Keeping the keg lines and fittings clean

Question

I recently purchased a keg, and I've got a couple questions about keeping the lines clean. Specifically when the keg isn't finished, as the lines are simple enough to clean along with the keg when it's empty.

Right now I do not have a kegerator, and am using a simple picnic tap. I've been very busy and unable to drink my beer on a regular basis, so my keg gets tapped, we pour a few pints then everything gets packed up for another week or so. My question is about cleaning the beverage line and fitting. How often should I be cleaning it? Are there any tips for cleaning the fitting?

The one way valve on the fitting makes it difficult to clean, so I end up taking the line apart and washing the pieces separately. This is problematic because the fitting is sharply barbed and often requires me to cut away the tubing to take it apart. Is there anything I can do to make this easier?

Answer 1

Assuming everything is stored properly cool, it isn't necessary to worry about cleaning the tap line in between pours, even if it takes you several months to finish the keg. If beer has sat unmoving in the beverage tubing for an extended period (a couple weeks), that small portion of beer may be stale; in this case I'd just run off the first bit into a spare glass and discard it. Aside from that, you should be fine. Trust your taste buds.

Answer 2

Generally speaking, as long as you still have beer in the keg and you're pushing it out with CO2, you should be fine. This assumes that you're keeping your keg cool (beer is a food product as should be treated as one). Here's how I clean mind and I've never had an issue:
When the keg is empty, first I cry a little for my lost friend.
First, I rinse the keg with hot water,
then, I clean the keg with Oxyclean or BPW and really hot water.
I'll hook the keg up to my beer line and run about a quart (or a liter if you're not in the US) into a pitcher.
Dump the keg and rinse it with hot water. With new hot water in the keg, get a couple of quarts through the beer lines.
Sanitize with StarSan and water, the run that through the beer lines. Add beer and force carbonate.
Run a pint glass (or less -- no sense in wasting perfectly good beer) of liquid through the beer lines.
Pull a pint into a clean glass and drink it.

Answer 3

The solution was a combination of Franklin and Paul's suggestions. Franklin helped with cleaning when necessary and Paul helped me worry less about doing a complete breakdown and cleaning every time I poured a pint.

If my keg has to sit for a moderate amount of time I just leave it hooked up and pour off the first bit. If it sat for too long I clean it and now I know how to open the poppets to clean inside there.