Hi All, I've been using all Sacc beers in my new kegging setup, but would like to brew a Saison with Brett to keg. If I keg this, will this contaminate my lines for future Sacc beers that I use in the same lines? Or will running sanitizer through the lines be sufficient? My guess (and hope) is that Sacc beers won't be on the lines long enough to be contaminated (even if residual Brett remains), but want to hear your thoughts. Thanks! Trey
I use the same lines for both beers and have never had a problem. I figure the beer isn't in the lines long enough for a problem. In addition, any sacc beer being poured through the lines is not sitting around long enough for the brett to get working.
Ive done all types of bugged beers through my lines, you just need to clean them a bit better. Rather than a contamination issue what Ive encountered is lines that get a thick layer of crud over time, resulting in less head retention (weird right?) and slower pours. My advice is to use a caustic such as lye then rinse with an acid line cleaner and youll be good to go, not only will any junk in the lines be dissolved, but the extreme pH swings will kill anything that might be in there
Really wondering the same thing as I would like to put my Brett Saison on tap, looks like I will have to invest in some more kegerator cleaning products. Only on my 3rd keg in there to date. Edit: Also wondering if anyone has any kits/products they recommend for a good line cleaning.
I use Starsan on my kegs and lines and have not had any contamination problems. I have put brett beers in my kegs a couple of times and have not had a problem. I do let them soak in starsan for a couple hours though.
Do you mean like letting the starsan sit in the lines, for a couple hours or do you detach everything and have it all sit in a bucket of starsan?
I've always got at least on brett beer on tap and I've always just used normal sanitation and line cleaning. Every couple of months I'll run some Starsan through the lines and let it sit 10-20 minutes before pushing it out with fresh beer.
Worst case, lines are cheap to replace... That's my view as I am soon to be kegging my first Bretted beer too
I brewed a beer last year that I primary fermented with a combination of regular and Brett yeast. This was my first time brewing with Brett and I was concerned about contamination of my brewing equipment (fermenter, etc.). Some homebrewers have a complete second set of homebrewing equipment for brewing Brett/Sour beers. I contacted the Mad Fermentationist (Michael Tonsmeire) and asked whether I would experience cross contamination issues. He stated that as long as I practice good sanitation I could use my homebrewing equipment for subsequent ‘regular’ batches. He did encourage me to not reuse my bottling tubing (since it is soft plastic). I bottled my regular/Brett beer and threw my bottling tubing away. I bought new tubing for my next batch. Cheers!
