Long draw vs. Direct Draw cleaning cycles

[hatzidar]

I work for a Brewery with two locations and two tap rooms. One tap room has a direct draw system with approximately 6 ft. of 3/16 ID line for each tap. The second has a long draw system with lines varying from 40 to 75 ft. I have been running regular cycles with Penetrate beverage line cleaner at a 1% mixture every two weeks and every fourth cleaning adding in a cycle of ALC acid post wash at the same concentration. My question is should I be running different cycles for the different systems or possibly using a stronger concentration for the Long draw? Also if you have any suggestions on better cleaners it would be most appreciated.

[Perfect Pour Services]

My understanding is that the contact time for both will be the same. Just because you are using more solution to fill a larger tube doesn't change the contact and cleaning potency. But I do like to run more warm water through the line prior to starting my cleanings on long draw systems where glycol is used.

[spdbump]

Problem with running warm water through a glycol is that it heats up the system

[Perfect Pour Services]

I have always turned off the circulation of glycol when cleaning. We are trying to maintain a temp of 80-120 in cleaning solution while cleaning. Turning off the circulation will allow better maintaining of cleaning chemical temp as well as avoiding of freezing the line when flushing the system with clean potable water after chemical has been passed through. Some glycol systems have a shutoff for the pump and compressor independently. In this case I will only shut off the pump allowing the bath to maintain cold. In some cases you must turn off both and the glycol chiller will need more time to return to normal temps. Some glycol chillers use a cold plate technology to chill the glycol as it leaves the bath as opposed to cooling the entire bath. On these systems the compressor MUST be turned off if the pumps are turned off as any static glycol will freeze in the cold plate resulting in a blockage.

[PremiumVADraftTech]

Problem with running warm water through a glycol is that it heats up the system

Yes but when you rinse do so with ice water to cool the lines back down



And to to the OP.... acid cleaning every 4th cleaning is unnecessary and overkill.. for long draw accounts, we try and do it every 3 months