Another Sanitising Question...Flash Chillers

[arturobandini]

When sanitising a Flash Chiller do most folks put their solution of choice into a Cornelius Keg, pressurise and pull it through then chase it up with water? Despite having run many a bar I've never given much thought to the actual cleaning of the chiller but looking back it must always get cleaned in the line clean. The only issue here is the faff with gassing up a Cornelius Keg full of sanitiser.

I tried filled a demijohn full of water and connecting it to the input coil of one of my chiller lines but it won't pull through without co2 pressure...obviously!...despite my best efforts with an array of hand pumps.

Anyone any time saving or equipment saving tips?

 

[jamesb]

This is what I've been doing (I need to do that to clean my "fake" beer engines anyway")

It is a faff, and it does rely on having a cornie spare. I was looking into getting a cleaning bottle but they're a little pricey.

If anyone's got any better ideas then I'd love to know.

 

[arturobandini]

Suppose if you could get hold of a cheap beer line bottle cleaner you could use that providing you have an appropriate keg connector to attach to it. I was thinking it might be worth having a few keg connectors anyway now I have the flash chiler.

 

[Aleman]

I use a 2L PET Bottle with a 'Carbonater Cap' . . . This is a plastic 'gas in' disconnect that screws onto a PET Bottle . . .. Used for carbonating beverages . . . but I simply swap the beer disconenct for a gas one, fill the Pet bottle with sanitiser/cleaner, Gas up the bottle then push sanitiser through the lines.

Another method I use is to hook up my flojet pump and pump sanitiser through all the lines . . even to the point of recirculating it once its clear . . . . and also reversing the flow . . . depends on how long the lines have been sat unused. . . . Its a great method for cleaning all my taps and lines in the kegereezer as well.

 

[jamesb]

I use a 2L PET Bottle with a 'Carbonater Cap' . . . This is a plastic 'gas in' disconnect that screws onto a PET Bottle . . .. Used for carbonating beverages . . . but I simply swap the beer disconenct for a gas one, fill the Pet bottle with sanitiser/cleaner, Gas up the bottle then push sanitiser through the lines.

Fantastic idea.

Another method I use is to hook up my flojet pump and pump sanitiser through all the lines . . even to the point of recirculating it once its clear . . . . and also reversing the flow . . . depends on how long the lines have been sat unused. . . . Its a great method for cleaning all my taps and lines in the kegereezer as well.

I thought about this, but I decided it would probably be too noisy when SWMBO is trying to watch Hollyoaks :twisted:

 

[arturobandini]

Top replies chaps. I was thinking that I should really get into the habit of cleaning the lines via the keg method once the keg is empty anyway. I particularly like the carbonator cap Aleman.

 

[Parva]

Another solution (to save CO2) would be to get one of those garden weeders that you pump to pressurise, remove the spray nozzle and fit a grey disconnect to it, attach to cornie and pump sanitiser through the whole lot with that. :) If you can't get enough pressure to get the cornie to seal enough I guess you could always find a way to do it in reverse by attaching it to the tap instead and reverse flush through to cornie.

 

[arturobandini]

Nice one Parva. On a rather long drive down to Norfolk today I was tossing around solutions with my old Man and that was one of his. That said his is full of damp proof treatment so I may have to buy one brand new.

 

[Vossy1]

Another solution (to save CO2) would be to get one of those garden weeders that you pump to pressurise

They work a treat
Cheaper than a corny too.

 

[arturobandini]

The final bits of fittings arrived from The Harmony Hut today so I'm having a little play before going off to get my Co2. I hooked up a foot pump (for inflating pilates balls!) to the gas in post on the cornelius keg. With the tap open it pumps straight out so it looks like I can manual pump the lines clean after all.

When a beer is finished I can rinse out the Cornelius Keg, fill it with sanitising solution, seal it, fit the foot pump, fill the lines and leave them a bit, flush out the rest of the solution then rinse out with a few kegs of water. Saves the Co2 like Parva was saying but we do still have the problem of needing a spare Cornelius keg if you need to do a line clean and have no empties.

 

[jamesb]

When a beer is finished I can rinse out the Cornelius Keg, fill it with sanitising solution, seal it, fit the foot pump, fill the lines and leave them a bit, flush out the rest of the solution then rinse out with a few kegs of water. Saves the Co2 like Parva was saying but we do still have the problem of needing a spare Cornelius keg if you need to do a line clean and have no empties.

