Line cleaning has traditionally been carried out manually by bar staff. Each line must be cleaned in turn and cleaning solution mixed with precision. It's a time-consuming, tedious and often unpleasant process that does not guarantee contamination-free beer.

How to clean lines manually >>

Use of human resources

• The procedure can take several hours for an average-sized pub – large bars report a day's work to clean all the lines!
• Using a bucket to capture the effluent from each individual tap and then carrying it to a drain is monotonous, tiring and messy, and has health & safety implications
• The tedium of the task, and the fact that it is often carried out in the early hours, makes it prone to human error

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Beer wastage

• Beer present in the lines at the start and end of the process is usually wasted
• The volume wasted depends on the skill and experience of the person cleaning the lines (i.e. how long the taps are run), and the number of taps in the bar

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Unreliable

• Litmus paper is sometimes used to assess the purity of the beer. This is notoriously inaccurate, and can lead to contamination of served beer.
• Some bar staff use their fingers to determine the presence of cleaning solution in the delivered product. This form of measurement can be inaccurate and hazardous
• The correct mixture of cleaning fluid and water is often not monitored, which leads to inconsistencies in the line cleaning procedure
• You don't actually know if the lines are clean!

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Inefficient

• The time-based manual cleaning method is a one-size-fits-all solution. If there is not much contamination, it's a waste of time and cleaning fluid, but if the build up is severe, the lines may not be cleaned thoroughly
• There is no guarantee that all the contaminants have been removed, even if the cleaning has been performed for the recommended duration

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Unsafe

• The user has to handle concentrated detergent – a caustic substance that can cause severe burning
• As you cannot guarantee that the lines are free from cleaning fluid, there is a risk that the customer can be served contaminated beer

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