Tap cleaning - must try harder!

[Kev888]

Hmm. Was pouring a pint just now when a small grey/blue plastic washer fell out of the tap into the glass. I was drinking the pint whilst examining the washer - which actually turned out to be a ring of shiny mould
Hopefully its some nice friendly type; the beer tastes okay anyway...

Anyhow, I've posted on threads before on how I need to disassemble and clean my tap between kegs to stop a grey gunk building up; rinsing through with a mix of 50ml per L thin (<5%) bleach to water - my general cleaning strength mix - between each keg wasn't enough to keep it at bay. People have suggested that rinsing through with Beer Line Cleaner rather than bleach may be better; but (unwisely as it transpires) I first decided to try a stronger bleach mix at 100ml/L in case that worked. Well I have my answer now - it doesn't!!

So I'll next be trying BLC. I may also try a dalex tap that I have but haven't yet used; I'm currently using a shiny tap from Norm, which is very nice but it does seem to be quite complex and have a lot of orifices where beer can potentially meet air, so i suspect may be higher maintenance.

I'm wondering if anyone has found a good tap/cleaner combo (for cornies) that doesn't need more than flushing through - or is this just over optimistic?

Cheers,
kev

[trucker5774]

I don't use cornies, by have learnt that I MUST strip taps at least every couple of brews to fight off the nasties.

[Kev888]

Ah, possibly I'm just being lazy then, thanks for the info.
Its not a big hassle really, just I got the idea some people seem not to do this - but I may be wrong in that. Its been afew hours and I'm still alive anyways!

Cheers
kev

[Swiller]

Kev you mention cleaning the tap with beer line cleaner was unwise
I just wondered why as I use cornies and have just bought some
beer line cleaner but not used it yet. I have a kegerater with Dalex
taps fitted and in the past I have always used a bleach solution so
is the line cleaner a bad idea to use?

J

[Kev888]

Hi,
no the BLC is supposed to be very good indeed, and its what I will try next. What was unwise was my decision to first try getting away just with a stronger bleach solution (and no disassembly for cleaning) - it hasn't worked!

The only bad thing I've ever heard about BLC (aside from me not being able to pick it up locally) is that apparently like bleach you shouldn't leave it soaking in the keg for too long to avoid pitting and pin holes.

Cheer
Kev

[Swiller]

Thanks for your post back Kev.
Agreed, bleach should not be near
SS for very long.

Cheers,

J

[Aleman]

I actually flush the spout on my tap after every pouring session with water using a wash bottle . . . which has kept the blue O rings at bay for the last year

[Kev888]

Aha, that sounds like the sort of thing I'm looking for - thanks very much indeed (yet again!).

I tried squirting starsan up there from time to tme but it didn't really work out. On reflection though thats only because the bottle wasn't really suitable - a properly shaped spout and a decently sized drip tray would make it a doddle. I feel a bit of tinkering coming on..

Cheers,
kev

[trucker5774]

All this talk of squirting up your starsan and flushing out your spout is making me uncomfortable....................I'm off to the pub

[WishboneBrewery]

After someone tip on here I give my Cornie tap a squirt of Starsan after use... so far no more mouldy floaters

[Kev888]

Excellent, thanks - thats definately going to be my next plan too, then. I've been trying plain water but I disassembled it again last night to see how it was going and theres grey crudd building up inside again, around the front spring.

I think this endois tap probably needs regualr cleaning - there seem to be a lot of places down-stream of the actual on/off bit where wort can collect and meets the air. Fortunately its designed for it - it can be unscrewed from the front of the keggorator and is fairly easy to strip down, but I'd like to extend the intervals between having to do that a bit. I may swap to dalex ones at some point and see how they go.

I'm also going to get some proper beer line cleaner for rinsing through, although possibly will try PBW instead or as well, as this makes claims about being good for line/tap cleaning too and I'm slowly sinking under all the different cleaners I've got for this and that, so rationalisation would be very useful if it works.

Cheers
Kev

[yogester]

i strip down my enodis everytime i do a brew and chuck it in with my pbw/rinse/citric/rinse/starsan schedule that i do for the fv - never, ever had a green floater

[Kev888]

Ah, think you've spotted my laziness there.. I've lately been trying to get away with just rinsing the line through week-to-week, and maybe stripping down the tap once a month or so - and using cheaper cleaners as well. It hasn't gone well..

But I've got some Beer Line Cleaner lined up for an order soon, so we'll see if that works. Its no challenge cleaning the endis, just that swapping kegs never seems to happen at a good time for stripping down the tap so I thought I'd do some trials with flushing through.

I got a Dalex tap to try too; its not that nice compared to the endis - being plasticy and having quite a harsh spring on the lever, but it does actually seem to work rather well. More imporatantly in this context its better designed to stop beer collecting outside the on/off seal - really theres just the spout rather than springs and screws and so on.

Think thats the issue acually - i read about people only having to flush through (or rinse with water) so thought it worth a go, but clearly different taps take different approaches. Theres's nothing at all wrong or difficult with the endis, and indeed its a very nice tap, but so far it seems that this particular design should be stripped down and cleaned fairly regularly for best results.

Cheers
kev