I thought that was where the idea of the weedkiller bottle came into it.

Fill the bottle with a cleaning solution of your choice, connect the hose out to your lines, pump it up and away we go.

 

[trunky]

The final bits of fittings arrived from The Harmony Hut today so I'm having a little play before going off to get my Co2. I hooked up a foot pump (for inflating pilates balls!) to the gas in post on the cornelius keg. With the tap open it pumps straight out so it looks like I can manual pump the lines clean after all.

When a beer is finished I can rinse out the Cornelius Keg, fill it with sanitising solution, seal it, fit the foot pump, fill the lines and leave them a bit, flush out the rest of the solution then rinse out with a few kegs of water. Saves the Co2 like Parva was saying but we do still have the problem of needing a spare Cornelius keg if you need to do a line clean and have no empties.

Fair enough, however I would not worry about using a wee bit of extra gas - it's cheap as chips.

I was in the habit of having a spare corney but now I clean the lines (which includes the chiller) as part of the clean and sanitise process I don't really need to.

One beer finishes, the corney and pipes are cleaned, new beer in new corney is put on and the old corney gets fileld with beer for carbonation.

I guess the question is how often do you clean the pipes? I don't bother whilst I have a beer on - and that might last several weeks. If I was going away for a week or two then I would clean the pipes, but I would then try the pressurised garden sprayer route with no corney. Wilkinsons have one for a few quid.

 

[jamesb]

I guess the question is how often do you clean the pipes? I don't bother whilst I have a beer on - and that might last several weeks. If I was going away for a week or two then I would clean the pipes, but I would then try the pressurised garden sprayer route with no corney. Wilkinsons have one for a few quid.

I clean mine once a week whether they need it or not.

 

[arturobandini]

Haven't really looked at the weedkiller/timber treatment canisters properly so not sure how they would connect to the beer line on the gas in post. I was just idly wondering about saving Co2 so connected the foot pump and by jove it worked! Those canisters can be very pricey but I'll have a look in Wilko's later as I'm going in for an FV so my girlfriend doesn't turn mine into a nappy bucket.

Cleaning lines; if I was having a good turnover I'd let them sit awhile perhaps a week tops but if they were having a couple of pints a day pulled off them I'd be on them a few times a week to stop the resting beer sitting in and stinking up the place. This will be my first time using the big BOC cylinders and to be honest despite having worked in the drinks industry for years I've no idea how many pints they serve. You just keep an eye on them and when you're running low you ring the impossibly useless BOC to come around with more. Same goes for line clean, I've always used cleaning bottles and done my lines that way without much thought to the process other than that I need to keep my lines as fresh as possible. In fairness whenever I do a line clean in a Pub/Bar i'm usually absolutely hammered. Tend to do these after hours so you can drink the beers resting in the line...more pumps you have the more pints are there to be drunk!

 

[Parva]

I've had my 7Kg bottle of CO2 for almost 12 months now and believe me, it's had some hammer! I tend to purge kegs with CO2 prior to filling and I've lost count of how many kegs I've gone through but the cylinder is showing no signs of retiring yet. :)

 

[arturobandini]

Good to know Parva, if I ever get it connected I'll be laughing.

I cleaned my chiller lines today and there was an evil in there that did not sleep. Two lines were full of **** and one line is completely blocked. I'm thinking that as soon as I get my co2 connected I can push through with a greater pressure and dislodge whatever has got itself stuck in there. I tried a poke through with 3/16th line but it's too compacted...

 

[arturobandini]

Solved this problem as well.

Ran the gas line to the beer in line which was completely blocked and squirted some co2 through. Blasted out a whole host of unholy ****...jobs a good'un.

 

[arturobandini]

Now that my lines are completely free of **** I actually find I can run them through with siphoning as follows...

Demijohn/other vessel of line cleaning solution placed at a level above the chiller
Remove your beer line from the black Disconnect and dip line into the demijohn/other vessel
Get the siphon going from the tap end and when it starts to run through stop the tap off
Leave for the required amount of time and then open up the tap and run through the solution
Repeat the above steps with water.

I've got the perfect pint pouring now using my chiller and some 3/8th and 3/16th (yeah I succumbed to the lure of the tiny diameter!) and I have 300ml beer in my lines at any time. Once I've pulled my last pint of the night I just remove the line from the black disconnect and footpump the beer out of the line and through the cooler into my glass. Then just a quick rinse of water as above if I've still got all my faculties.