Cleaning Kegerator Taps

[flano]

I think it may be time for me to give my kegerator taps a clean out.

I have been getting a few little black floaties in my beer from one of the taps.

I dunno if the floaties are coming from the beer in the keg or from the taps..never cleaned them before...18 months of use.
I have flushed them out with pink stain remover and fresh water between every keg.

Anyone point me in the right direction ( a thread or link with pics ) as to how I go about dismantling the taps for cleaning.
I vaguely recall someone on here having leaking probs after they cleaned their taps .

cheers
norks.

 

[bignath]

I think it may be time for me to give my kegerator taps a clean out.

I have been getting a few little black floaties in my beer from one of the taps.

I dunno if the floaties are coming from the beer in the keg or from the taps..never cleaned them before...18 months of use.
I have flushed them out with pink stain remover and fresh water between every keg.

Anyone point me in the right direction ( a thread or link with pics ) as to how I go about dismantling the taps for cleaning.
I vaguely recall someone on here having leaking probs after they cleaned their taps .

cheers
norks.

As dumb as this may sound, you might actually run into leaking problems if you don't clean them. Depending on the type of taps you have, there is a little breather hole on the underneath side of the tap behind the spout. This can become clogged and won't allow the tap to shut off cleanly. Once it is unblocked, the tap should seal straight away. I'm not sure if all taps have this breather hole, but mine do. Mine are just cheapies at around $70 each or something, but i've had them for years with no problems.

You will most likely need to get a collar spanner (usually around $8-10) to undo the tap assembly from the shank. They undo CLOCKWISE. Disconnect your lines from the keg before doing this.

Pull the tap apart, starting with unscrewing the handle and the rest should be self explanatory as to how it comes apart. A good soak, a good scrub, a good rinse, put back together. I cleaned one of mine that had gummed up overnight and it took me all of 5 minutes. Still not sure why it gummed up (it was pouring smoothly and pulling well the day before, went home next day and pulled a beer and the tap felt stuck). Quick clean and all is right with the world.

 

[flano]

awesome.

I have the spanner that came with the keg king kegerator...taps are probably el cheapo's . I have noticed they do get a bit sticky.
One looks to have some gunk in the bit that pushes in and out at the front of the tap.

cheers.

 

[bignath]

One looks to have some gunk in the bit that pushes in and out at the front of the tap.

Yep, they'll definitely need a clean. You don't notice how dirty they get until you clean them out. Awesome having nice clean taps too. Beer seems to me to be a bit brighter, and of course peace of mind that your getting the best possible beer out of your kegs.

 

[zoigl]

all good advice.
be aware that little springs and screws can slip from your fingers
I use a large open SS bowl from Cheap as chips or similar store, It holds about 10 litres
I mix 2 or 3 litres of star san and let everything drop into this bowl as I unscrew everything.
Get some really small bottle brushes, again at cheap as chips shop
I find these clean out the taps really well.
Another tip for the first time is to do one tap at a time, it is a handy reference
I use throwaway rubber gloves as well
My taps get cleaned at least every 2 weeks and when I change kegs. I have noticed that the taps become stiff if they are not clean,
My taps have that little hole as mentioned in the previous post
good luck. It gets easy after a couple of times

 

[flano]

all good advice.
be aware that little springs and screws can slip from your fingers
I use a large open SS bowl from Cheap as chips or similar store, It holds about 10 litres
I mix 2 or 3 litres of star san and let everything drop into this bowl as I unscrew everything.
Get some really small bottle brushes, again at cheap as chips shop
I find these clean out the taps really well.
Another tip for the first time is to do one tap at a time, it is a handy reference
I use throwaway rubber gloves as well
My taps get cleaned at least every 2 weeks and when I change kegs. I have noticed that the taps become stiff if they are not clean,
My taps have that little hole as mentioned in the previous post
good luck. It gets easy after a couple of times

thanks.
great tips.

 

[argon]

other than breaking down my taps... which of course will give a pretty good clean. Intermittently i'll clean the lines and taps with some hot napisan or PBW.

I fill a 2L PET with Hot Napisan or PBW and then add pressure by way of a carbonation cap
I then disconnect the beer out fitting on the beer line and replace it with a gas disconnect
Then i attach the beer line to the bottle and discharge the solution via the tap, leaving it soak overnight... hence cleaning the line and the tap
Then next day repeat with Starsan... but it only needs a 1 minute contact time.

