QD adapters for connecting two keg quick disconnects together at the keg end: https://goo.gl/F6WfYu
Note: These do not work well with my QDs (better quality German CM Becker) as the posts in the QDs are too long so I had to carefully use my drill press to drill the stainless adapters to make more room for the QD posts, otherwise they wouldn't lock on without taking removing the QD posts first (more work). If you're all thumbs two Stainless Steel Carbonation Caps with Barb connected with a piece of hose and a couple of hose clamps would probably be simpler: http://amzn.to/2DSPlkd
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I've been asked a few times how I clean my lines so I've put together some quick information here.
Beer lines should be cleaned regularly to get rid of hop resins, yeast residue, sugar build-up, bacteria, proteins, mold, beer stone (calcium oxalate) and other deposits that can accumulate over time. Many will create off-tastes in your beer. Deposits can also create tiny nucleation sites that promote gushing and poor head retention.
How often to clean depends on usage. The Draught Beer Quality Manual that is published by the Brewers Association (free PDF download) recommends the following schedule for commercial establishments using two different products that serve two different purposes:
Every 2 weeks: Use Beer Line Cleaner (BLC) or Liquid Line Cleaner (LLC) to remove hop resins, yeast residue, sugar build-up, bacteria, proteins, and mold. This is an alkaline (high pH) cleaning.
Every 3 months: Use Acid Line Cleaner (ALC) to remove inorganic materials such as calcium oxalate (beer stone) and calcium carbonate (water stone). This is a acid (low pH) cleaning.
At home people can go ~6 weeks between using BLC/LLC but many will go longer without any issues. At home many never use ALC either. Use BLC/LLC regularly and you may never need to use ALC to remove beer stone or water stone. For my home use I aim to do a BLC cleaning 3-4 times a year and the ALC cleaning once a year, but this often seems to slide a bit.
I have 8 taps in the basement bar so cleaning the lines individually would take an inordinate amount of time, so I link them all together in a giant loop and recirculate cleaner exactly how the pros do it when cleaning the lines in commercial restaurants and bars.
The general cleaning steps I follow to clean my 8 taps are:
1. Connect the beer lines on the quick disconnect keg side together with the QD adapters between lines 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, and 1-8.
2. Remove the faucets on the serving side using a faucet wrench.
3. Install short vinyl hose jumpers on the serving side between taps 1-2, 3-4, and 5-6. Connect a return line hose to tap 7. Connect the pump to tap 8 using the brass 1/2" hose barb to female garden hose swivel coupling. Everything is now connected in one giant loop.
4. Fill the bucket with water and drop in the pump. Leave the tap 7 return line in the sink to allow it to drain. Turn on the pump by plugging it in and the beer already in the lines is flushed down the drain by the pump using the water in the bucket. Removing all the beer from the lines first means the beer line cleaner has less work to do.
5. Once the lines only have water in them, turn off the pump and fill the bucket with hot water and liquid line cleaner. Follow the instructions for the amount of cleaner to use. It usually takes only an ounce or so of cleaner per gallon or two of water as it's really caustic stuff. The tap 7 return line is placed in the bucket, the pump turned back on, and the water with cleaner is recirculated for ~30 minutes.
6. While the cleaner is recirculating, disassemble, soak, and clean the faucets that were previously removed in Oxiclean. Re-assemble.
7. After ~30 minutes of recirculating remove the tap 7 return line from the bucket and place it back in the sink to allow the cleaner to go down the drain. As the bucket empties fill it once or twice more with water to flush all of the cleaner out of the the lines.
8. Remove all of the jumpers on both the keg and serving sides, and re-install the faucets back on the tower. Once installed, make sure to push them all the way back to turn them off.
9. Reconnect the quick disconnects to the kegs. Hint: Don't reverse the order of the last two steps unless you like beer all over the floor).
10. Drain the water in the lines by pulling from each line until beer starts to flow again.
11. And there was much rejoicing...
Check out the videos above for more information.
Hints:
- If you have less lines then you'll obviously need less jumpers/QD adapters. When cleaning the 2-tap kegerator lines I only need to use one QD adapter to join the two together, and no jumpers on the serving side.
