Cleaning and Sterilising

[Pommie]

Hi All

Spent the whole afternoon surfing around this site trying to work out the best way (read cheapest and easiest) to clean and sterilise my gear. Got slightly overawed buy it all and now desperate to go home for a beer

Basically I'm looking for something that is economical, seen Idophor and Napisan mentioned, and also that will do the job.

What is the general consensus on the best stuff for cleaning the brewing equipment and kegging gear, also recommendations where to source would be great.

Another question I have, yes I am new to kegging, is how do you go about cleaning the lines. Would you have one keg filled with cleanser solution which you would connect to your lines now and again or would you just clean the lines when a new keg goes on. I have 6 kegs and 2 taps, so beer is always on the go, just have a concern I'm not cleaning my lines enough.

Thanks

Rob

[rwh]

Basically I'm looking for something that is economical, seen Idophor and Napisan mentioned, and also that will do the job.

They should work fine, and are probably close to the most economical.

What is the general consensus on the best stuff for cleaning the brewing equipment and kegging gear, also recommendations where to source would be great.

You should be able to get keg line-cleaner from any HB shop. I got some stuff in powder form that the guy described as slightly less-caustic than drain cleaner.

Another question I have, yes I am new to kegging, is how do you go about cleaning the lines.

I generally clean mine when I change kegs, which would be about once a month. I just clean the keg, then put some line-cleaner into it, run it into the lines and let soak for half an hour or so, then rinse out and sanitise, ready for the next lot of beer.

[Paul]

I asked about this a few weeks ago when I was at Andale. The bloke there told me not to worry about cleaning the lines as im using a chest freezer the line is cool all of the time and nothing will grow in it.

He suggested to soak the tap into some cleaner every fortnight to clean it and stop anything growing in it.

About once a month I run a keg of hot water through the lines and taps.

Every second month I use beer line cleaner.

In the four years Ive been kegging ive never had a problem.