How To Replace Your Tap Lines
Whether it be bacteria buildup, damage, age, or having pouring issues, replacing the beer lines in your kegerator is the best way to set your pours up for success. The process, however, can be a bit difficult to dive into, so we have built a step-by-step tutorial to help you get it right the first time. This method applies to 99% of kegerators, but not all are built the same, so if you are having particular trouble with a certain step, check your owners manual to see if they have a specific way to access or remove a part.
Step 1: Removing the Shanks
As most lines being replaced are not completely empty, I find it less messy to work from the top down. This also helps with not needing to repeat a process if a washer or nut is dropped later on (speaking from experience!). Make sure your tap is no longer connected to a keg, even if it is out of beer, otherwise your lines could still be under pressure. Start by removing the top cap to your tower. Older, dirtier, or damaged caps can be particularly difficult to remove, so if I can not twist it off by hand I take a flat head screwdriver around the rim and gently tap it with a hammer or wrench on all sides to unstick it.
Once the caps are off you will see into the heart of the tower, which consists of insulation and your tower shanks. To remove the shanks, you must remove the shank nut on the back of each shank. While possible with standard household tools, using a shank wrench such as the one in this link will make life a lot less difficult in this step, and when tightening the nuts back on in the future. Once the nut is fully loosened, feed the shank and a small section of the beer line through the hole in the tower while holding the nut and the washer in the back so that they do not fall down the center of the tower. At this point, I recommend double checking that there is nothing connected to your tap and your line is not still under pressure one more time, and then you may cut the line and free your shank.
Step 2: Detaching the Coupler
Once your shank is free, this is generally when I like to break down the shank and faucet into all of its component parts and soak them in a cleaning solution of PBW while I continue the replacement process. Be sure to fully remove the clamp and old piece of tubing from the back of your shank at this time as well so that the steel gets fully submerged in the cleaning solution. Afterwards, feed the line you cut down the tower by pulling lightly from the bottom, and then place your cut side of the line in a bucket or pitcher to collect the old beer while you continue the change.
Remove the tubing and clamp from the liquid side of your Sanke coupler. The clamp here and on the back of the shank are likely stepless clamps, and are one-time-use so you may need to damage them and the tubing to get them off. Stepless clamp tools make this process a lot easier like the ones here, but you can also replace the tubing clamp with reusable ones like these if you don't want to mess with these in the future. If you are also doing a deep clean on your Sanke taps at this time, make sure the CO2 tank is off and the line is not under pressure before removing the tap from the CO2 tubing, break the tap down to its parts and add it to the PBW bucket for cleaning.
Step 3: Replacing the Line
After you are done cleaning your parts (~30min), rinse thoroughly with warm water and let soak in a sanitizer solution like Star San or SaniClean until they are needed for the following steps. Make sure you have an appropriate length of beer line for your kegerator and soak it in the sanitizer for a minute or two as well before proceeding. If you are not sure how long your lines should be, we have an article to help out here, but for beer at Denver's mile high elevation I use 10ft of 3/16ths ID, 7/16ths OD tubing. Feed one end of tubing through the bottom of the tower out the top, then get your shank nut and shank washer, hold the pair of them to your side tower hole (making sure the order and orientation of each is correct), and feed the beer line through all three. The next part can be tricky with one hand holding the shank nut/washer, so I like to hold them in place with a screwdriver or shank wrench while I proceed, such as in the image below.
Take a new clamp and your reassembled shank, feed the clamp over the tubing, and attach the back of the shank to your tubing. This can be a very tight fit, as the tubing needs to be very snug to minimize turbulence in the line. If you are having trouble getting the line onto the prong on your shank, heat the line in some warm water and it should become more malleable. Once the line is on, tighten the clamp, feed it through the tower hole, shank washer, and shank nut, and retighten your shank nut till there is no wiggle on your shank. You can now reassemble your faucet and attach it to the front of your shank, again tightening till there is no wiggle. On the other side of your line, rebuild your Sanke coupler, slide a new clamp on your tubing, and hook up to the beer line as you did before. Reattach the gas line / clamp, and turn the CO2 back on, and your beer lines are replaced and ready to go. tap your favorite beer, pour, and enjoy. Cheers!
