Choice of Beer Line Cleaner

[dhelegda]

I have used Oxyclean, BLC and PBW to clean out my lines, Oxy and PBW always seems to run clear, where ask BLC tends to Run a yellowish color during the cleaning process. I am sure all of them are cleaning the beer lines...just looking for other Brewers thoughts...BLC is $15 vs $15 for Oxy and PBW which seems to go further!

 

[day_trippr]

I'm a BLC/LLC fan, mostly because it sure appears to pull stuff out that the others don't.

It's pricey, but worth it, imo...

Cheers!

 

[MagicMatt]

I believe BLC does a much better job at getting scale out of the lines. I don't think PBW is as caustic, so while it might work, you'd need it to sit in the lines longer before doing as good of a job. Just my opinion.

 

[dhelegda]

How long do you let it sit in the lines...I usually go about 30-45 minutes.

 

[chemman14]

usually about that or however long I can wait to tap the next keg haha

 

[Rockn_M]

I use warm water and Oxyclean Free, mainly because I already have that laying around for laundry.

 

[MagicMatt]

How long do you let it sit in the lines...I usually go about 30-45 minutes.

I actually recirculate it through my system continuously for about 15 minutes per tap. I use a small submersible pump and a keg post (and a couple of fittings to connect them), so I can just snap my ball lock QD right on the pump and open the tap to drain back into the bucket with the cleaner in it.

Very similar to this:
http://brewonabudget.com/2014/10/04/recirculatingblc/.

It works great.

 

[j1n]

i use hot water with PBW and let it soak in the lines for a bit then run starsan through to rinse it out.

 

[FortMillBrew]

I actually recirculate it through my system continuously for about 15 minutes per tap. I use a small submersible pump and a keg post (and a couple of fittings to connect them), so I can just snap my ball lock QD right on the pump and open the tap to drain back into the bucket with the cleaner in it.

Very similar to this:
http://brewonabudget.com/2014/10/04/recirculatingblc/.

It works great.

I do this too and concur, it does work great!

 

[dhelegda]

I would love to be able to do this. But I'd need a few hundred feet of hose and a bigger pump, my lines are on the other side of the wall.

 

[MagicMatt]

I would love to be able to do this. But I'd need a few hundred feet of hose and a bigger pump, my lines are on the other side of the wall.

Well you could likely do it without needing a bigger pump or hundreds of feet of hose, but it wouldn't necessarily be recirculating.....at least not automatically.

What you can do is fill a bucket/keg/whatever with the cleaning solution and put the pump in it. This goes on the keg-side of the wall (where the QD's are). Hook up a line to the pump and turn it on. Have another (empty) bucket/keg under the tap (obviously on the tap-side of the wall) to collect the cleaning solution. Once the solution has emptied from the original keg, swap kegs and move to the next line/tap.

It might take a bit more solution depending on how long you want to run through each tap, but at least you're saving CO2.

 

[TallDan]

I would love to be able to do this. But I'd need a few hundred feet of hose and a bigger pump, my lines are on the other side of the wall.

Assuming you have more than one tap, clean two at a time. Connect the two lines at the keg end (either a male-male flare adapter or some hardware between two disconnects), put your reservoir under your taps, pump into one line, and let it flow out of the other.

Actually, maybe i should do that with my own setup. I'd probably need a bigger pump than the wimpy one i'm using now, but I wouldn't have to leave the keezer door open when i'm cleaning.

 

[day_trippr]

I have a 6-tap t-tower and ^that^ daisy-chaining idea could be brilliant - if the faucet spout adapters could handle the pressure needed to recirculate through (counts fingers) 72 feet of 3/16" ID tubing, six flow meters, and the couplers for the beer lines and the faucets.

Have to think about the pressure thing. Ending up with a weak dribble would not be a win. I suppose doing pairs might suffice...

Cheers!

 

[dhelegda]

Assuming you have more than one tap, clean two at a time. Connect the two lines at the keg end (either a male-male flare adapter or some hardware between two disconnects), put your reservoir under your taps, pump into one line, and let it flow out of the other.



Actually, maybe i should do that with my own setup. I'd probably need a bigger pump than the wimpy one i'm using now, but I wouldn't have to leave the keezer door open when i'm cleaning.

That may work! I could do two at a time. I have 4 taps. The keezer is directly on the other side of the wall, from whet the taps are.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1433981329.659152.jpg

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1433981355.866649.jpg

 

[gnef]

I recently used BLC on all my taps, 14 on the walk-in, and then also on two jockey boxes, a 6 pass, and a 2 pass. I use my chugger pump with adapters to connect it up and recirculate the BLC for 15-20 minutes per setup.

On the jockey boxes, I could only do one line at a time due to restriction from the tubing and cold plate lines. On the walk-in, I started with just doing a simple loop with two lines at a time, but once I got to the lines that I was using John Guest fittings on, I used Tees to do 4 at a time, which worked great.

In doing research, I just bought Penetrate, made by the same company that makes BLC, and it appears to be a more concentrated BLC. The primary ingredient is still potassium hydroxide, but double the concentration, as the recommended doses are half of what was written for BLC. I wanted to get their DAC since it also has a stronger caustic, sodium hydroxide, but I couldn't find it at a place that had reasonable costs including shipping.

I don't expect to use Penetrate any time soon, but I expect it to work as BLC, just needing less, or using a higher concentration for a stronger cleaning.