Keezer nearly finished what beer line cleaner should I get?

[Crafty Tim]

That looks an awesome set up!!

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[orlando]

As requested. It really is a simple method. Just pump it up, until you can feel it.

And. as you use it, do you say to yourself, I hope my aim is true?

Guy

If it isn't you could end up with Red Shoes.

[Jocky]

Do those of you using Purple Beer Line Cleaner wear PPE when handling it?

As I understood it the product is mainly caustic, so while it's effective cold (unlike a PBW/Percarbonate type solution that needs to be warm to really work), so it's something you want to avoid splashing on yourself... or possibly leaving it in beer lines too long. I guess that depends upon the concentration though.

[orlando]

Rubber gloves.

[McMullan]

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Seriously, though, I wouldn't leave purple line cleaner any longer than recommended on the label. A working solution can start eating saucepans overnight.

[f00b4r]

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Seriously, though, I wouldn't leave purple line cleaner any longer than recommended on the label. A working solution can start eating saucepans overnight.

It’s okay to dispose of diluted down a domestic drain though right?

[orlando]

How does it compare to "raw" caustic though? Doesn't seem as aggressive to my casual observations.

[McMullan]

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Seriously, though, I wouldn't leave purple line cleaner any longer than recommended on the label. A working solution can start eating saucepans overnight.

It’s okay to dispose of diluted down a domestic drain though right?

At our scale I don’t see why not, as long as it’s diluted with lots of water.

[McMullan]

How does it compare to "raw" caustic though? Doesn't seem as aggressive to my casual observations.

It’s designed for regular use on lightly soiled lines and beer engines. I remember using it on a badly neglected beer engine. It barely touched it with a 30-minute soak, repeated several times. I had to disassemble it in the end. Now, with a regular soak it looks new. Anyway, I left some in a saucepan and forgot about it for a day or two. The inside of the pan started to go black with noticeable pitting. So I wouldn’t leave it for longer than recommended in anything of value, like beer dispense equipment.

[orlando]

How does it compare to "raw" caustic though? Doesn't seem as aggressive to my casual observations.

It’s designed for regular use on lightly soiled lines and beer engines. I remember using it on a badly neglected beer engine. It barely touched it with a 30-minute soak, repeated several times. I had to disassemble it in the end. Now, with a regular soak it looks new. Anyway, I left some in a saucepan and forgot about it for a day or two. The inside of the pan started to go black with noticeable pitting. So I wouldn’t leave it for longer than recommended in anything of value, like beer dispense equipment.

[orlando]

How does it compare to "raw" caustic though? Doesn't seem as aggressive to my casual observations.

It’s designed for regular use on lightly soiled lines and beer engines. I remember using it on a badly neglected beer engine. It barely touched it with a 30-minute soak, repeated several times. I had to disassemble it in the end. Now, with a regular soak it looks new. Anyway, I left some in a saucepan and forgot about it for a day or two. The inside of the pan started to go black with noticeable pitting. So I wouldn’t leave it for longer than recommended in anything of value, like beer dispense equipment.

Cheers

[Jocky]

A club member remarked the other day that he left some PBLC ready diluted in a PET bottle. It dissolved the bottom of the bottle.

I'll stick with Chemclean/PBW.

[McMullan]

A club member remarked the other day that he left some PBLC ready diluted in a PET bottle. It dissolved the bottom of the bottle.

I'll stick with Chemclean/PBW.

I'm a big fan of PBW, but, in my experience, it isn't that great for cleaning lines, especially JG fittings and similar, where a lot of crud builds up. Originally I got the purple line cleaner for my beer engines, but after testing it on beer lines I haven't looked back. No more suspicious looking crud lurking in the lines

[Northern Brewer]

the purple stuff?

Is it cheap enough

Typically £6 or so for 5 litres from wholesalers like Booker, Stephensons etc or double that from homebrew places. Follow the instructions but typically you dilute it 1 in 100, pull it through til there's purple at the other end, leave it to soak for 15 minutes, then pull through with copious water til clear, then pull some more water through. You really don't want to drink it - it's typically a mix of sodium hydroxide and hypochlorite (bleach).

Here's an overview of the various types : https://cellarcraftuk.com/whats-beer-line-cleaner

I should say that it really helps to have good quality beer line. The Valpar stuff from the Malt Miller might not be cheap

This article from Jolly Good Beer is a good explanation of why you want something better than standard MDP - which pretty much means buying Valpar from Malt Miller (who have both Brewmaster 2 and Gen-X), unless you fancy buying 5km of the stuff.

[Wozboy]

As requested. It really is a simple method. Just pump it up, until you can feel it.

Many thanks, I'm presuming that you use this so that you can just flush through with this rather than pressurising a corny keg with the cleaning solution in? I presume push fits on your keg taps so you just take them off the keg and push fit into your distributor?

How much do you flush through per line clean? I'm presuming 7 litres is a good size of sprayer for this and that's enough for four lines? I've got four lines on my system. Once flushed with the purple stuff or whatever cleaner then fill this with star an to flush through? I'm guessing just chuck away the cleaner and steriliser each clean through as it's not that expensive is it.

Another question I have is about the size of the lines, I have standard valpar beer line and my taps have flow regulators in so do I need to steady the flow by running through a length of 5/16" or will the taps do all the work in regulating the flow?

Apologies if these are impossible questions to answer I appreciate you haven't got my set up but if you do have anything to add I'd be most grateful.

Cheers

Cheers