Beer - The Secret Ingredient

Tuesday.

I've been trying to find out how often bars are supposed to clean out their beer lines. Have to admit that my interest is self serving. Some bars I drink in - the beer or lager makes me ill and some bars I go in serve beer or lager that leaves me feeling perfectly normal.

I can only put the problem down to being dirty beer lines though others might well say it is age related. It certainly isn't the latter because I've always been the same. My system just won't tolerate beer or lager with the hidden ingredient.

There's an interesting page about the Perfect Pint that suggests that Cask ale lines should be cleaned at least every 5 days.

The stuff that I've been reduced to drinking is pasteurised fizz so I assume the lines can go without cleaning for longer than 5 days. I am told that the advantage of pasteurised fizz aka keg beer, is that it is "consistent and reliable", has a longer storage life and is cheaper to produce. It does not require delicate handling or expertise in the pub cellar, apart from basic hygiene. Basic Hygiene - Mmmm!

The Inland Revenue offer guidlines to Licensed Victuallers - mainly about losses of stock - they are meant to provide a general background to the trade for Inspectors of Taxes.

Pipe and pump cleaning - The dispense points, and the pipes connecting the beer containers to them, need to be cleaned regularly since unclean pipes will cause "fobbing" and will affect the taste of the beer. How frequently this is done depends on the length of the pipes and how vulnerable they are to temperature changes, yeast deposits (cask conditioned beer) and other deposits. Once every five days in hot weather, and once every seven days in cold, is a common practice. No mention there of what bad beer does to the customer..

Interbrew give little information that I can find beyond "Clean Lines: Retailers must clean lines correctly to preserve hygiene. It is important to clean each line every seven days using brewing recommended chemicals. Should retailers have any evidence of yeast build up in the beer monitor (also called fob detector) they may have an issue with their line cleaning.

Interesting little paragraph here -"Glass Care: Beer must be served in glasses that are spotlessly clean. Research shows that glassware is actually poor in two thirds of outlets. Retailers should check their glassware by holding one up close to a light for a visual inspection, bubbles clinging to the glass is another tell tale sign of dirty glassware.

Seems to me that some of the bars I go in know little about hygiene and that I am the victim of the secret ingredient not added by the brewers - dirt.