BeerBorg

My Irish Red is changing. My wife noticed it first, and I taste it too. I have a theory.
Sometimes I overfill my kegs, even until they spill over. The Starsan foam prevents me from seeing the top of the beer, so I put the keg in a pot to catch spills. I don't mind kegging as much as possible, it's more beer! However, this submerges the gas tube, and occasionally causes beer to flow into the gas line when first connected. I find this annoying, but not too worrisome, as the regulators have check valves. So last time it happened, I used pressure to blow most of the beer back out, leaving only a few drops. I did wonder a little though, what if some of that beer got into my next beer? Well the last beer was Belgian, the Irish is starting to taste peppery, and the gravity has dropped 4 points since kegging. I think those yeasties got into my beer and slowly changed it into something else. A Belgian Brown?
Anyway, I still like it. And I disconnected all the lines and cleaned them with One Step.
I think I'll drink some today. (The new beer, not One Step)

I think that's a workable theory.

I always do a complete clean and sanitize of my kegs and lines when one of my kegs shuffles off this mortal coil. It's a bit of a pain, but worth it in the long run, I feel. I rinse out the spent keg, then wash it thoroughly with OxyClean Free (my cleanser of choice). Then I put more of the OxyClean solution in the keg, connect it, and run the detergent through the line and the tap. Then I rinse the keg and the line, following the same procedure. And then Star San following the same procedure. I even charge some CO2 into the cleaned/sanitized keg before I put it away. This way, when I'm ready to use it again, I can test the integrity of the seals by venting. If it vents, I know it stayed pressurized, and if nothing got out, nothing could get in, and that keg is good to go.

Dave, do you clean your gas lines at all? That's where John's problem was.

I've not cleaned my gas lines yet. But last weekend when I kegged my pilsner, I filled to just below the gas dip tube. And when I hooked up the gas line, the same thing happened to me that happened to John. And I also blew it out with CO2. So, I'm wondering if I should eventually clean the gas line out.

You know, that's something I've never done. It's a little work for me but I think the next time I change kegs, I'll do that though I'm pretty sure mine aren't a problem..............yet.

I've never cleaned my gas lines, but I will change them every year or so when I think about it - just as a safety precaution.

I too have a beer screw-up/new style beer but I will comment on that over in my Levitation thread in Advanced Recipes so I don't duplicate content.

I did have a beer backup thru the gas line on my original kegerator when I first started kegging, CO2 ran out and the beer was at the gas dip tube and the pressure sent it back thru the regulator. Have that reg. as a backup now, but disconnected and blew CO2 thru till it stopped spitting liquid. Manifolds now have check valves. Have not sanitized my gas lines, never really thought of that.

Well, sharing mistakes helps others avoid them, we hope.
I may cut my "gas in" tubes a little shorter to help reduce this problem in the future.

BlackDuck wrote:Dave, do you clean your gas lines at all? That's where John's problem was.

I've not cleaned my gas lines yet. But last weekend when I kegged my pilsner, I filled to just below the gas dip tube. And when I hooked up the gas line, the same thing happened to me that happened to John. And I also blew it out with CO2. So, I'm wondering if I should eventually clean the gas line out.

No, I've never cleaned or changed my gas lines. I've noticed that my beer doesn't get all that close to the dip tube, so it hasn't concerned me yet.

I may buy new ones next time I go to the LHBS, though. Just regular maintenance.

I have never cleaned or changed my lines. I also would not even see if the beer back flowed into my gas lines because the lines are red. Hmmmm.......

RayF wrote:I also would not even see if the beer back flowed into my gas lines because the lines are red. Hmmmm.......

I hear you. The only way I knew it happened was because I got some spray out when I initially hooked up the gas line to the keg. I immediately unhooked it and blew it out with the CO2. I doubt much, if any really got back into my line. Also, my gas was turned off when I hooked it up. Next time, I'll make sure the gas is on, then it will have pressure going into the keg which should not allow any back flow.

I have never given this a thought! Thanks for the tip!

Gas on will help. It may also be necessary to chill a charged keg before connecting gas. I carb my kegs outside of the fridge, in the basement, at 27psi. So the pressure is higher than serving pressure at first.