Cleaning beer lines of intermittently used beer engine

[wowninjas]

I have recently invested in a beer engine for serving beers from pins/ firkins for parties etc. It won't be in constant use so my question is this: would cleaning with purple beer line cleaner after each use then leaving the system for say a few weeks before running some sanitiser through the system before connecting up again or would I need to use purple line cleaner both times? Also, what would the best way be to store beer pumps and lines etc between use?

Thanks.

[Jim]

The best way is to use the purple line cleaner as soon as possible after you finish a cask (or whatever you're using to hold the beer) - that way the deposits don't get a chance to go dry and hard.

There's no need to use line cleaner again until you've had beer in the lines again - your plan of using sanitiser just before connecting up is a good one.

[wowninjas]

Thanks Jim. I'm also looking for a way to store casks in a shed during the winter and keeping them warm while they condition? The summer should be alright as I was planning on investing in a cool box for the casks to sit in which could be filled with ice packs but its keeping them warm in the winter which is causing me the issues. Any ideas?

[orlando]

If your lines are short enough I heartily recommend the Malt Miller brush here.
Pull through a couple of litres of starsan before hooking up and yo're good to go.

[gobuchul]

I got hold of a second hand beer engine that had been sitting in someone's sheds for years.

I pulled it through with good old cheap oxy clean. kept pulling it through until the little bits of dirt stopped coming through. Took a while.

Then used VWP for a few pull throughs, then fresh water.

Ideally I should have stripped them down but they were working well and I didn't want to break them.