There's a reason the beer industry's worth $500 billion—there's a nuanced flavor for everyone. Beer comes in cans, bottles, or on tap for different drinking experiences. Cleaning the beer lines and using the right beer line cleaner usually goes unoticed to many people, but is one of the most important steps when it comes to draft beer.
For that reason, having the right beer line cleaner's essential for bars, restaurants, taphouses, and casinos. As a beer-drinker, the last thing you want to worry about is your beer's hygiene.
Read on to find out how the right beer line cleaner can help your business.
Beer Line Cleaner Benefits
Beer line cleaners aren't a should—they're a must. A dirty beer line can devastate business reviews. The second a customer questions your beer's hygiene is the second you lose their trust.
Have you ever seen Bar Rescue? Spoiler alert!
The tell-tale sign of failing bars are dirty, bacteria-laden tap lines. If you've experienced the following, you're due for a beer line cleaner.
- Mold, discoloration, or yeast overgrowth
- Bacteria in uncleaned areas
- Beer stones living inside the lines
- Tainted line color
- Foamy beers
- You haven't used a beer line cleaner in at least two weeks
- You're asking yourself, What's a beer line cleaner?
Beer line cleaners are part of maintaining beer hygiene and preserving your customers' health. There's nothing like a health hazard to scare people off.
As an employee or business owner, your reputation's always on the line. Keeping beer clean will ensure that expected beer experience. Cheers!
Cleaning the Draft Line
Working with fermented products increases the risk of bacteria growth. Beer line cleaners should be part of the establishment's standard maintenance procedure to avoid any health complaints.
Before investing in a beer line cleaner, you'll need to identify your beer system. You'll either have a hand pump, a re-circulating pump, or a cleaning keg. Your system determines how the cleaning solution goes into the line, how it circulates, and for how long.
Since beer involves fermented yeast, it requires more than warm water and soap to clean it. Caustic cleaning solutions do the following things.
- Eliminate bacteria
- Flush the system
- Keep beer fresh
- Keep the pH balanced
The caustic cleaning solution's best used every 2 weeks for routine cleaning.
An acid solution's used less frequently for residual beer stones, salts, and soils in the draft line. Your beer faucets and couplers also need routine cleaning for optimal service.
Quality beer's not only about the beer, but how it's served. Routine maintenance makes sure you're serving your best. It'll be as though you brewed the beer yourself!
Recommend Beer Line Cleaner
The two that I have persoanlly used are both by Micro Matic products. One's a powder that's used for kegerators and hand pumps.
The other two are liquid cleaners one that is a caustic used every 2 weeks and and acid solution used quarterly. The solution based cleaners are used more in a commercial setting cleaning beer lines with a re-circulating pump.
Caustic Cleaning Solution Used every 2 weeks
Acid Cleaner used quarterly for beer systems
Keep Your Beer Bacteria-Free
Beer's only fun if it's safe to drink. For beer-drinkers to have fun, they need to trust their servers. The easiest way to maintain that trust is with a trusty beer line cleaner.
Don't gamble with your customers' health. Microorganisms are hard to see, so don't wait for proof to start cleaning!
Prevention's the best form of care. A strong beer line cleaner makes it easy to keep customers coming back. Keeping clean keeps you in business.
Check out our recommended products page.