Questions on Beer Line Cleaner

[Kev888]

Well another day, and another chance to demonstrate my ignorance - this time its BLC.

Lots of people clearly find it very good so I've been poking around to find more about it. I've found posts suggesting its mainly bleach with a wetting agent and (usually) a colour indicator, but most threads on the subject are fairly old and a bit fragmented (certain posts having being removed). I'm familiar with bleach in this role though, so if thats true it'd help me put it into context - does anyone know if this is actually what it is?

Also I've been looking at it on ebay (such as here) and various other places, and there's often not a lot of info on it. Does anyone know if there are different types or strengths/dilution-rates, or is it all much of a muchness?

Many thanks,
Kev

[boingy]

Mine is Bactosol by JohnsonDiversey.

Comes in a 5 litre bottle, cost about a fiver from a general wholesalers about 2 years ago.

From the label:
"Contains Sodium Hydroxide and Sodium Hypochlorite"

So I guess that makes it a mix of bleach and caustic soda, and thus deserving of some respect when you are handling it. It has no colour indicators but I know other ones do (I think the purple one contains potassium permanganate).

Instructions:
Dilute at 5ml per litre (1:200) of cold water.
Dilution rate may be doubled for heavily soiled equipment.
Pre-flush the system with water to remove beer residues.
Pull solution through system several times during a minimum half hour contact time.
Rinse system thoroughly with cold water.
DO NOT LEAVE THE SOLUTION IN SYSTEMS OVERNIGHT.
All dispensing equipment must be cleaned at least once every seven days.


The safety sheet is here:

www.allianceonline.co.uk/product_documents/CBP02112.pdf

[Kev888]

Thats really useful - thanks very much for taking the trouble to post all the details!

Hmm not just bleach then, at least not in this case. I'll have to get a bottle and give it a whirl - sounds like it could be more effective than bleach alone.

The PBW literature also gets quite enthusiastic about its use in line cleaning, so I think a test of BLC and PBW is on the cards. No more mould in my tap hopefully!

Cheers
kev

[Dennis King]

If you are near a Makro they sell it £5 for 5lt

[Kev888]

Thanks Dennis. I may give it another go, I tried some time ago and they wouldn't let me shop there because I'm not a business, but perhaps I should lie more..

Cheers
kev