HOUSTON – Health departments regulate food temperature and kitchens' cleanliness, but Channel 2 Investigates found that they do not regulate the cleanliness of draft systems used to serve beer at Houston bars.
A Channel 2 Investigation showed higher than expected levels of bacteria, called lactobacillus, in several samples of beer served by area bars.
The bacteria aren't a health concern, but according to several brewers, they can greatly affect the taste of your beer.
"In the absolute worst case, you'll taste a lot of sourness in a beer that shouldn't be sour, or you'll taste a lot of buttery or butterscotch flavor," said Brock Wagner, founder and brewer at Saint Arnold Brewery.
The bacteria can get into beer in many ways, but the head of a local company said it's often found in the draft beer lines that he cleans.
He said the plastic tubing that runs from the keg to the tap itself is supposed to be clear, but in some cases he has seen the insides so dirty that the line itself is dark yellow, brown, black or even purple.
"Our terminology is beer snot," said John Torentinos, of Houston Draft Solutions. "The beer inside the kegs is fine, but it has go all through the line and travel through all that to get to your glass."
Torentinos said he spent years working for local beer distributors performing line cleaning for bars before opening up his company, which he describes as a VIP treatment for draft systems.
He said he has about 100 clients in the area, including big accounts like NRG stadium.
"Every once in a while, I'll send a beer back and say, 'Hey, it doesn't taste like it should,'" Cameron Powell told Channel 2.
Powell said she wasn't sure what made it taste different from the other beers she drinks. Powell is a frequent beer drinker on Washington Avenue.
The head of the nationwide Brewers Association said lactobacillus isn't what people notice when a beer tastes bitter.
"It's important to understand that you don't taste lactobacillus in beer, but rather the byproduct of a biochemical reaction associated with the bacteria," Skypeck said.
Beers served at higher temperatures are most likely to taste bad if they have unintended amounts of lactobacillus, he said.
"You could have a cold sample of beer that had large levels of lactobacillus, but if the bacteria (were) inactive and not producing lactic acid, you would not taste the presence of bacteria," he said.
Lactobacillus is also used to brew some beers that are intentionally meant to taste sour, like Belgian lambics. Skypeck said most draft beers are not made with that type of bacteria.
To see how often lactobacillus is found in local beers, Local 2 took 15 samples from area bars. Channel 2 Investigates paid a local lab that specializes in testing food bacteria to test samples that we gathered according to their direction.
The majority of the samples showed a very small amount lactobacillus, less than 10 colony-forming units per milliliter, according to the lab report.
A Bud Lite draft from Einstein's Pub in Katy had the highest count of bacteria in our test. It had 16,000 CFU per milliliter. A Karbach Mother in Lager at the Flying Saucer in Sugar Land had 1,500 colony-forming units per milliliter.
We retested both types of beers at the same places a week later. Those tests showed similar results.
At Hay Merchant in Montrose, we found 1,500 colony-forming units per milliliter in the Saint Arnold Lawnmower draft. A retest of that beer showed 20 CFU per milliliter.
The owner of the Hay Merchant told Channel 2 that the line where we found the bacteria was cleaned last week and he doesn't think dirty beer tap lines caused high levels of bacteria.
"When dealing with draft beer, there are multiple opportunities for the beer to become contaminated with foreign bacteria. Without being able to eliminate all those variables, it's really hard to make a determination as to where a beer may have gotten contaminated," Kevin Floyd said.
Floyd said all the components of the Hay Merchant's draft systems, not just the lines, are completely dismantled and cleaned every six to eight weeks.
The Katy and Sugar Land bars said their distributor, Silver Eagle, is responsible for cleaning their beer tap lines. Both Einstein's Pub and Flying Saucer told Channel 2 Investigates that Silver Eagle employees cleaned their lines after we called.
Silver Eagle would not comment specifically on the findings of our test, citing a lack of information and methodology to properly respond.
In a statement, Silver Eagle said, "A large number of variables can affect testing results, including management of the sample, equipment used and how it's calibrated, and the testing method."
READ: Full Silver Eagle statement
The Brewers Association also said the presence of lactobacillus in a glass of beer does not specifically indicate that the lines are not cleaned regularly.
Draft bacteria hangover myth
Powell, the frequent beer drinker who had been served unintended sour beer before, said her family taught her that draft beer can cause hangovers.
"My aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents say they'll drink bottles because they believe draft gives them a hangover when a bottle doesn't," she said.
We heard that claim from other beer drinkers and those in the beer industry as we investigated this story.
Channel 2 found no evidence to back that up.
"If you have a hangover, it probably has to do with how much beer or whatever else you were drinking that night," Powell said.