Push Line Cleaner with air compressor not CO2

[Huaco]

I had an "Ah-Ha" moment when doing some pressure testing on kegs one day... after draining a bottle of CO2 pressurizing about 20 kegs to check for leaks, I built this little contraption. It allows you to perform pressure checks and push Liquid Line Cleaner through a draft system using compressed air instead of valuable CO2. The inline regulator allows you to regulate the supply air down to whatever pressure you need. Just heed the pressure rating for your keg... AND NEVER EXCEED ANY RATED PRESSURE. Use some brains people. lol

NOTE: The regulator I listed is not the one I used in my build. I was given a low pressure regulator with more adjustment in the low end below 40 psi. Search around, you may find one. Also, I snagged the photo of the entire setup assembled together from JCav here who asked me about how to build one...

Anyway, here's what I do.
-Mix a 5 gallon batch of LLC in a keg.
-Attach the regulator adapter to any standard compressed air hose
-Adjust pressure down to about 5 psi
-Hook up liquid line of serving line to keg of LLC
-Connect regulated compressed air line to keg of LLC
-Open tap and allow LLC to flow for about 5 minutes. This is the recommended flow time for the brand of LLC I use.
-Repeat for each line or get yourself some Ball Lock Jumpers from BobbyM jumping each serving line together and clean all lines in a single pass.

-Rinse and fill keg with fresh tap water. Repeat all these steps to rinse all lines of any LLC. (Follow instructions for your LLC)
-Allow all rinse water to be pushed out of keg as well as lines to leave lines empty. Or, shut it down just before the keg is empty of rinse water to leave the lines full of water... your choice.

---Regulated compressed air Keg adapter---

Quick Connect

Barbed adapter

red beverage gas hose assembly

With one of these regulators spliced inline.

You'll need one 1/4 NPTxBarb adapters for each side of the regulator as well.

clamps for each connection...
This can be VERY cheap if you already have stuff on hand. I was given the regulator by a friend. I had the red gas line and clamps. I think I purchased the brass barbs and clamps...

 

[TX_Brewing]

Very nice....

I have started using a bicycle pump locked onto a gray gas fitting...an air compressor would be much easier

 

[Huaco]

Yeah, even a dedicated pancake compressor would be sufficient. Hand pump... Awesome! Nice thinking man!

 

[jcav]

Thanks again Huaco for helping me out and listing the parts for your nifty creation. Glad to see you posted it too, so others will benefit if they want to make one. Now I can clean my kegerator lines with free air and save on not having to use expensive C02 to push the cleaner!!

John

 

[jcav]

Just thought I'd give an update on this. I have used this nifty little gadget several times now to clean my two tap kegerator. Even though this regulator doesn't have an extensive adjustment in the low end of the psi scale, I still can easily dial in any psi I need, in one psi increments. I usually set it at 4 psi, as this seems to give me a good flow at this level. You can also add more psi or decrease the psi while it is in use with no issues. I really like this device and you use free compressed air to push the cleaner. Love it!

John

 

[The_Bishop]

I just use a small pond pump in a small bucket to recirculate cleaner. No compressor needed, and I can recirculate as long as necessary.

 

[jcav]

That is a really good way of doing it also. I wanted to try this route, since the compressor line in the garage is plenty long. I have a door in my kitchen that leads to the garage and my kegerator is in my kitchen. So all I do is open the door and pull in the compressor line, add the attachment I made to the compressor line, and snap it on the "gas in" on the keg. The kegerator beer line snaps on the "liquid out" post of the keg. I put a hose on the faucet which dumps into a 5 gallon bucket and start cleaning out the lines.

The pond pump method looks like a very good way to go as well and if I didn't have the kegerator in the kitchen with the garage door and compressor so close to each other, I probably would have just went the pond pump route.

Cheers

John

 

[flars]

I just use a small pond pump in a small bucket to recirculate cleaner. No compressor needed, and I can recirculate as long as necessary.

