BeerBorg

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.


Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

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

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

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

*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.

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.