Why Soak Faucet?

[jerkbag]

heyo,

I've been cleaning my beer lines with Oxiclean followed by hot water every keg or so, but have never bothered disassembling & soaking the perlick faucets (kegging about 8 months). Is there a compelling reason to do this? Presumably whatever part of the faucet is in contact with the beer is cleaned during the line cleaning process, no?

And a related question: if I want to use as little CO2 as possible in line cleaning, is it better to have as little headspace as possible in the keg I am pushing the cleaner out of? I worry that a gallon of cleaner means a ton of headspace filled before the it gets pushed out?

Thanks!

 

[Rockn_M]

I don't disassemble my faucets. I do use an aquarium pump to push cleaner and sanitizer through my beer lines every few months then a wire brush to scrub the taps themselves.

This is what I built :http://www.homebrewfinds.com/2013/07/building-recirculating-draft-line.html. I had to purchase a larger pump to push hard enough to make it work.

 

[YeastMode]

Is there a compelling reason to do this? Presumably whatever part of the faucet is in contact with the beer is cleaned during the line cleaning process, no?

I clean mine about every six months. I check the internals to make sure everything looks good (seals, discoloration, build-up, etc.). I think it would be good practice to do so periodically, as sometimes build-up can occur on lips, ledges, and crannies of certain faucets. Also, I do not soak the parts, I clean by hand and find that to be more than sufficient.

And a related question: if I want to use as little CO2 as possible in line cleaning, is it better to have as little headspace as possible in the keg I am pushing the cleaner out of? I worry that a gallon of cleaner means a ton of headspace filled before the it gets pushed out?

The less head space, the less you have to fill with CO2. I am not sure it would bother me considered against the cost of the additional cleaning solution, but it would require more gas. An alternative method is to make a small pump, which I did, and works great. The link is below. No more CO2.

 

[Homercidal]

I generally clean my faucets and lines each time I change kegs because it takes me about 2 months to go through a keg.

I use BLC each time pushing cleaner through the lines and faucet with a modified garden sprayer. (Cost is roughly $20)

Before I started using BLC I used to disassemble my perlicks each time and clean and sanitize by hand. Worked fine. They are not hard to take apart and put back together.

I switched to the BLC when I read about using the garden sprayer and find it just as easy to soak the BLC while cleaning the keg and less wear and tear on the faucet assembly.

 

[jerkbag]

This is what I built :http://www.homebrewfinds.com/2013/07/building-recirculating-draft-line.html. I had to purchase a larger pump to push hard enough to make it work.

That looks awesome I am going to try that. What pump did you purchase?

 

[Rockn_M]

That looks awesome I am going to try that. What pump did you purchase?

I purchased this one. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012UZYMG?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00