Cleanliness: On tap!

October 10, 2012 3:11 PM

What's the best system for cleaning a kegerator?

I have this kegerator. I've enjoyed several kegs of beer in it, but now I want to clean the lines to keep everything fresh and tasty. What are my best options for doing so? Are the pump cleaners worth it? Can I make my own gravity feed system (I'm pretty handy with stuff)? What's the best cleaning solution? What's your best pro-tip? Tell me everything.

posted by 1f2frfbf to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

You don't need a system. It's a simple enough setup to just take everything apart every few months and soak it in a tub (or kitchen sink equipped with a stopper) of warm water with detergent or white vinegar overnight. Rinse, let dry, reassemble: done.
posted by halogen at 3:28 PM on October 10, 2012

I always just let the parts soak in PBW with hot water, then scrub if I can with a large pipe cleaner or just outright replace the lines. After that it's a good solid rinse with star san and move on...
posted by iamabot at 3:40 PM on October 10, 2012

PBW soak for the parts alongside a 1L rinse of the lines with PBW (dilutions per instructions) with a 20 minute rest halfway through then 1L rinse with clean water. I did this every time the kegs were changed, which is likely overkill.
posted by kcm at 5:23 PM on October 10, 2012

I asked a friend who works in beer, and she replied with a how-to page from her company's website.
posted by knile at 12:20 AM on October 11, 2012

After finishing off a keg I clean with barkeeper's friend (http://www.barkeepersfriend.com/). Bought some at World Market and it seems to do the job well. I clean the keg itself, then reseal it and connect the CO2 at like 1-2 psi, and run some through the lines to get any residual beer out.
posted by cccp47 at 5:20 AM on October 11, 2012

I just replace the lines every so often, about once a year, with cheap vinyl tubing from your average big box hardware store. When I do that, all the metal parts get a good soak in PBW. But if you want to avoid all that disassemblage, BLC is pretty much the go-to for CIP on a keggerator.
posted by slogger at 11:03 AM on October 11, 2012