PSA: Replacing beer lines

[Kealia]

I'm not the first one to recommend this and I won't be the last.
I clean my beer lines after each keg with hot water, PBW and then Starsan but decided that it was time to switch them up. It's only been...*cough* 5 years.......

I have a two tap tower and if you've ever dealt with swapping out lines in one, you know it isn't easy. I can say that at this point, I will be swapping these yearly during the holidays when I have time off.

I thought I was picking up something "off" in my beers and this is what my tap lines looked like:

And, then I pulled off my Perlick taps and this was on the inside:


Needless to say, that is just gross.
I splurged and bought the anti-microbial lines which is likely overkill, but it's a small expense to prevent future gunk like this. And at once per yesterday, I don't mind spending the few extra bucks.

I don't know how I went so long before replacing them, or how I managed to get this far without doing so, but never again.

I can say that the first pint poured through clean taps and and new lines was (to paraphrase mashani) fookin' awesome.


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[BlackDuck]

Wow, that line looks like there is still beer in it. Yuk!!!

[Kealia]

Exactly. How the hell am I not sick right now?

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[Kealia]

*BUMP*
Friendly reminder since I was chatting about this with some friends.

Check your lines. I ran PBW and StarSan through after each keg and they still looked like this. I'll be swapping them out again in a few days and will be able to tell how well the anti-microbial ones work.
I'll post pics of the old versus new for reference.

[RickBeer]

An expert I know refers people to the guidelines at the Brewer's Association and the Draft Beer Quality Manual (free download).
http://www.draughtquality.org/wp-conten ... ailers.pdf

It specifies cleaning every 2 weeks, full disassembly of faucets, and line replacement on a regular schedule. Also specifies pump pressures, reverse flow, etc.

Of course a homebrewer with a keg isn't a retail establishment, but lines would still need to be cleaned on the same schedule, and replaced on the same schedule.

As I'm not kegging, I don't do any of it.

However, I have gone through the full process in a retail establishment several times, including full faucet disassembly and reassembly, of Perlick faucets.