Simple DIY Beer Line Cleaner

/ Weldless Brewing / By

If you are getting into home-brew kegging, clean your lines by fitting a carbonation cap to a PET bottle filled with beer line cleaner. It will save you a lot of money and mental effort.

Cleaning beer lines is essential to keeping the flavour fresh and clean. Inline beer can continue to ferment and the yeast can colonize your line, leading to an impressive but unsavoury range of off flavours.

For the best results, clean your lines every two weeks or as often as you notice the flavour changing.

The Equipment

  • 1x carbonation cap (plastic or steel)
  • 1x 2 litre PET bottle
  • 1x beer line cleaning solution

NOTE: Carbonation caps are almost always for ball-lock disconnects. If you are using pin-lock disconnects, ensure you have the right cap for your kegs, or a ball-lock disconnect for this purpose.

Attach a carbonation cap to a 2 litre plastic bottle filled with beer line cleaner

The Method

  1. Mix your beer line cleaner in a 2 litre PET bottle according to the instructions
  2. Fit a carbonation top to the PET bottle
  3. Place a bucket or glass under the tap for the line you are cleaning
  4. Remove the Quick Disconnect line from the keg and attach it to the bottle
  5. Open the line and squeeze the bottle to push the cleaning through the tap
  6. Close the tap and let the solution sit in the line for 20 minutes or according to the instructions
  7. Repeat this for any other taps in the system
  8. When the taps are done soaking, drain the used solution out of the PET bottle, rinse it thoroughly and fill it with clean water
  9. Flush each line with cool, clean water at least 3 times
  10. Taste test your clean lines repeatedly and throw a party for multiple opinions
Attach a keg quick disconnect to the carbonation cap to inject beer line cleaner in the keg lines

Why Do it This Way?

Many purpose-built kits have poor ratings due to quality and lack of replacement parts. Other DIY beer line cleaners rely on a multitude of adapter fittings that drive the cost and time-to launch into the range of $30 – $60 dollars.

The carbonation cap is a multi-purposes tool that is readily available at most home-brew shops starting at $11, and requires no knowledge or skill to deliver the same results as the costlier equipment.

Thanks for reading and happy brewing!