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I put down a brew yesterday, and noticed a few drips from the tap, not the thread but the tap itself, later on it was still dripping, enough to partially soak a paper towel over night. It seems the tap is a little worn and does not seal properly anymore.

I'm not worried about losing wort, but was wondering if this is going to be a cause for infection, especially when I transfer to the secondary?

i noticed one of my taps lost a few drops per day on a brew i just did.. i just rinsed the tap nozzle with some dilute bleach in a spray bottle, then with clean water, before racking into another container to prime.

Nasties are unlikely to swim up against the flow of liquid into the tap and the balance of the brew.

I always now spray my taps with Iodophor solution and let sit before using them just to rouse anything living in there.

I also have more taps than fermenters because I figure that at $1.49 from the B-place, they're not too expensive if I manage to completely stuff one when pulling it apart and putting it back together...

I like the idea of the spray.

Yes I will get a new tap next, time.

Since buying a small spray bottle, I have probably decreased my use of sanitiser to one-tenth of before-hand. That's a win-win-win situation, if you like good value...

I made a tap leaky by immersing it in boiling water. I found that the leaking would eventually stop during the brew; I'm assuming it's because the leak was eventually plugged by something, whether it was trub or hops or whatever. The bigger problem was that I'd end up with a deposit of dried wort on the inside of the tap, and I didn't trust that that would be sanitary, so I had to clean the inside of the tap with a cotton bud each time I wanted to use it.

Until I lashed out and bought a new tap.

Oh, and for those that don't know the tap cleaning technique, I highly recommend it:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/i ... opic=10484