Cleaning draft lines ... again.

[whitedj]

Has anyone tried these ball lock jumpers?

I was thinking about using my chugger and RIMS tube to clean lines, question becomes will the pump work or will there be too much or little power?

Don't want to burst the silicone [emoji5] and the pressure restriction seems fairly high.

It looks like 1/2 silicone tube fits over the faucets nicely

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/ ... erpost.htm

[Matt F]

I have not used the jumpers, but I do use 1/2" tubing on the faucets with a submersible pump that I use as my keg/carboy washer.

[andrewmaixner]

Has anyone tried these ball lock jumpers?

I was thinking about using my chugger and RIMS tube to clean lines, question becomes will the pump work or will there be too much or little power?

Don't want to burst the silicone [emoji5] and the pressure restriction seems fairly high.

It looks like 1/2 silicone tube fits over the faucets nicely

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/ ... erpost.htm

I bought a few of the jumpers. I find them handy. Note that they only work on liquid disconnects, not gas disconnects. Let me know if you want to borrow one to play with.

Isn't the Chugger specifically designed to work with plain silicone tubing (even if there is a clog?), since that's what is used in brew setups?
I can think of one easy way to find out!

[UndeadFred]

Whereas I am now set up to clean my lines, since I use 10 feet of 3/16" LDPE times four, it's almost cheaper to pitch the lines and replace.

Still I am impressed with some of the solutions you guys come up with for line cleaning. I use a modified garden spray bottle from Menards and fittings and conversion posts from AIH when I do clean.. it takes a good half hour that way to do four lines.... so I tend on replacing them and/or soaking them in lye off line (meaning I then reuse the lines the next time I need to clean, if I can still find them by then...)

[whitedj]

For me it's more about cleaning the faucet, shank and disconnects. These get expensive to throw away and a pain to take apart and clean in a warm vat of solution.

I'm realizing that I need to clean more than every 18 to 30 months and I figure if I can make it easier so I don't have to disassemble everything it 'should' happen more frequently.

[whitedj]

I have not used the jumpers, but I do use 1/2" tubing on the faucets with a submersible pump that I use as my keg/carboy washer.

Do you just take the ball lock connectors off and hook the pump directly to the MFL on the line?

[Matt F]

Yes. Pump hooks up to 2 lines via mfl. Other two lines run back in to bucket with pump and cleaner. Keg in photo is there just to block the top port which I use to clean kegs and carboys.

[UndeadFred]

Yeah, I get it. I should clean every four weeks or whatever (I know it's suggested that bars do it every two).. but I do it in the time in between kicking a keg and putting a new one online. I usually just run a brush through the shanks, not had an issue.. and I am pretty fast taking apart a faucet and putting it back together, and I re-lube the seals and replace questionable ones at that time anyway. If I ran though more beer I suppose I'd be way too slow with this method.

As it is I have two dry taps and I need to get the stuff in a bucket of solution next weekend. Unfortunately my pipeline is behind now, since I finally kicked the two beers I brought to the festival and brewed in May (!), so I have probably four weeks before one of those two will go back online. (I have one in the chamber now, and a cider going..) I only have the wine from the fest and a nut brown on tap now, sadly. I think I'm actually going to use the next couple of weeks to detox myself, too, otherwise I'll need to start buying commercial beer...

I'll actually admit that I bought three of those Northern Brewer Columbus Day extract kits to hopefully do a double brew day to refill the keezer in the next two or three weekends...With a little bit of tweaking they are not that bad...

I clean the disconnects every time before I keg. Again I like that I can inspect the seals. I don't think I'd change that practice even if I did have a nifty pump setup...

Fred

[Eric B]

Yeah I have them. They work great.

[Eric B]

And I think you guys should read up on cleaning a little more.... Being a professional line cleaner myself.. I know the ins and outs about draft maintence, etc. CLEAN YOUR DAMN F****** LINES!!! And use a real cleaner.. Star San doesn't clean lines....

[karl]

OK. I'll do it tonight.

That BLC is such an evil GREEN!

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

[andrewmaixner]

And I think you guys should read up on cleaning a little more.... Being a professional line cleaner myself.. I know the ins and outs about draft maintence, etc. CLEAN YOUR DAMN F****** LINES!!! And use a real cleaner.. Star San doesn't clean lines....

Will BLC (or whatever caustic you recommend?) remove rootbeer aroma, or does that require new lines?

[UndeadFred]

Heh.. yeah, there is a lot of crap I should do that I don't often enough!

Actually Andrew does bring up a good point.. Eric, do you almost always use the Sodium and Potassium hydroxide based cleaners, or does mixing it up with an acid based line cleaner once in awhile help. There is a lot of conflicting info out there.

Is there something, except for time and effort that me disassembling the faucets and mechanically cleaning them and the shanks, I am missing doing that? Do I actually need to soak them in something, or is me totally disassembling, cleaning and reassembling okay?

Fred

[czubak]

I have watched Eric clean his lines and while the caustic is recirculating through the lines the facets are soaking in the same solution. Not torn down to ever last piece. Took him all of 25 minutes to clean and sanitize. Super slick when you have a commercial pump and knowledge of handling caustic properly. He won't let me take any of his solution for fear of any of it getting on skin or worse your eyes. It's nasty shit!

[UndeadFred]

Sure, Chris. It's a trade off, though. I can buy another pump and probably put $100 into it, and have that same setup. The Caustic is probably something similar to straight Lye (Sodium Hydroxide) or BLC/LLC which is Potash (Potassium Hydroxide), Lye and some sort of surfectant...

I've wondered how long a pump would work with that stuff going through it, also...

It is indeed nasty stuff. People dissolve dead bodies with the stuff.

And that is the point. Is the manual work of taking stuff apart safer? Probably, This is why I was asking about the trade-off here. I suspect what I'm doing takes me much longer, but I only do it 4-5 times a year, which I know is disgustingly not enough.. but...