Cleaning Beer Lines

I wanted a simpler system for cleaning beer lines. I have a bunch of picnic type taps that I use for party serving and a couple of kegerators that I have for everyday use.

I used to fill up a corny with a couple of gallons of BLC (or PBW in a pinch) and push the solution through the lines, through the tap and back into the keg. I would then run water through to rinse. If I got really jazzed up, I would use an acid wash and/or a caustic cleaner. 5 star has a list of their chemicals for this purpose right here: http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/breweries/craft-brewers/line-cleaning/

This system works well with two drawbacks. First, you need to have a spare keg for each solution. Second, you are spewing CO2 into the atmosphere. Not only will Al Gore hate you, but that stuff is not free.

I decided to try a cheap-o DIY solution.

I bought a submersible pump at Harbor Freight: http://www.harborfreight.com/200-gph-miniature-submersible-fountain-pump... You can sometimes find this on sale for around half today’s $13 price. Even at $13 it is a good value (less than what I pay for a 5lb gas fill). It is NOT rated for chemicals, but I have not had a problem yet and don’t anticipate one. I rinse lines thoroughly after each use and this rinses the pump as well..

The linked pump above is 200 GPH rated and there is another version that is 96GPH rated that would probably work just as well. It is only $6! http://www.harborfreight.com/92-gph-miniature-submersible-fountain-pump-...

Both pumps have an insert that fits in the output of the pump that, with a little effort, will be able to be inserted into a beer line that you probably already have sitting around.

We have a mixed ball and pin lock keg assortment so we make all of our lines end with a ¼ inch MFL swivel nut like this: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/barbed-swivel-nut-1-4-flare-3-8-barb.html

Attach this to a flare-to-flare connector http://www.midwestsupplies.com/1-4-mfl-to-1-4-mfl.html and you can connect to each of your beer lines.

Here it is in action: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/101431009392326407412