Brass Faucet Concerns

My father recently gave me the draft setup he obtained from my grandfather which has been around since the at least the mid-80s. Its pretty much been unused since the early 90s (as far as I know). I converted a my wife's old dorm fridge into a kegerator with a tower. I'd like to use the old faucet (due to the cost of a new SS faucet as well as sentimental reasons) but I have some concerns:

First, there is some crud in the faucet. I assume a good B-Brite soaking can take care of cleaning it up?

Also, after a search I have found nothing definitive on the issues of lead being leached from the brass. Is this a legitimate issue? Or just something that I am over thinking? If it is a concern, what can I do to fix it (aside from purchasing a new one...)? Pickling(sp?) was brought up in a couple threads, but again, nothing definitive.

Thanks all!

Hot B-Brite, PBW, or oxyclean solution should work great.

As far as the lead goes, leaching is a function of solvent, surface area, time, and temperature. Cold beer that spends a short time going through a small faucet isn't going to pick up much lead, even if the faucet was made out of pure lead pipe. It may be a greater concern for small children, who are more sensitive to lead, so don't let them drink your beer.

If your really that worried Perlick has brass plated ss models I picked up 12 of the older 425's off e-bay for $12-$15 apiece from a couple of bars that closed.

And the valve-actuators inside standard faucets are brass, not they they contact the beer much. Or at all. I wouldn't be worried. Like jagec said, the beer is cold and flowing through rapidly. Cold leaches slower than hot, thus you'll be okay (we hope). Kyle

And, welcome to HBT from a slightly-distant brew-relative (Buffalo, though Ithaca is a far prettier town).

jagec said:

Hot B-Brite, PBW, or oxyclean solution should work great.

As far as the lead goes, leaching is a function of solvent, surface area, time, and temperature. Cold beer that spends a short time going through a small faucet isn't going to pick up much lead, even if the faucet was made out of pure lead pipe. It may be a greater concern for small children, who are more sensitive to lead, so don't let them drink your beer.

Click to expand...

And pregnant women! Dont force feed your beer to children and pregnant women and you should be ok.

jagec said:

Hot B-Brite, PBW, or oxyclean solution should work great.

Click to expand...

Per your advice this is exactly what I did. I was surprised by the amount of crud in that thing!

Conan said:

And, welcome to HBT from a slightly-distant brew-relative (Buffalo, though Ithaca is a far prettier town).

Click to expand...

Thanks! I've actually been a stalker on these boards for a while, but only recently have actually became active.

jagec said:

It may be a greater concern for small children, who are more sensitive to lead, so don't let them drink your beer.

Click to expand...

FuzzeWuzze said:

And pregnant women! Dont force feed your beer to children and pregnant women and you should be ok.

Click to expand...

Both solid pieces of advice. From now on, neither children or pregnant women will be allowed to drink my beer