Home Brew Bloggers on March 27, 2020 0 Comments Everyone loves a good tasting beer! This is often affected by how your kegerator is cleaned. Many homebrewers overlook this step, either because they’re focused on creating their own recipes or they just don’t realize the importance of cleaning on a regular basis. A dirty kegerator can end up changing the taste of your home brews, and not for the better! Gunk and bacteria can build up in the tubing of your kegerator and create a taste that can taint your beer. Fortunately, we have a quick and easy guide that will show you how to clean a kegerator so that you can have the best tasting home brew. Step 1: Get Cleaning Supplies You’ll need designated kegerator cleaning supplies in order to properly clean it. This includes: A powdered beer line cleaning compound that can help you remove the beer residue that is stuck inside of your kegerator’s supply line. A cleaning hose that should come with a package of specific kegerator cleaning utensils. A cleaning bottle that attaches a hose to it will be found in the package that is used to clean the lines. A faucet brush and faucet wrench to help you manually uninstall some of the components to be cleaned. Step 2: Dismantle the Beer Faucet Now it’s time to take your faucet wrench and dismantle the beer faucet from your kegerator. This process is fairly simple and doesn’t take much time at all. However, you may want to have a towel nearby to clean up any residue that comes pouring out once you unscrew it. Step 3: Prepare the Keg Coupler Some people have trouble removing the keg coupler from their kegerator. Fortunately, the process is easier than you might think. Simply pinch the keg coupler and apply pressure to remove it. Make sure that the gas line is removed as well so that water doesn’t get into places you don’t want it to. Step 4: Prep Your Cleaning Solution You’re going to need to get some hot water ready to mix the cleaning solution into. Make sure it’s hot water otherwise the cleaning solution may not be as effective. Take the mixed solution and add it to your cleaning bottle. Once it’s added, put the hose on the cleaning bottle and prep it for the next step. Step 5: Flush the Lines Before you begin this process, grab a bucket so that the keg coupler can drain out while you’re cleaning the lines. Remember how we mentioned there would be excess beer residue left-over after you remove the keg coupler? A handy bucket will take care of anything that’s left over. Take your cleaning bottle with your beer line cleaning solution and place the hose on the faucet that you removed earlier. Tilt your cleaning bottle and the solution will do the rest. Step 6: Time to Rinse After you run the cleaning solution a minimum of two times, all you have to do is fill your cleaning bottle up with hot water without any solution inside of it. This will be used to wash away all of the cleaning solution residue that has been left behind in your kegerator lines. You should also do this twice in order to achieve optimal results. Step 7: Clean the Beer Faucet Now you need to clean the beer faucet to make sure it’s clean like the rest of the components of your kegerator. Take the faucet apart and then dip it into a bowl of hot water that has been mixed with your cleaning solution. Give it a good scrubbing and then let it out to dry for about thirty minutes. Once it’s dry, take your faucet brush and clean it thoroughly to get rid of any remaining residue that may be on it. Step 8: Put it All Back Together Finally, it’s time to put all of the pieces back together. You should have the kegerator manual that will help you figure how to put it all together if you haven’t done this before or in a while. As a best practice, clean your kegerator after you finish a keg. This will ensure that your machine stays clean, resulting in great tasting beer after every pour from your kegerator.
