Anyneat tricks on how to clean out a cobra/picnic tap?

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GroosBrewz

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I have a cobra tap that I use to haul my cornies to parties, etc.. But I've never been able to figure out how to get ALL of the liquid out of the line without tearing it apart... I usually run sanitizer through the tap, and then hook it up to an empty keg and try to clean out the excess in the line.. The CO2 blows out most of the liquid, but there is always some left.. Anyone know any neat tricks to clean these out?
 
and do it often. mine was dispensing funny, so I opened it up and there was some sort of thick mold substance that built up and was an 1/8th thick on that inner 'plunger' piece.
 
I rarely ever use my picnic taps and always ended up with scum in them, even though I would run hot water and then sanitizer through them.

What I do now is the hot water and sanitizer thing like before (draining them of liquid as much as I can wen done), and then I put them in a ziplock and keep them in the freezer to prevent any uglies from growing in or on them.
 
You guys mentioned that you just unscrew it and take it all apart. However my cobra tap only “unscrews” from the tap end. The fitting end that goes on the keg is attached with one of those special clamps (I forget what they are called) and I can’t “unscrew” it to take it apart. This leaves me with only one open end, and I cant get any liquid through there since there is no “outlet”. The only thing I can see to do is try to force hot water through the open end while pushing in the tab inside the fitting end to allow water to flow through, but this doesn’t work worth a damn. Am I missing something here?
 
oetiker clamps is what those are called. My taps have those to hold it on the flared fitting, which unscrews off the black QD, for easy cleaning.
 
You guys mentioned that you just unscrew it and take it all apart. However my cobra tap only “unscrews” from the tap end. The fitting end that goes on the keg is attached with one of those special clamps (I forget what they are called) and I can’t “unscrew” it to take it apart. This leaves me with only one open end, and I cant get any liquid through there since there is no “outlet”. The only thing I can see to do is try to force hot water through the open end while pushing in the tab inside the fitting end to allow water to flow through, but this doesn’t work worth a damn. Am I missing something here?

What's on the other end? I have a black QD at the very end. You can take apart the black QD without pulling off the clamp. There is a flat "top" on the QD, and a flat head screwdriver fits in there perfectly. Just unscrew that, and you can open the cobra tap and run water through all of it. Be advised that if you do this- do it over a white piece of paper the first time! There are four little parts- the top you've unscrewed, a little clear pin, a spring, and a miniature o-ring stuck to either the top you've removed, or inside. That o-ring is crucial, so you don't want to lose it!

Once you take it apart you'll see how easy it is and it goes back together in an instant. It's easy to clean, rinse, sanitize, and shake it fairly dry, and put back together.
 
What's on the other end? I have a black QD at the very end. You can take apart the black QD without pulling off the clamp. There is a flat "top" on the QD, and a flat head screwdriver fits in there perfectly. Just unscrew that, and you can open the cobra tap and run water through all of it. Be advised that if you do this- do it over a white piece of paper the first time! There are four little parts- the top you've unscrewed, a little clear pin, a spring, and a miniature o-ring stuck to either the top you've removed, or inside. That o-ring is crucial, so you don't want to lose it!

Once you take it apart you'll see how easy it is and it goes back together in an instant. It's easy to clean, rinse, sanitize, and shake it fairly dry, and put back together.

Hey Yoop,

Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for. I have looked at that flat head on the top of the tap many times and wondered if that came off. But I could see no "seams" along the outside of the tap to indicate that there was anything there that actually unscrewed. Maybe my tap is just worn.. either way, that's what I needed to know. Thanks to you and all the others who helped me out!
 
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