How To Clean A Kegerator Without A Kit




Cleaning a kegerator without a proper kit isn’t difficult or impossible. However, some

essentials are a must and you actually can’t do without them. I will discuss these
in detail later. Now as far cleaning a kegerator and going the DIY way is concerned, you
just have to remember that the whole process is divided into two parts – external
cleaning and internal cleaning. I will begin with the former first.

External Cleaning:

This is basically the cleaning of a kegerator from the outside. When it comes to normal
cleaning, it should be done every time you use your kegerator. This way you can
remove residue from the faucet and the beer lines. If you skip this routine task, your
kegerator may witness fungal/bacterial growth, which would contaminate your beer.
Before you begin with your external cleaning, you first need to shut down your kegerator
altogether by unplugging it. The CO2 too has to be turned off. Thereafter, the regulator
should be closed, the tap must be disengaged, and the keg has to be removed
completely.

For external cleaning, you will require warm water, a clean piece of cotton cloth, and an
unscented soap. When your soap does not have any fragrance, you can smell the
cleaned surface and figure out whether any stench is still perceptible.
On the outside, you'll have to clean the tap, beer lines, regulator, tank, and spill tray.
Inside too, you'll need to remove stains and residue from the tap, spigot and the beer
lines.

Internal Cleaning:

Internal cleaning is basically the cleaning of the removable components of a kegerator
viz. beer lines, faucet, couplers, and more. Now we'll talk about the essentials that we
discussed at the beginning of this write-up.
To clean the insides of the beer lines, you will require a hose, hand-pumped bottle, and
cleaning solution. The last two things can be prepared at home but you will have to be
really good at it. Making a hand-pumped bottle with quart bottles, soda kegs, and tubes
is not everyone's cup of tea and a cleaning solution would do a better job than a mixture
of hot water and cleaning powder. The hose will have to be connected to the beer lines
and the rest you can probably handle yourself. Once you have dissembled the
kegerator using the faucet wrench from the tool kit that would have probably been
provided along with your kegerator, you'll have to soak the faucet and couplers in a
mixture of warm water and cleaning powder. You may probably have to use a scrubber as well to remove the debris that may have accumulated over time. The cleaning of these parts should be given enough time and it's only after you have rinsed them with water again and they look clean and fresh that you can think of reassembling them.

Cleaning the beer lines:

This perhaps is the million dollar question i.e. how do you clean the beer lines? Well, we
have already discussed the things we will need for making the beer lines clean and
clear again. Now it's all a matter of putting them to proper use. One end of the beer lines
that will be dangling loose must end inside a bucket and the hose that you attach to the
hand-pumped bottle must have its other end inserted into the faucet opening. After this,
you just have to fill the bottle up with the cleaning solution, start pumping it so that the
liquid flows through the beer lines and let it remain there for a while after which you can
rinse it. Ideally, this whole step should be followed at least thrice. Whenever such
thorough cleaning is done, there are certain parts such as rubber gaskets and O-rings
that end up getting replaced, reason being they wear out fast. Something similar can
happen in your case as well. After the cleaning is over, you just have to reassemble all
the parts of your kegerator and it will be ready for use again.



So you see that it is nothing but a myth that a kegerator cannot be cleaned without a
professional kit furnished with every kind of cleaning device possible. DIY many a time
becomes a strict no-no in certain cases but in this particular instance, it is definitely
possible and you never know, you can actually do a very good job and perform like a
pro if you follow every step discussed above to a nicety.

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