You can do the same thing without pressurising the the PET... just hold the PET above the tap and let it drain through.

 

[bignath]

other than breaking down my taps... which of course will give a pretty good clean. Intermittently i'll clean the lines and taps with some hot napisan or PBW.

I fill a 2L PET with Hot Napisan or PBW and then add pressure by way of a carbonation cap
I then disconnect the beer out fitting on the beer line and replace it with a gas disconnect
Then i attach the beer line to the bottle and discharge the solution via the tap, leaving it soak overnight... hence cleaning the line and the tap
Then next day repeat with Starsan... but it only needs a 1 minute contact time.

You can do the same thing without pressurising the the PET... just hold the PET above the tap and let it drain through.

I do much the same thing but even easier. Instead of filling another vessel to use to clean my lines and tap, i just put some more napisan, pbw, (insert your preferred cleaner and sanitiser here) sanitiser solution into a cleaned keg after it's been emptied, and use some of that to hook up to my lines to clean them out. Not sure why the need to have a separate bottle for line cleaning when there's a clean keg with no rinse already in it..

I typically leave 2lt of no rinse solution in each keg before i refill it, so if i'm gonna do my lines i use maybe 4lt and put the first two through the lines before disconnecting and storing that keg with the remaining 2lt left in it.
By the way, just re-read what i've written and not implying in any way the sanitiser and cleaner is the same thing..

 

[argon]

I find the 2L bottle easy to use as i can clean the line whenever i want, not having to rely on an empty keg... which is hardly ever for me. And i can just do it by hand via gravity. I do all my sanatising through the keg though... ie push the sanatiser out of the keg through the taps under pressure effectively purging the keg.

Either or really... doesn't really matter... just easy to clean the lines and taps when there still in place. In my setup it's a bit of a pain to disassemble everything for cleaning and sanatising.

 

[bignath]

I find the 2L bottle easy to use as i can clean the line whenever i want, not having to rely on an empty keg... which is hardly ever for me. And i can just do it by hand via gravity. I do all my sanatising through the keg though... ie push the sanatiser out of the keg through the taps under pressure effectively purging the keg.

Either or really... doesn't really matter... just easy to clean the lines and taps when there still in place. In my setup it's a bit of a pain to disassemble everything for cleaning and sanatising.

Fair enough mate, you've actually got me thinking about this now... I must admit i do like the idea of being able to do it whenever i want to without having to have a cleaned, empty keg on hand.

Might look into it... I reckon i've got a spare beer out ball lock post i could put through a cordial bottle lid so i don't have to swap the line fittings over if i'm not going to push the cleaner out with gas.

 

[Mattywalnuts]

Just out of curiosity, what is that black stuff (the floaties) and what causes it?

 

[chefeffect]

Just out of curiosity, what is that black stuff (the floaties) and what causes it?

Yeah i am interested in the black stuff as I get it every now and then usually when I have a dark beer on tap, at first I thought wasps where trying to nest in the tap :blink:

 

[bignath]

other than breaking down my taps... which of course will give a pretty good clean. Intermittently i'll clean the lines and taps with some hot napisan or PBW.

I fill a 2L PET with Hot Napisan or PBW and then add pressure by way of a carbonation cap
I then disconnect the beer out fitting on the beer line and replace it with a gas disconnect
Then i attach the beer line to the bottle and discharge the solution via the tap, leaving it soak overnight... hence cleaning the line and the tap
Then next day repeat with Starsan... but it only needs a 1 minute contact time.

You can do the same thing without pressurising the the PET... just hold the PET above the tap and let it drain through.

Did this last night.....Awesome idea.

Completely agree with Argon, this is too easy! Got a cordial bottle, drilled out a small hole and i just happened to have a beer out, 2 piece ball lock that screws together. Put it in the lid, filled with sanitising solution, hold up high and open beer line. Done, whenever you want or need to....

 

[flano]

Did this last night.....Awesome idea.

Completely agree with Argon, this is too easy! Got a cordial bottle, drilled out a small hole and i just happened to have a beer out, 2 piece ball lock that screws together. Put it in the lid, filled with sanitising solution, hold up high and open beer line. Done, whenever you want or need to....

any chance you can show me a pic of what that looks like?

By the way ...I pulled the taps apart and one was pretty grim...full of gunk.
That was the tap I was getting a sort of sour taste from with black floaties.
all good now.
the other tap was pretty much spotless...

thanks for the help everyone.