[evandy]

What do all of you use as beer-line cleaner on your kegging setups?  How often do you clean your lines and faucets?

I have been spraying a little star-san up into my forward-sealing faucets every month or so, but haven't done too much with the lines yet (they have each pushed about 2 full kegs, and it's taken a year to do it).

How often do they need to be flushed out?  Is star-san or PBW good on the lines, or should I break down and buy some actual BLC?

Thanks for the feedback.

[tschmidlin]

I just use LLC.  It's cheap enough that I don't know why you wouldn't use it unless you had space constraints for storing it.  I've never tried it with PBW or starsan, so I guess I have no comment on that.

[Tim McManus]

I use BLC in the following manner.  I fill a keg with about 2 gallons of the solution (BLC and water, follow the label).  I have four tap lines that I clean, so I connect the keg to the lines and run the hot solution through the lines for about 20 seconds.  I do this with each line.  Then I go thru the lines again for another 20 seconds but collect the runoff into a bucket.  I then soak the keg connects from the tap lines in the bucket to clean the connects.  Per the instructions, I flush the rest of the lines with ice water.  I'll do this every 3-4 months or if I let the lines sit for more than a month without a keg attached.

Once a year I disassemble the faucet shafts and the entire faucet and soak everything in BLC to get all the crud off.  There is usually some buildup inside the faucets, but it comes off easily.  You only need to soak things for about 5 minutes in hot BLC solution.  Rinse everything in ice water.

In between kegs I flush my tap lines with hot water, no solution.  That keeps the lines mostly clean, but the quarterly and annual clean ensure that everything is clean.  YMMV.

[bluesman]

I have used BLC in the past.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/brewing-equipment/cleaning-chemicals-equipment/sanitation-cleaning/beer-line-cleaner.html

...but have opted to just replace the lines when they start getting "funky".
Draught Beer manuals will tell you to replace the lines at least once a year. Now that may be "overkill" but
it will ensure the quality of your beer.

I think cleaning the lines is a viable method as well. It's a judgement call.

Here's a great resource.

https://files.pbworks.com/download/XXIP2qoiGX/draftquality/18182336/DBQM_Full.pdf

[beveragebob]

I use the stronger commercial version of BLC. It's the one in the clear bottle with blue type. I use a 3 gallon corny and add the recommended amount to 3 gallons of super hot water. I pull about a quart per tap(12 taps) and let it sit for 20-30 minutes. I then flush each tap with super hot water. I do this about every three kegs and it's kept my lines clean as a whistle for 8.5 years. I also take off my forward sealing faucets, disassemble and clean with a small brush that fits all of the orifices.