Thanks to this amazing community, I figured out how to set up continuous sparkling water in my house to run through a tap - big win and big savings for our family that mainly drinks sparkling. My husband and all my friends were impressed, and I was proud.
But then we left on a trip and came back to it smelling and tasting musty. Husband no longer impressed and is back to SodaStream. I think our line from the keg to the tap is too long and not kept cold, so the stagnant water got funky.
My plumber HATED this project and is not willing to help. Local brew store guy is great but doesn't know anything about setups like this. Please help me with cleaning the system and setting it up for success.
Current Setup:
Kegland carbonating lid on 2.5 gal keg in mini fridge with CO2 and continuous water feeding in, sparkling going out to a faucet above. Keg is in crawl space under the faucet, but probably 15ft of line goes from here up to my tap. It's been 2 months now that the system has sat unused. Gross, I know. (ETA: water going into the keg is RO filtered, so chlorine has been removed)
How to Clean?
I'm told to run solutions of Easy Clean and then Star San through the keg and water line to the tap. This is what I plan to do:
- Turn off water IN line, open faucet until keg empties.
- Turn off CO2, depressurize keg (pull PRV?), open lid and pour in Easy Clean solution. Reattach lid, turn on CO2, open faucet so cleaner is sitting in water OUT line - let sit for 30 minutes. Open faucet to push the cleaner out.
- Repeat #2 but with Star San solution.
- Turn water IN line back on, give time to refill/carbonate, run faucet for a bit to flush out remaining solution in line. Pray that the musty taste is gone.
Does this make sense? What am I missing?
Anti-Mustiness Improvements
I want to add a cleaning/service port in the water OUT line so I don't have to go through the whole keg clean in my cramped crawl space as often. Any recommendations for this? ChatGPT (I know, sorry, I'm desperate) says a 3-way ball valve or tee with shutoff valves, using a hand-pump cleaning bottle to introduce solution. I don't know exactly what this means but can ask brew store guy if you all think it makes sense.
Thank you! Any advice is appreciated, other than changing the whole system (I did try to get the system to sit next to the faucet but was told no room). I'm neither a brewmaster nor a plumber, just a girl trying to enjoy some bubbles in her water!