Draught beer hygiene: cleaning of dispense tap nozzles

What is it about?

The quality of draught beer can vary widely from the pristine to poor and beyond! Whilst dispense parameters (eg incorrect temperature) can undermine quality, microorganisms in draught beer can grow to unacceptable levels and impact on clarity, flavour and aroma. Typically removable tap nozzles are soaked overnight in carbonated water/soda water. Although perceived as 'cleaning', this approach creates a microbial soup that exacerbates microbial contamination of the nozzles. On return to the tap, the nozzles reinfect the dispense line. This paper confirms that nozzles soaked in soda water are heavily contaminated and proposes that nozzles should be soaked in a commercially available (and cheap) sanitising solution. Nozzles treated in this way are 'commercially sterile'.

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Why is it important?

Draught beer accounts for 7% or so of the worlds beer output. Poor hygiene leads to poor quality which undermines the consumer experience and the brand (both beer and account). This work has addressed a major contributor to poor hygiene and shows that ‘cleaning’ of draught beer tap nozzles with soda water is an urban myth and, as a de facto industry standard, results in grossly contaminated nozzles.

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