Beer lines: how clean is "clean?"

[LandoLincoln]

Okay, so I have a confession to make. I've owned a 2-tap keezer for about a year and a half now, and...I've never cleaned the beer lines. I am so, so sorry, Beer Gods. I shall make penance.

Anyway...so I cleaned the beer lines tonight for the first time. I used some commercial BLC stuff. I used a gallon of distilled water and 4 oz of BLC (the bottle recommended 2-3 oz per gallon, but I figured my beer lines were really nasty, so I used 4 oz). Then I rinsed each line with a gallon of fresh hot tap water.

So the beer lines were kinda dark and had a bit of crud in them in the beginning, but at the end of the process they looked to be clear of crud but the lines weren't CLEAR clear - they still had a bit of yellowish/orangish tinge to them.

The beer tasted good before the process and I can't honestly say that the beer tasted better after the process.

So the question is: when you guys clean your beer lines, do they look like new when you're done cleaning them? If so, I guess I should just buy some new beer lines and then clean them on a regular basis.

 

[LordUlrich]

I have always gotten my lines at home to be clear, but I replace them every few years anyway (usually because I've done something stupid and damaged them...) One thing about really dirty draft line is it will take multiple cleanings to really get clean, and a caustic cleaner. I "rescued" the draft lines at the brew pub where I used to work by doing weekly caustic then acid cleanings. It took 2 month before the solution would come out not looking like a stout. The filth builds up so beer stone protects the organic crud, and vise versa, so you need to attack both problems on occasion (caustic or PBW type solution for organics, and acid like starsan or BLC for the beer stone).

Short answer is i'd get new lines, they are pretty cheap, and will save you a lot of effort (and probably be cheaper than the cleansers) unless you have high quality glass lined beer line.

 

[hunter_le five]

Every time I kick a keg, I clean the keg, and then full it with a few gallons of a warm PBW solution, and run it through the line.

Then I sanitize the keg with star San, leaving a gallon or so in the keg, and then run that bit of star San through the line.

Then I pop in the next keg (if I have one ready), and dump the first glass, as it's about 1/4 star San.

Maybe cleaning this much between each keg is excessive, I don't know. But my beer lines and taps are super clean and clear, and I don't have problems with off flavors or infections.


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[sawbossFogg]

Replace the lines.