- Don't try to remove faucets with anything other than a faucet wrench. You'll only end up scratching/mangling things if you try to use (say) a pair of vice grips. A faucet wrench is specially made for removing/attaching faucets.
- Don't have a tap tower yet? Stay away from the really cheap bar/draft towers. Some of the junkier stuff is softer metal and won't hold up over the years to constant faucet removing/attaching. I recommend and use a commercial grade tower from Micromatic. It's the same stuff you'll find in many bars around the world and will last you a lifetime.
- Beer line cleaner is very caustic. Avoid getting any on your hands or other surfaces. Heed the warnings on the bottle.
Drinking: Barn Door #13, Blueberry Sunshine, Citra Saison, Bourbon Vanilla Porter, Black Sheep NEIPA, RIS
Working on: RIS Barrel Aged
Link Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2017 8:32 pm Post subject:
I've done something similar but keep the faucets on the towers and run my loop with some 1/2" silicone hose. It slips over the end of the faucets and doesn't seem to leak. _________________ Visit dp Brewing Company
Hangovers hurt....but good memories last forever!
Joined: 12 Dec 2010 Posts: 9727 Location: Ottawa, Canada
Drinking: German Lager, Electric Hop Candy Jr, Scottish 70/-, Janet's Brown, Maibock, Kolsch, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter
Working on: West Coast Blaster (American Red IPA)
Link Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2017 12:59 pm Post subject:
How clean are the insides of the faucets after doing that? I find that over time some gunk does accumulate so I like to take them apart for a thorough cleaning.
Drinking: Barn Door #13, Blueberry Sunshine, Citra Saison, Bourbon Vanilla Porter, Black Sheep NEIPA, RIS
Working on: RIS Barrel Aged
Link Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2017 1:19 pm Post subject:
You're 100% correct. After I recirculate for 15-20 minutes I then take the faucets off and break them down. They do have gunk in them from time to time that the recirculating is not going to get out _________________ Visit dp Brewing Company
Hangovers hurt....but good memories last forever!
Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 130 Location: North Chicago Burbs
Link Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 6:03 pm Post subject:
Thanks for posting your techniques Kal. Honestly I've never taken apart my taps. I'm feeling mildly convicted that I should. When I empty a keg I use the keg cleaning process as an opportunity to clean that individual line/tap. I first rinse my keg with hot tap water and then put a little pressure on it and push a gallon or two thru the line/tap. Then do a PBW soak and afterwards push a couple gallons of that thru the line/tap. Then a quick rinse and fill the keg with Star San and I'll push some Star San thru the line then. Each step of the way I try to modulate the tap handle opening to get some turbulent flow in the tap to hopefully clean it out well within. Bottom line, I try to get some extra use out of each cleaning step during keg cleaning and each line is cleaned after every keg. Anyone else do something similar?
Joined: 07 Nov 2012 Posts: 43 Location: Portland, OR USA
Link Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:59 pm Post subject:
Thanks for the write-up, Kal. It's thorough and well documented, as always. I have been flushing 4-5 gallons of Oxyclean solution through lines after each keg and soaking faucet parts in the same solution for years, with seemingly good results. I always have seltzer on tap, and rotate that through each of four lines, to see if any flavor resides.
That said...I've been making more brett and sour beers, so I'm thinking that a more rigorous process is in order. I'm planning to transition to cleaning at 160+, to handle bacteria and brett. I'm also going to expand to seven or eight faucets.
To ask the obvious, you find that a purpose made beer line cleaner makes sense, that oxyclean isn't adequate? _________________ Portland, OR
Joined: 12 Dec 2010 Posts: 9727 Location: Ottawa, Canada
Drinking: German Lager, Electric Hop Candy Jr, Scottish 70/-, Janet's Brown, Maibock, Kolsch, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter
Working on: West Coast Blaster (American Red IPA)
Link Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 9:59 pm Post subject:
jengum wrote:
To ask the obvious, you find that a purpose made beer line cleaner makes sense, that oxyclean isn't adequate?
Yup. Oxi doesn't break down beerstone or some of the tougher stuff without scrubbing/contact. You need to use something pretty caustic to do that via non-contact and that's where the line cleaner I use/recommend above comes in.
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