I searched around and found a number of sub discussions on cleaning, but not a ton in the last year. As I do have some questions, and more and more people are getting kegs, I thought a nice cleaning thread might be fun. Couple topics: How often to clean, what equipment to clean? How often: Minimum, after every keg. Maximum every 2 weeks. What is everyone doing for your home kegerator? Method: I've been using the dumb squeezable bottle with a bent piece of wire in my keg coupler to clean my lines. I hate-hate-hate it and am looking for something better. I first looked at the pressurized systems but haven't been enamoured. I really think I want to recirculate. I have a 2 tap system. I'd couple the kegs together and use the two taps as an inlet and outlet. My biggest question is what pump to use. I'm thinking a small stainless non-submersible one. I'm not convinced that a plastic aquarium pump would hold up well to caustic cleaning agents long term. Discuss?
I clean my beer lines after each keg kicks . . . use BLC through a hand-powered pump described here: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/cleaning-draft-lines.245668/ Running BLC under pressure would work, I just like to KISS. The first couple of ounces come through a shade of green I never want in my stomach. Then I let it soak for 4 - 8 hours and re-flush. Almost always it runs clear, if not I soak some more. Followed by a starsan flush, then dump the first several ounces of the new beer. At some point around a year+ the lines start to have a green tint that can not be cleaned. That's when I shit-can them and replace with new . . . at 50ยข a foot why be frustrated?
