3 Methods to Clean Your Beverage Lines
Cleaning your kegerator lines should be done regularly, every 2-3 months, and is easier than you think! Here are a couple ways to clean your system depending on the tools you have at your disposal.
1) Using a Cleaning Pump
The most commonly used device for cleaning beverage lines is the classic line cleaning pump. Often included with a kegerator purchase (and a cheap option if not) the line cleaning pump is often peoples first experience with cleaning their unit.
A Standard Draft Line Cleaning Kit
The standard configuration for the cleaning pump is designed to work from the top down, and will screw on to the coupling ring that connects the shank to your faucet. This means you will need to remove your faucet before beginning the cleaning, and that it will need to be cleaned separately as you proceed. Before you do this however, make sure your coupler is not connected to a keg and the line is not under pressure! If you are still hooked up to a keg, removing the faucet will cause all the liquid and gas built up to spray out of the shank, with no handle to turn it off. Even a unhooked, a pressurized line can still loose its contents and add another cleaning stage to your day!
Once the keg coupler is verified to be unhooked, and the line drained of pressure (open the faucet till beer / gas stop flowing) you may proceed with the removal of the faucet. Using a faucet wrench (included with most cleaning pump kits) loosen the faucet from the coupling ring on the shank. Once loosened, you should be able to spin it by hand to fully remove the faucet. Breakdown the faucet into its component parts, and put them in a bucket or bowl to the side.
Use a Faucet Wrench to Loosen the Coupling Ring
Next, fill your pump with your cleaning solution. For my cleaning, I like to use PBW as my cleaner and Star San for sanitizing, but some chemicals are both. Be sure to read the instructions on your cleaner of choice to see what it recommends, and at what dosage. Once you have your solution of hot water and cleaner made, hook your pump up to the coupling ring you removed the faucet from. Make sure to screw this on firmly, so you do not leak cleaner as you pump.
Before you begin pumping, make sure that you have your keg coupler in a bucket or bowl, and that you have the check ball in the coupler lifted! There is a small plastic ball in Sanke couplers that exists to stop the flow of liquid back down into the keg. Trying to pump while this ball is unhindered will cause pressure to build up and eventually blow out somewhere, usually damaging the seal on your cleaning pump, or if you are missing clamps on your lines, popping them off the barbs. To prevent this, there are special made check ball lifters you can slide into the couplers opening, but if you don’t have one of them a screwdriver will work fine as well.
Put the now unblocked coupler in the same bucket or bowl you put your faucet parts in, and you may now pump the cleaning pump. Once the flow starts, it will likely continue unaided from siphoning out of your pump. When you are about halfway through the cleaner, remove the check ball lifter or screwdriver to stop the flow, and let sit for 20- 30 minutes (again, this is assuming PBW as the cleaner, be sure to check the recommended times on your chemicals). Depending on the severity of the cleaning needed, you may need to drain more of the pump through and let sit again multiple times to remove all the buildup and discoloration from your tubing.
Once the cleaner is coming out the same color it goes in, you may pump the remainder out of the cleaning pump. Allow the faucet parts to sit with the cleaner while you continue for 20-30 minutes. Thoroughly rinse out the pump and refill with hot water. Pump as much hot water through your lines as you did the cleaner to fully remove the chemical from your system.
Once the lines have been rinsed, fill your pump with a solution of sanitizer and pump some through the lines as well. If you have let the faucet parts sit long enough on the cleaner, you can rinse them off and soak them in the sanitizer as it comes out of the lines. If you are using a no-rinse sanitizer like Star San, you can leave the solution in your lines until you are ready to tap your next beer. Otherwise, read your chemical label and you may need to repeat a water rinse through the lines.
Either way, once complete you may remove the check ball holder from your coupler and rebuild your faucet. Screw the faucet back to the shank and tighten with your faucet wrench and you are ready to serve your next beer!
Using a Cleaning Keg
A Cleaning Keg Is a More Plug-and-Play Method of Cleaning your System
While the cleaning pumps are far more common, the easiest method for cleaning your lines by far is with a cleaning keg. This allows you to avoid removing the faucet and cleaning separately, as well as ignores the issue with the check ball that caused issues for the pump.
To start, simply fill your cleaning keg with a solution of line cleaner and hot water, tap it like a normal keg allowing co2 to pressurize the tank, and dispense by opening the tap as if you were pouring a beer. After you have emptied the beer form the lines and your cleaner is pouring the same color it started (for PBW, clear), Then stop the flow and let the cleaning solution sit in the lines for 20-30 minutes, or however long your chemical label recommends. Repeat until the solution is the same color after sitting as it is in the keg.
Remove the coupler form the keg, depressurize the keg with the pull valve on top, and remove the lid. Rinse the inside of the keg out thoroughly with hot water, and then fill with hot water. Hook back up to your coupler and run the water through your lines. Remove the keg once emptied again, and refill with sanitizer and cold water. If this is Star San or another no rinse sanitizer, you do not need much in your keg. Once you fill your lines, you can then let the sanitizer sit in the lines until you are ready to tap your next beer. Be sure to read your sanitizer to make sure, otherwise you may need another rise to complete. Otherwise, you can disconnect your cleaning keg, tap your next beer, and enjoy!
3) Using a Corny / Homebrew Keg
While the cleaning kegs are the best method for traditional Sanke tap lines, Corny kegs are much more commonly available, especially if you are using your kegerator for homebrew. If your system is already using ball lock or pin lock connectors instead of the Sanke coupler, then you can use the same instructions for a cleaning keg for your corny keg, and in addition to your lines being cleaned, you will also be cleaning your kegs in the process!
If you are using a standard Sanke set up but wish to clean with the easier to come by corny kegs, there are a couple options for this. First, you can get the same threaded piece used in the cleaning pump to connect to the faucet coupling ring. connect a ball lock coupler to tubing to the threaded adapter, and using the keg to replace the cleaning pump, follow the instructions from section 1 above.
There is also adapters that connect to your Sanke coupler to make them quick disconnects, allowing you to put ball lock couplers onto them. When you wish to clean the lines, simply disconnect the ball lock couplers from the adapters and onto your corny keg. This allows you to swiftly switch over for both cleaning and if you frequently switch between homebrew and store bought kegs! Repeat process #2 above for the cleaning cycle, using the homebrew keg to replace the cleaning keg. The only issue here is that the Sanke coupler will not be cleaned in this process. You will have to separately soak and clean your coupler while you do the remainder of your cleaning to include everything.
Alternately, you can use swivel nuts for your beer nut adapter to allow you to unscrew from the coupler and screw onto a threaded ball lock or pin lock connector. In this sense, you can also just remove the tubing from the barb on the top of the Sanke coupler and attach each time to a barbed corny connection, but this will harm your tubing overtime and is not recommended for repeated cleanings if it can be avoided.
Finally, an option I have not seen very commonly used is to get a female Sanke adapter to a male beer nut thread. you can connect this with tubing and a beer nut / tailpiece to your ball lock disconnect, and then you have essentially turned your corny keg into a standard cleaning keg!
You can get creative to build your cleaning set-up!
Either way, using the corny keg to replicate a cleaning pump or cleaning keg, follow the above methods for a proper line clean. Hook your standard parts back up after you are complete, and you are ready to tap your next beer. Enjoy!
