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I just picked up a used kegerator short fridge (holds 2 corny's) with a tower and tap. So excited since it came with a 5lb CO2 tank and now I'll be ready to keg for the first time and have a place to chill it. Woohoo!
Anyway, so I'm wonder what's the best way to clean these things? Do you just disassemble the tower lines/tap and PBW the hell out of it? Or do people use these line cleaning kits I've seen. Or can you PBW the keg and pressurize the lines and run it through the tap, kind of a thing?
Given that it's a new kegerator, I'd completely dismantle the taps and replace all of your beer lines (gas lines should be inspected for any liquid and sanitized/replaced as appropriate).
The taps come apart pretty easily, and you can buy a small tap cleaning brush at homebrew stores to clean it out. Again, given that it's new, I'd probably clean it a little more thoroughly than my usual cleaning between kegs.
So give it a very thorough cleaning this time.
Then, between kegs I typically run BLC (beer line cleaner) through the lines, disassemble and brush the taps with a brush and soap, and rinse/reassemble and I'm ready to go.
For my regular cleaning, when I'm cleaning kegs I will usually use the last keg to run PBW through the lines then run some hot water through them. That's the easiest way to do it. You don't need to spend the money on the cleaning kit. I also run StarSan through the lines after I clean them.
Congrats on the purchase.
I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada down at Trader Vic's
I just picked up my co2 tank from being recertified and had it filled an hour ago. I also am excited as I will be kegging my first beer tonight. Question- Is it possible or even necessary to clean or sanitize my co2 regulator?
carbon wrote:I just picked up my co2 tank from being recertified and had it filled an hour ago. I also am excited as I will be kegging my first beer tonight. Question- Is it possible or even necessary to clean or sanitize my co2 regulator?
Not really possible and not really needed.
I destroyed a 2-ganged set of secondary regulators once. I kept getting a CO2 leak no matter what I tried I couldn't quite find it. So, being scuba certified and used to working on scuba regs in frustration and not thinking clearly I thought, " Duh! Submerse the whole thing and you'll find the leak". I did and I found the leak. They never really worked right again but they didn't leak.
I suppose I could have got rebuild kits for them....
carbon wrote:I just picked up my co2 tank from being recertified and had it filled an hour ago. I also am excited as I will be kegging my first beer tonight. Question- Is it possible or even necessary to clean or sanitize my co2 regulator?
Under normal circumstances, it is not necessary to clean or service your regulator. HOWEVER, if you have beer backflow into the regulator, you would need to clean it out and rebuild it. I have seen one reg that had beer backflow into it and end up a moldy mess inside. Obviously, the person who it belonged to did not take care of it... I think they had the backflow problem then just took it off and let it sit without cleaning.
carbon wrote:I've seen people keep their co2 tanks inside the refrigeration unit as well as outside. Does it matter?
depends on where you can fit it and if you're brave enough to drill a hole through the side.
If you have a tank pressure gauge, it will read ~500 psi or on the red all the time if it is in the fridge. If it's outside it should read 850psi. CO2 is a liquid under gas, so at a stable temp it will read a stable tank psi until all the liquid is gone and then start reading a lower pressure.
In other words, you're tank gauge will not just steadily drop as you use up the CO2. It'll read full until you're really out and then drop to empty in a matter of beers.
So I've seen most tanks with red gas lines but I bought all new lines and quick connects from Stienfillers the other day and the line is just regular clear tubing. Do you have to use specific red lines (was thinking maybe they aren't gas permeable) or are clear ones just fine, no biggie?
kaisho99 wrote:Thanks guys...so a full break down it is!
So I've seen most tanks with red gas lines but I bought all new lines and quick connects from Stienfillers the other day and the line is just regular clear tubing. Do you have to use specific red lines (was thinking maybe they aren't gas permeable) or are clear ones just fine, no biggie?
Clear is fine, as long as they're designed to be gas lines and handle the pressure. On my setup, my line from the tank to the distribution block is red, but the three lines to the kegs are all clear. Nothing wrong with clear.
Congratz man, I'm jealous. In some of my past musing I ran across this guy's videos on YouTube. His explanations seemed pretty though and might help out some.
JonGoku wrote:Congratz man, I'm jealous. In some of my past musing I ran across this guy's videos on YouTube. His explanations seemed pretty though and might help out some.
Edit: Oh I forgot to ask. What kind of a deal did you get? Post up some pics!
That guy needs to finish his basement. If he put a sink downstairs, he would save a lot of time. Why does he keep turning the gas on and off? He should really rinse the lines with hot water, not cold. Does he really disassemble the keg every time he cleans it? Not necessary. You really should soak the keg in the cleaner for 20-30 minutes, not just a quick rinse. Whole hops in the keg? No wonder his beer was pouring so foamy. If he really wanted to be as clean as possible, he should be wearing gloves. If he put a beverage out QD on the end of his racking tube, he wouldn't have to open the keg again and risk oxygen exposure and contamination. Everyone's a critic.
I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada down at Trader Vic's
Back to cleaning the lines, I use a clean bug sprayer filled with BLC and a ball lock at the end or the hose. It cost me less than $20 at home depot. I had the ball lock nipple in my spare parts.
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