Fermentor Tap

Beerpig · Post by **Beerpig** » Sunday Dec 04, 2005 8:20 pm

Quick question

I have tried pulling the tap apart for cleaning but been unsucessful so far

All I have been doing is flushing with napisan & water while cleaning the fermentor

How do others clean the tap?

Cheers

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Sunday Dec 04, 2005 10:09 pm

Unscrew tap, remove sediment reducer, and either flush with one-shot, or soak in iodophor.

Beerpig · Post by **Beerpig** » Sunday Dec 04, 2005 10:19 pm

Thanks Chris

I might not have been clear enough, I do unscrew the tap & pull out the sediment reducer to clean

Was refering to actually pulling the tap itself apart

Cheers

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Sunday Dec 04, 2005 10:42 pm

Geez. That sounds like a lot of effort. I sanitise my tap, then screw it back in before I do my fermenter. When the fermenter's full of iodophor solution, it cleans the inside contact points of the tap. I then let a few litres run out of the tap, which cleans the inside contact points of the tap.

Aside from that, there is no part of the tap that needs cleaning is there?

Tyberious Funk · Post by **Tyberious Funk** » Monday Dec 05, 2005 6:43 am

It's probably also a good idea to replace the tap once in a while. Replacements can be purchased pretty cheaply.

db · Post by db » Monday Dec 05, 2005 6:43 am

Beerpig wrote:Thanks Chris

I might not have been clear enough, I do unscrew the tap & pull out the sediment reducer to clean

Was refering to actually pulling the tap itself apart

Cheers

i know what you mean BP. i soak mine in bleach when they arent in use.. but i still cant seem to get the inside (in between the 2 pieces) clean. there's still a visable build up there. i just replace them every 5-10 brews

yardglass · Post by **yardglass** » Monday Dec 05, 2005 7:23 am

i've got a metre length of garden hose attached to the hot tap in the laundry, as soon as i've bottled i give everything a good hose out with hot water.

The inside diameter of the hose is slightly larger than the fermenter tap, so i shove the tap in the hose and run the hot water through it whilst hosing the crap out of the frmntr.

make sense ?

( been up since 1pm yesterday, and just come off a 12 hr night shift ).

hey Oliver, how about an Emoticon for ' rooted '.

tiredglass

gregb · Post by **gregb** » Monday Dec 05, 2005 7:28 am

I have a seperate dish cloth that only gets used for brewing (avoids the grease from a baked dinner etc) I shove as much of the sponge into the tap as I can and give the whole thing a good wipe, and run water through it etc

Cheers,
Greg.

silkworm · Post by **silkworm** » Monday Dec 05, 2005 9:15 am

Gee now we are getting fussy Beerpig

I've a little bottle brush that comes in a babies bottle cleaner set. It fits the tap perfectly but really a soak and flush is all it needs IMHO.
I give a brush if I didn't get to cleaning the fermenter the same day

grabman · Post by **grabman** » Monday Dec 05, 2005 9:21 am

I've bought some different taps, they are a lever style rather than traditional twist tap. The top of the tap unscews and you can then clean inside. Got them from local HBS. Much easier to use as well, they don't get stuck and in a hurry you just need to flick lever to close tap!

Grab

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Monday Dec 05, 2005 9:31 am

Lever taps sound good! I'll be keeping an eye out for them.

db · Post by db » Monday Dec 05, 2005 11:42 am

grabman wrote:I've bought some different taps, they are a lever style rather than traditional twist tap. The top of the tap unscews and you can then clean inside. Got them from local HBS. Much easier to use as well, they don't get stuck and in a hurry you just need to flick lever to close tap!

Grab

i've been after a couple of these snap lever taps for a while.. are they the screw in type Grab? or do they have the nut on the back?

grabman · Post by **grabman** » Monday Dec 05, 2005 1:54 pm

the ones I bought were screw in type, they just replace the original tap in your fermenter!

Tyberious Funk · Post by **Tyberious Funk** » Monday Dec 05, 2005 3:22 pm

db wrote:
grabman wrote:I've bought some different taps, they are a lever style rather than traditional twist tap. The top of the tap unscews and you can then clean inside. Got them from local HBS. Much easier to use as well, they don't get stuck and in a hurry you just need to flick lever to close tap!

Grab
i've been after a couple of these snap lever taps for a while.. are they the screw in type Grab? or do they have the nut on the back?

You should be able to get both. Just be careful that you get the right thread size.

Beerpig · Post by **Beerpig** » Monday Dec 05, 2005 7:27 pm

Thanks to everyone

dickTed · Post by **dickTed** » Monday Dec 05, 2005 9:15 pm

I've pulled and twisted them to no avail.

When I see a stain in my primary tap - every 3 or 4 brews, I replace it.

Phantom · Post by **Phantom** » Monday Dec 05, 2005 9:28 pm

I Just flush it out, sediment reducers????, my fermenters not even got a screw lid!!!

My coopers kit is a bit old though with the clip on lid and the flow through tap , easy to clean for sure.

Phantom

Tyberious Funk · Post by **Tyberious Funk** » Tuesday Dec 06, 2005 3:37 pm

Actually, I wonder if using plumbers tape might make it easier to keep tap threads clean. You could simply replace the tape every brew (or two).

r.magnay · Post by **r.magnay** » Tuesday Dec 06, 2005 3:56 pm

This may sound a bit piggy, but I never remove my tap or sediment reducer, these days I wash the crud out after bottling, give it a good rinse and run some through the tap, before I put a brew on, I boil the kettle, pour it into the brewer and slosh it around, run a goodly amount through the tap, let it stand a few minutes with the lid on, when the steam is gone, empty the brewer and put on a brew, have no trouble with infection since I started doing it this way!

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Tuesday Dec 06, 2005 7:45 pm

A toothbrush dipped in one-shot is good for cleaning threads on taps.