Krud/Crud in picnic faucet

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fxdrider

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Wow! I've never seen this before, but as I was disassembling one of my kegs and its' lines last night for cleaning, I discovered a black, hardened mess inside the picnic tap, caked on the white silicon seal (I guess that's what you'd call it). I was able to fingernail some of it off, but a lot of it is really stubborn. I soaked it in a hot-water PBW solution for about an hour with no discernible difference. Any ideas? I'm thinking of trying Oxyclean next, but wanted to know if there are any better tried and true solutions out there.
I've only been kegging my brews since January of this year - but this is the first time I'd seen one of these valves gunked up so much. Fortunately, I have a spare, so time is not of the essence.
 
IDK but for +/- $3 I would just replace it.
JMO
Bull

Good point. But, I'm kinda wondering if all 4 of my active taps are undergoing this issue. If they are, replacing all of them wouldn't be cost-prohibitive either, but I'd like to get a handle on it before switching over to Perlick faucets - which I plan to do one day. If I get this kind of buildup inside of one of those babies, I'd like to know what to do to clean it.

Or, better yet - prevent it.
 
So can anyone recommend a good "nitric acid" or acidic cleaner that a non-pro can buy, preferably off Amazon or the LHBS?
 
I've had the Krud in my pinics too. A mucky mold looking glob.:eek:
I figure it's from the beer left from pouring that sits in the faucet. I try to hit my faucets with spray of sanitizer after the last pour.
I've soaked the faucet tops in pbw or oxy and most times it comes off. If not, remove the stopper part from the top and soaked it in a bleach solution and then clean again.

Cheers,
Bob
 
I've soaked the faucet tops in pbw or oxy and most times it comes off. If not, remove the stopper part from the top and soaked it in a bleach solution and then clean again.

Cheers,
Bob

Thanks for the tip Bob. I've tried the PBW with no luck, so on to the Oxy, then Clorox, and if that fails I'll see if I can find one of these nitric acid-based cleaners mentioned in the link that bullinachinashop posted.

This is some really tough stuff! :eek:

Not that I care a whole lot about the cheap picnic faucet, but I'd like to get the problem licked before I find the same stuff in the somewhat pricey Perlicks I plan to have in the near future.

Thanks again.
 
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