Ask Dr. Frankenbrew
10/29/23
Though I get a lot of questions on business, at heart I’m still a brewer. I have never tired of checking to see the CO2 bubble up from the bucket that day after a brew. I mean, that’s still super cool.
This weeks question, from alert reader Josh, gets more into brewing operations which is fun for me.
Question: Hello Tom,
Been a long-time subscriber and always appreciate your newsletters. I am currently looking to acquire some used equipment from a brewery and part of the sale includes 8 serving tanks. I am all for the serving tanks and would like to move forward on this purchase, especially at the price point.
My questions, Is there anything I should be looking for when building the draft line system, cleaning procedures I am unfamiliar with, and cold room setup?
I have worked in a brewery where we had serving vessels before and sometime ran into issues with foaming on the lines. So, my two major concerns would be finding a way to better clean the vessels without heating up the room and then how do you balance the draft lines to make sure the draw and pressures are correct.
Is there a chemical that you can run in cold temps to clean? Should the lines be run up and over the tank rather than low across tank legs?
Answer: Well, I have my ways and there is a lot of information on YouTube that may be more in depth, but the way I do it works and you can try it.
Firstly, I have used hot PBW and not had a problem in heating the room up to the point that it causes foaming problems. The beer in the other tanks is probably about 36 F, and at a couple hundred gallons, it isn’t going to raise temps all that much in the time it takes to CIP a tank and burst rinse. That said, the Montrose Colorado Boy has a glycol chilled line to the bar, so that is going to bring the beer in the line back down quickly if it does rise. In Ridgway though, the line just goes right through the wall to the tap, so the beer in that line is exposed to the warmer temperature. That could cause some foam in the first beer poured, but nothing to get excited about. It pours fine after that.
If you don’t want to use hot caustic or PBW there are cold cleaning solutions. For example Five Star Chemical also sells a product for line cleaning called LCC; a clever acronym for Liquid Circulation Cleaner. This may be the way to go if warming the room is a big concern, and depending on the set up, it could be.
To avoid foaming, first check that you are not over-carbonating your beer. You would need a tester like a Zahm Nagel, or, there is a less expensive version that Foxx Equipment sells by Tap Rite.
Dirty lines will also cause foaming. Clean your lines at least every two weeks, and the best way I think is to use a recirculation pump. That’s what the pro’s use. It hooks right up to your tap, and is easy and fast. If you jump all the lines together you can clean them all in one shot, just be sure to rinse all the beer out before you clean, your your cleaning solution doesn't get the beer from the line in it.
But the big culprit in foaming is usually temperature. Once your beer gets warmer the CO2 comes out of solution. If there is a foaming issue at the tap, that’s the first place I look. Maybe the cooler compressor is breaking down and not blowing cold air and your cooler is 42. Don’t worry, that will only happen on a Saturday night or whenever the worst time is for you.
And finally, you always want your draft lines to go from big to small. So you step down the ID of your lines from your tank until you reach the ID of your tap. You never want to go bigger after leaving your keg or serving tank.
As for the beer lines themselves, I think it’s a good idea to keep them off the floor. You can clamp them to the wall, but placement depends on how your cooler is set up. Are the draft towers next to the cooler, or are they upstairs? By keeping the lines off the floor, it makes floor cleaning much,
much easier. Call the folks at Foxx and they can make recommendations for you. I have found them very helpful.
One last thing about beer lines. When you install them, use a permanent marker and write the date on them so you will know how old they get. Time goes by so fast and those lines wear out. Replace them every five years if you can stomach it. Your beer will be happy you did.
