Beer Line Cleaning & Installation, Newcastle and the Hunter
Bad beer costs you more than the keg. A venue pouring cloudy, foaming or off-tasting beer loses the round, loses the table, and often loses the customer for good. Most of the time the beer is fine. The problem is between the keg and the tap.
Summit Air and Refrigeration services beer systems for pubs, clubs, hotels and restaurants across Newcastle, the Hunter Valley and the Central Coast. We handle scheduled line cleaning, glycol chiller service and repair, new tap and font installation, and full keg room fitouts. Because we also service commercial refrigeration and catering equipment, we are usually already on site, which means a beer line problem does not need a separate contractor or a separate callout fee.
ARC certified, licence AU56998. Emergency response available 24/7.
What a proper line clean involves
A line clean is not a rinse. Beer leaves behind yeast, protein and beer stone, a hard mineral scale that builds inside the line and holds bacteria no matter how much water you push through it.
Our process:
-
Disconnect kegs and purge product from the line
-
Circulate a caustic cleaning solution through every line, held for the full contact time rather than pushed straight through
-
Periodic acid clean to strip beer stone, which caustic alone will not remove
-
Strip and soak couplers, taps, spouts and FOB detectors separately, since these are where most contamination actually sits
-
Flush thoroughly and test until the water runs clear
-
Reconnect, purge and pour test every tap before we leave
The parts that get skipped in a rushed clean are the contact time and the tap disassembly. Both are the difference between a line that is clean and a line that looks clean.
How often do beer lines need cleaning?
The honest answer is that it depends on throughput, but the industry standard most Australian venues work to is a clean every 7 to 14 days.
Rough guidance:
-
High volume venues, fast-moving taps: every 7 days
-
Standard pub or club operation: fortnightly
-
Low turnover taps, seasonal or function only lines: fortnightly minimum regardless of volume, because a line sitting full of still beer contaminates faster than one in constant use
Lines that go longer than a month develop biofilm that a single clean will not fully clear. At that point it usually takes several consecutive cleans, or in bad cases line replacement, to get back to a clean pour.
If you are not sure when your lines were last done, that is usually the answer in itself.
Glycol systems, chillers and warm beer
Most beer quality complaints we attend turn out to be temperature, not cleanliness.
A glycol system chills beer on its way to the tap by running chilled glycol alongside the beer lines inside an insulated python. When it works, beer arrives at the tap at serving temperature no matter how far the keg room is from the bar. When it does not, you get warm beer, excessive foam, and product waste on every pour.
What we service:
-
Glycol chiller and power pack service, repair and replacement
-
Glycol pump failures and circulation faults
-
Python insulation faults and cold loss along long runs
-
Temperature calibration at the tap rather than just at the chiller
-
Refrigerant work on integrated systems, ARC certified
Common faults we get called to:
-
Beer warm at the tap but the chiller reads correct. Usually circulation, a failed pump, or cold loss in the python.
-
Foaming that gets worse through service. Often temperature drift as demand rises, sometimes gas pressure.
-
Chiller running constantly. Frequently a refrigeration fault, not a glycol fault, which is where being a refrigeration company rather than a beer line company matters.
Tap, font and python installation
We install new beer systems and extend existing ones. That includes adding taps to an existing font, running new python for a bar relocation, installing fonts and towers, and setting up gas, regulators and FOB detectors.
If you are adding taps, the thing worth checking before you commit is whether your existing glycol capacity and python can carry the additional lines. Adding four taps to a system already at its limit produces warm beer on every tap, not just the new ones. We size that up before quoting rather than after installing.
Keg room fitout and coolroom work
Beer systems live inside coolrooms, and a keg room with a temperature problem is a beer problem.
We build and service keg rooms end to end: coolroom panel and door work, refrigeration plant, door seals, shelving and racking, and the beer system inside it.
Because we manufacture and supply commercial door seals, a failing keg room door seal gets fixed on the same visit rather than becoming a separate order with a two week lead time.
Troubleshooting: what your symptom usually means
Symptom Most likely cause
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cloudy or hazy beer Line contamination, overdue clean
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sour or vinegary taste Bacterial contamination in lines or couplers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Excessive foam, all taps Temperature or gas pressure
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Excessive foam, one tap Faulty tap, coupler, or a restriction in that line
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warm beer at the tap Glycol circulation, chiller fault, or python cold loss
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beer fine at first, worse through service System not keeping up with demand
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loss of pressure across the bar Gas supply, regulator, or a leak
Servicing Newcastle, the Hunter and the Central Coast
We service venues across Newcastle, Maitland, Cessnock, the Hunter Valley, Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie and the Central Coast. Scheduled cleaning contracts and one off callouts both welcome, and we can work around your trading hours rather than through them.
Call 0418 979 116 or request a quote.
Pubs & Clubs | Hotels & Resorts | Restaurants & Function Centres | RSLs & Leagues Clubs | Festival & Event Venues | Microbreweries & Taprooms