I would be concerned with pushing dirty water and bacteria through the lines when an air compressor is used. The compressor draws into the tank anything that is in the air where the compressor is located. Moisture is the most easily seen when the tank is periodically drained but the tank and hose may also harbor mold and bacteria.

The compressor would need to be cleaned and sanitized like other equipment used in brewing.

 

[kombat]

I just use one of the Chugger pumps I already have, and a special length of silicone tubing with a liquid-out post on the end, as described in this thread.

 

[jcav]

That's pretty cool Kombat!

John

 

[jcav]

Hi Flars, I appreciate the response and the concerns. You raised some good points also. I regularly drain the air out of my compressor tank anyway through the bottom dump valve on the tank, and don't usually store it full if I am not going to use it for awhile. This will prolong the life of the compressor tank and keep a lot of the moisture from collecting on the bottom.

So far, I run hot beer line cleaning solution through the keg and into the lines. I then flush them out with clean hot water, and then I run air through the lines to get most of the moisture out of the beer lines. After I am through I basically hook up a new keg that's ready to be tapped that day or a day or two later. I have not had any mold, mildew, or off flavor problems yet. I even held a flash light up to the beer line and inspected it the last time I did this, to see if I got out all the beer stone etc., and I was very surprised how clean the lines were. I may go the pond pump route in the near future though.....Thanks for chiming in.

John

 

[bigdawg86]

Necro-thread revival. I made this, but with a few changes. Adventures in Home Brewing have a 1/4NPT to 17/32 corny keg post adapter and am considering running a T fitting so I can have the male keg post for flushing lines, or the female fitting if I wanted to pressurize a keg to flush water / sanitizer. I also put a inline valve as well. Will post pictures when done.

 

[jigtwins]

I would be concerned with pushing dirty water and bacteria through the lines when an air compressor is used. The compressor draws into the tank anything that is in the air where the compressor is located. Moisture is the most easily seen when the tank is periodically drained but the tank and hose may also harbor mold and bacteria.

The compressor would need to be cleaned and sanitized like other equipment used in brewing.

You could plumb a hepa filter in line to keep out the nasties.

 

[jcav]

Just thought I would update. Even though I really liked the idea of using the compressor instead of wasting C02, several months ago I decided to use a pump and circulate the hot cleaner through the tap lines for 30 minutes. This is how I have been doing it ever since.

 

[ancientmariner52]

NOT certain, but I'd bet the compression heating in the compressor cylinder will fry any biologicals. A piston compressor of course, not the diaphragm type.

I use my compressor routinely for drying and cleaning purposes, and even to push wort through my cfc after the pump loses suction. Never a problem.

 

[lschiavo]

NOT certain, but I'd bet the compression heating in the compressor cylinder will fry any biologicals. A piston compressor of course, not the diaphragm type.

I use my compressor routinely for drying and cleaning purposes, and even to push wort through my cfc after the pump loses suction. Never a problem.

I bet your beer tastes like compressed ass

Seriously though, I have never found a better way to clean my plate chiller than compressed air.

 

[ancientmariner52]

I only use compressed air because I don't have a boiler. Not saying it will work every time, every application, for everybody. Just that it works for me, so far.

 

[lschiavo]

I only use compressed air because I don't have a boiler. Not saying it will work every time, every application, for everybody. Just that it works for me, so far.

Why do you only have 21 posts since 2014? I like the way you think. You could be an asset around here.

 

[ancientmariner52]

I injured my back the last time I brewed, a couple of years ago. I thought I'd have to give it up, but I'm slowly getting back into it. A big part of my motivation is HBT and the homebrewing community. My life has been spent among machinery and hands-on practical people, and I see the world from that perspective.

It is very kind of you to say that I could be helpful. By nature and training I am a pedantic sarcastic a$$, but I try to keep it under control.

 

[lschiavo]

I am a pedantic sarcastic a$$, but I try to keep it under control.

Are you me? I have a lousy back too.

