beer tower tarnished

I was browsing craigslist the other day and came across this beauty for only $125:





Yes that's right, an all brass four tap beer tower complete with four brass perlick faucets and four BMC beer handles.

My problem it is tarnished and I have never owned anything brass in my life. What you recommended I use to clean it and then use to protect it from tarnishing again? Basically the whole thing needs cleaned and given a good once or twice over. Furthermore the faucets are tarnished throughout so I was thinking of soaking those in some cleaning agent.

Anyway, I feel like I got a good deal and after a little work this puppy will be barking like a real dog again, I just don't know the best way to tackle this project.

Use Brasso on the tower, and soak the brass faucets in tomato juice...

While the idea of polishing the brass is fun and all I would check this out:

jkarp said:

Palmer covers that in How to Brew. Soak 'em in a solution of two parts white vinegar to one part hydrogen peroxide until they turn a buttery yellow (should only take a minute or two).

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also these links may prove useful...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/cleaning-brass-149161/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/refurbing-brass-tower-169837/

BTW those 2 above links are the top 2 search results when searching "How to clean brass" as seen here: A home brewing beer and wine making civilized discussion community. Also with beer/wine/mead/cider discussion, beer reviews, pub talk, and general chit-chat. - Search Results for How to clean brass

This is my little two tap setup. It has taken about 4 years of natural aging, but the patina is coming along very nicely I think. I love that old British style tarnished look. If I wanted shiny taps I would have bought a chrome tower.

I used to polish my brass ROTC pins in college with Brasso.

NRS

Brasso! I use to bartend and we kept our towers shiney and perdy with that stuff!

squirrelly said:

View attachment 40146

This is my little two tap setup. It has taken about 4 years of natural aging, but the patina is coming along very nicely I think. I love that old British style tarnished look. If I wanted shiny taps I would have bought a chrome tower.

Click to expand...

I'm with you on this one! The aging looks really nice.

Well I just finished cleaning the beer tower. Ill post a picture once the thing finished drying and I put it back together.

I also agree that the aged beer tower looks good, however with extensive green tarnish i had to clean my tower.

In summation I soaked the faucets in vinegar and hydrogen peroxide then cleaned everything with bar keepers friend, which is essentially oxalic acid. I tried brasso but it didn't work well at all.