallon, NV