Hi all, so I recently built a 3-tap keezer. Got some new beer lines from Northern Brewer, that say 'Draft Brewer' on the tubing. I let these soak (totally submersed) in Star San solution for a good 4-5 hours before hooking up to the faucets. Even after the soak, the lines are still tainting the first 4ish oz of the pours with a nasty plastic, burnt rubber taste. It doesn't help that one of my beverages is sparkling mineral water, so the plastic stands out like a sore thumb. Any one else ever experience this with this brand of tubing? I've never experienced this before with any other tubing. Should I just order new Bevlex tubing? I've used that in the past and it's been great, just kind of bummed that this stuff from NB would leave such a gross flavor. Inconvenient to have to pour out the first 4 oz, and then immediately pour a full glass so the beer immediately passes through the lines and doesn't have to 'sit' in them. Any tips/tricks, or experience is welcome! Thanks!
I would order one line's length in Bevlex, flushing/cleaning that new line and swap it in to see if there's a difference...that's a cheap test.
Star San is designed for 1-2 minutes of soak time when mixed at 1oz to 5 gallons of water, 1:640. It is highly acidic with a pH of 1. I wonder if you have etched the side walls of the lines which is causing the plastic to leach out?
thanks guys. The beer tasted like plastic before I did the star San soak as well, so either way it was there before, too. @billandsuz was kind enough to send some Bevlex my way, and I also ordered the silver-lined, anti microbial stuff from MoreBeer (EJ beverage I believe?) so I’ll be able to test those out on the keezer!
