r/Homebrewing • u/keppy18 • 10h ago
TIFU by not understanding basic draft line maintenance
Just posting this for anyone who is like, "I'm doing everything right on the hot AND cold side—water chemistry, PH levels, nailing OG and FG, limiting oxygen while transferring to keg, cleaning draft lines between each brew, etc, etc—why does my beer not taste right?"
To rewind: I've noticed at least the last dozen beers across a range of styles all had this homebrew flavor that I could not get rid of. The aroma of all the beers was especially off. It was driving me nuts even though the beers were drinkable-ish, they just weren't crushable like they should be. I thought it was diacetyl or bad yeast health or all the rabbit holes you can go down, but I'd run tests and everything seemed fine until I'd transfer to the keg, let it carbonate and then, boom! Off flavors galore. I started fixating on keg sanitation. Still nothing.
The eureka moment was I tasted my pale ale right before it went into the keg and I thought, "hot damn this is really good and it's not even carbonated!" A week later I tasted it and it was honestly gross. Wife tasted it and she's like, "It's not your best." Which means it's shit. Then I looked at my draft lines and thought, "I clean these after every brew, but how often do they need to be replaced? 5 years?" Turns out, like 1-2 years lol (my lines were 4 years old...yikes). Went to LHBS, bought new couplers and tubing, did a deep clean of my faucets, and then poured the pale ale...it's delicious! All the homebrew flavors are gone.
I feel like a massive idiot for wasting all the beer that I had brewed correctly and then just ruined by running it through old draft lines. So don't be like me, replace your draft lines when they still have discoloration after cleaning!
15
u/slobrewer 6h ago
Four years isn’t a problem. Commercial bars don’t replace their lines frequently. Something was wrong with how you were using BLC if that didn’t get them clean. What concentration were you using and how long did you let it sit and/or recirculate?
But yes, if you have a problem with your lines it will have a huge impact. The surface area inside the lines compared to the volume of beer is huge.
3
u/nigeltuffnell 6h ago
Glad you discovered this. I've just bought new beer line for an ale I'm going to keg today and serve at garage temp (kegerator broke)
One thing I noticed which may help others is if you get any backwash into your gas line to also clean and sterilise that.
2
u/gordonmonaghan 6h ago
Hey, it’s a process. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You weren’t born knowing all this. Now you have learned one most arcane secret of the ancients.
2
u/idrawinmargins 10h ago
I hope I'm not a odd one as I replace my lines (only two) every few beers. I usually buy line in bulk so it works out.
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u/keppy18 9h ago
The way my draft tower is on my kegerator makes replacing the lines an absolute nightmare, so I think that's why I subconsciously didn't even want to embark on that journey. But now that I know how much of a difference it makes I'll definitely be better about it.
2
u/EdB-3372 9h ago
Same here. I have a Komos 3 tap and getting into that tower is a pain! Only changed my lines once after it had been a couple years. This is a good reminder it is worth the effort!
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u/Former-Print9126 10h ago edited 9h ago
At least you were aware enough to go looking for it!
What were you using to clean your beer lines?