I hope to see more posts from you

 

[ancientmariner52]

Thanks.

 

[bigdawg86]

Using this thread as inspiration, this is what I came up with. The jumpers weren't in stock for the longest time so I ended up with two outputs. One post female and one male. The only thing is my "regulator" didn't turn out to be a regulator. Its more of a simple valve with a PSI gauge attached to it. It still works but it limits only flow, not resting pressure. So I still need to dial down my compressor regulator to stay safe. Good enough.

 

[mrmcdowe]

Anyone worried about small amount of oil from the compressor entering plate chillers?

 

[day_trippr]

Even with an oil-less compressor, I'd be worried about the rusty "water" with lord only knows what population of microbes that collects in the tank.
I never use my compressor where sanitation is important. I've seen what runs out of the drain

Cheers!

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Even with an oil-less compressor, I'd be worried about the rusty "water" with lord only knows what population of microbes that collects in the tank.
I never use my compressor where sanitation is important. I've seen what runs out of the drain

Cheers!

What if, you have no "tank", and are going straight from the compressor head, ( oil-less), and using the corny keg as the "tank"?

 

[day_trippr]

That'd probably be okay, at least you wouldn't be knowingly saturating the cleaner/sanitizer with "oogy" water

Cheers!

 

[BitterSweetBrews]

I have always filled a spare keg up with oxyclean and pressurized it with my littler pancake compressor to push the cleaner through tap lines etc. I have never had a problem. I figure anything in the compressor is going to be killed by the soap. I also use air from it to push the final wort through my CFC, stopping as soon as I get a bubble. I drain the compressor air tank every time I use it. I use my chugger pump to recirculate cleaner through all my brewing hoses and CFC when I am done. I plug the hoses into all my ball valves. I have everything on valves so I don't have to move hoses during brewing (I hate getting burned and have had gloves fail). This lets me clean everything at once. I then run clean water through them and drain it into my sink.

 

[metaltim]

I would be concerned with pushing dirty water and bacteria through the lines when an air compressor is used. The compressor draws into the tank anything that is in the air where the compressor is located. Moisture is the most easily seen when the tank is periodically drained but the tank and hose may also harbor mold and bacteria.

The compressor would need to be cleaned and sanitized like other equipment used in brewing.

I don't agree that the compressed air would be in the lines.

If you have a keg full of say pbw and hot water, the compressor is only pushing down on that liquid in the keg, forcing the liquid at the bottom of keg up through the dip tube and into the beer lines (just like when serving beer). Unless you pressurized it and let it sit for a few days, that air will not go into solution of the cleaning liquid.

Now, for the cycle, if you never completely empty the cleaning keg, than the compressed air will never actually enter the lines. If you start with a full keg of cleaning liquid, just have it empty (at the end of your run) into an empty keg, that way you'll know when you are about through all the liquid and can prevent the air burst at the end.

Same with hot water for your rinse.

Now if you do the final step and use compressed air to empty lines of the hot clean water, then yes, now that potentially dirty air is entering the lines. But that step isn't necessary. Just turn off compressor before the air burst, and hook up the beer line (which still has hot water in it) back to your beer keg. Open tap and catch the water in a glass until beer comes out. Most lines at home are just a few ounces.

I tried using my chugger pump last weekend to clean my lines, but alas, it couldn't do all 6 of my lines at the same time (using the intertap qd tips to tie my taps together). I tried 5, nope.. 4 nope. Only 3. So I had to do 2 cycles. At 10 min for cleaning and 10 min for rinsing, that's 40 minutes, plus the time to switch between taps and get pump going, etc. It took over an hour by the time I was done.

With my compressor (and the parts I just ordered to make this work) I'm confident I can do all 6 lines, saving me time, and not dealing with my chugger pump.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I clean my six faucets/lines/disconnects in parallel, it's the only way it would work considering I run 12 foot lines and it's driven by an oil-free sump pump...

Cheers!