Beer line cleaner

[Jim]

Has anyone ever used this stuff, and is it any good? It seems quite cheap.

Prosan Plus

[Dennis King]

Not the same brand but I use the purple line cleaner from Macro, around £5 which looks the same. Does what it says on the tin.

[Jim]

Thanks Dennis.

[hotmog]

I use Pipeline purple beer line cleaner. I bought 2 x 5 litre containers of it from J G Bar Supplies just under 2 years ago for £24 incl VAT & delivery. I've still only used about 2/3rds of the first container. It's great stuff - far more effective than the standard homebrew cleaner/sanitiser powder I had been using before. I thoroughly recommend it.

[Jim]

Cheers hotmog.

Do you both have the proper protective gear (gloves, goggles etc) and have you ever been burned? I'm just wondering how careful you need to be handling this stuff (I've been reading the product safety leaflet).

[Dennis King]

Cheers hotmog.

Do you both have the proper protective gear (gloves, goggles etc) and have you ever been burned? I'm just wondering how careful you need to be handling this stuff (I've been reading the product safety leaflet).

What protective gear. Must admit I've only read the dilution rate Have had a few spashes but just washed it off. No burns, might read it next time I use it.

[Jim]

Cheers hotmog.

Do you both have the proper protective gear (gloves, goggles etc) and have you ever been burned? I'm just wondering how careful you need to be handling this stuff (I've been reading the product safety leaflet).

What protective gear. Must admit I've only read the dilution rate Have had a few spashes but just washed it off. No burns, might read it next time I use it.

Obvioulsy it's not as bad as it sounds.

Section 8 of the pamphlet tells you the recommended precautions.

Clicky

[Dennis King]

Never had a problem Jim, just common sense.

[hotmog]

I dilute it in the ratio 50ml Pipeline: 2 litres water. I use a 100ml glass syringe with a bit of 8mm plastic tubing attached to the nozzle to extract the Pipeline from the container and then inject it into a bowl of water. Otherwise it's difficult to measure accurately and can tend to splash all over the place if you try to pour it out direct, especially when the container's full.

You can get somewhat paranoid reading all the safety information. I was ultra-cautious initially and did wear rubber gloves (and reading glasses rather than goggles). Nowadays I admit I'm perhaps a bit more blase and don't usually bother with the gloves and glasses. I've had the odd drop of the diluted solution get on my skin, but simply rinse my hand under the tap immediately and have never had any burns or other issues with it. However I would not advocate complacency. I would always recommend the use of rubber gloves when handling the stuff. It's just that using a syringe minimises the risk of any undiluted Pipeline coming into contact with anything other than the water it is to be mixed with.

Incidentally, I originally used plastic syinges bought off eBay, but found that after a while the rubber seal at the end of the plunger would expand slightly. This caused it to jam inside the cylinder as the plunger was being pulled out, and come off the end completely. The glass syringes I use now have ground glass plungers that are an exact airtight fit, so have no rubber seals and no wear & tear issues. I sourced those on eBay as well.

[Jim]

Two 5 litre containers arrived today!

Also got a measuring cup and some indicator papers. I'll be giving it a go after tea.

I think I might be able to hook the cornie tap up to the beer engine and use that to draw the cleaner through the 2 sets of lines at once.

[boingy]

10 litres!
If it is the same dilution level as mine then you have just bought several lifetimes worth...

[Jim]

10 litres!
If it is the same dilution level as mine then you have just bought several lifetimes worth...

It will definitely last me the rest of my life.

It was nearly as cheap to buy 2 as 1 with the postage/special deal etc. My brilliant idea of pulling the cleaner through with the beer engine was a fail, though. The tap isn't airtight when it's open so I was sucking air in.

[Jim]

I've assumed that the indicator paper will stay white if there's no cleaner present after rinsing (it's phenolphthalein).

Anyway, it's done the job; I had a taint I couldn't get rid of in my beer engine (which hasn't been used for a while) and this has shifted it completely.

[jmc]

I picked up 5L of purple beer line cleaner from a local company today.
£5.50+VAT.


I've just set up a tiny bar area with a beer engine & two other taps so thought I would need it.

On reading BLC instructions, 1st thing it says is don't use it with brass beer engines !

I have an Angram beer engine.
Will this have any brass parts in contact with brew?

BLC says it contains Sodium Hydroxide, which on a bit of research looks to attack brass among other metals

Extract from http://www.cedre.fr/en/publication/chemical/soda_gb.pdf

A violent reaction occurs with mineral or organic acids and ketones.
Sodium hydroxide solutions are highly corrosive to certain metals and alloys: zinc, aluminium,
tin, copper, lead, bronze, brass. Sodium hydroxide also destroys leather, strips paint and attacks
certain plastics, rubbers and coatings.

I wonder whether it will be that corrosive at duilutions recommended.

Does anyone else use purple beer line cleaner with an Angram beer engine?

TIA John

[Dennis King]

I have an Angram and use purple line cleaner, from Makro. Just look at the container the only thing it says to avoid is alluminum and nylon. It contains Sodium Hydroxide.