Clean your pipes

The old brewmaster said:

• Know your water.
• Keep good notes.
• Clean your pipes.

Brewing is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. Clean, clean, clean! And then clean again.

Then, when the beer has departed the brewery, and is gone from the brewer's control ...

A good draught beer is only as good as a clean draught line. A chef changes the fryer oil; a car owner changes the engine oil; a bartender must clean the draught pipes (lines), and often.

Two months is too long to wait: a dirty line can easily develop an anaerobic infection. It's harmless, medically, but foul, organoleptically. Translation: it tastes terrible.

Gunk, like yeast and beer stone (calcium deposits), accumulates. Clean the pipes at least once every two weeks, if not every time you change a keg.



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A series of photos demonstrating line-cleaning technique: here.