Leaky bottling bucket

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MrBulldogg

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I found myself having a bit of a problem with the bottling bucket in that while the bucket is round, the plastic spigot seems to be made for a flat surface. As a result, no matter how much I tighten it (yes, rubber washers on both sides) there is a small but annoying drip whenever the bucket is more than half-full.

It's from a TrueBrew starter kit so I imagine I can't be alone in having experienced this annoying issue. How should I/did you fix it? Or do I have to bite the bullet and buy a new bucket/spigot?
 
I had the same problem and I just caulked around the seal between the spigot and the bucket on the outside, let it dry, good as new. Give it a whirl. Just make sure the area is completely dry that you will be caulking over. Good luck!

Joe.
 
MrBulldogg said:
I found myself having a bit of a problem with the bottling bucket in that while the bucket is round, the plastic spigot seems to be made for a flat surface. As a result, no matter how much I tighten it (yes, rubber washers on both sides) there is a small but annoying drip whenever the bucket is more than half-full.

It's from a TrueBrew starter kit so I imagine I can't be alone in having experienced this annoying issue. How should I/did you fix it? Or do I have to bite the bullet and buy a new bucket/spigot?
Click to expand...
I had the same problem from day one with my plastic buckets. I was using one the other day for sanitizer and it was leaking. One of the reasons I went to carboys for fermenters.
 
RiversC174 said:
I had the same problem and I just caulked around the seal between the spigot and the bucket on the outside, let it dry, good as new. Give it a whirl. Just make sure the area is completely dry that you will be caulking over. Good luck!

Joe.
Click to expand...

The thought crossed my mind, but won't that make cleaning/sanitizing a beeatch? Wouldn't there be a bunch of hard-to-reach buildup of gunk in there after just a couple batches?
 
Is the spigot new? Ive had that problem after several batches. You can try replacing the entire spigot, or double the gaskets, and make sure you have the washer on the right way, meaning the skinny side should be againts the bucket.
that being said, some of them just leak, so suck it up! (not literally though).:mug:
 
How about a new set of washers? If you do buy a new bucket get one without a spigot and use the siphon for tranfering and the spigoted bucket just for bottling.
 
What about buying thicker rubber washers at the hardware store? my bottling bucket dripped until I got thicker ones, now it seals so well I use it as my primary.

bah, beaten by Blender!
 
MrBulldogg said:
The thought crossed my mind, but won't that make cleaning/sanitizing a beeatch? Wouldn't there be a bunch of hard-to-reach buildup of gunk in there after just a couple batches?
Click to expand...
Ya know, some people tend to believe this...but I've never disassembled my spigots because I do long soaks for my bottling bucket. The soaks are usually longer than the time my brews are in the bucket so I feel safe.:D

Maybe you need to disassemble the spigot and re-seat the gaskets.:D
 
I jsut tightened the crap out of it and I havent had any leaks... I would try new washers and the ngo with the silicon route.. jsut make sure the silicon is competely cured before doing anything with it... silicon is toxic until its cured... good luck...

Jester
 
Alright, based on the advise here I'll try a two step approach:
1. Buy thicker washers & double-check the spigot
2. If that fails, bring out the silicone and pray SanStar will have the juice to nuke the baddies every batch from now on out.
Thanks guys!
 

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