The sanitary spigot

"Sanitary Spigot" would seem to be an oxymoron. The outer portion of the spigot is an open passage for fruit flies, earwigs, and anything else to crawl into, a dark moist environment for microbes to grow in, and there would seem to be no way to sanitize it........

Or is there?

Actually there is, and it's called the Italian Bottling Spigot, and here's a link I found to them on the Great Fermentations web site. I've had one on one of my fermenters for years and believed they were gone and long forgotten until I found this one today.

http://shop.greatfermentations.com/product/italian-bottling-spigot/plastic-fermenters?gclid=CjwKEAiAp_WyBRD37bGB_ZO9qAYSJAA72IkgY2csLtrw09SJlmYC5tAcph47IRPvBW-_Cnzz7msVgRoCXc3w_wcB

These spigots are vastly superior to the cheap garbage spigots that everybody carries and uses these days. The American spigots are brittle, and are inferior in every respect to these.

The Italian Bottling Spigot pivots to any direction at any time without turning in the bucket seals, they are designed to pivot. The plastic used is NOT the brittle garbage used in American spigots.

I keep my spigot pointed upward with the handle pointed straight outward instead of to one side. This keeps the vent hole closed. I fill it with starsan (which slowly leaks out), and put a sanitized plastic cap which came on the tip of a rebuilt diesel fuel injector over the tip. When I use the spigot for bottling, I remove the cap and refill it with starsan, leaving awhile before I bottle, then attach a sanitized hose and rotate the spigot downward, allowing the remaining starsan to drain down through the hose.

At a mere $3.50 at Great Fermentations, these are a bargain, and will be replacing all of my spigots with good ones!!

H.W.

I bought one of these this past Sunday - at Great Fermentations no less. lol
But I have seen them in all the homebrew online retailers.

Most of the homebrewing shops around me (which have terrible selection), have always had these things. The hard part is finding a bottling bucket which will fit them. Most bottling buckets have a hole that is too narrow for them. Just something to consider. I bring around one of these to check before getting a new bottling bucket

brrman said:

I bought one of these this past Sunday - at Great Fermentations no less. lol
But I have seen them in all the homebrew online retailers.

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The spigots I see in most stores are the crappy ones.......... However after searching more thoroughly, I see them in a number of online stores. Unfortunately the LHBS within range do not have them or even know what they are. Brew buckets seem to come with the crappy ones, as does the Big Mouth Bubbler I just got.


H.W.

I have one that is not this style...it works but I will not buy it again. Never saw anything BUT this until I got back into the game in force about 4 years ago and broke two of the cheap, white, no-rotatable ones in a month.

These three piece spigots are a haven for bacteria. They're not supposed to come apart, but I've had gunk get in between the two parts that make up the body of the spigot. These days, I'm using a two piece spigot that was designed to come apart, so you could clean and sanitize 100%.

This is the variety that comes standard with bottling buckets at my LHBS. They also sell the spigots individually. It's a good spigot--light-years better than the cheap white ones. When not in use I store it in a jar full of Starsan. Never had an infection problem using this method.

anyone ever put a stainless 3 piece valve on a bottling bucket? Would the plastic support it? I happen to have a spare valve so might investigate this.

I've used both kinds and IMO they are close to the same in utility. The white ones come apart very easily for cleaning and sanitizing. I haven't noticed it being brittle at all. Rotating the thing isn't a big deal for me. I rotate as needed when I need it to. I keep my bottling wand and spigot attached to the bottling bucket when not in use. It's rotated up. When I bottle I simply loosen the nut a bit, rotate sideways and fill the bucket. Then I lift the bucket onto the counter and rotate the rest of the way down and fill bottles.

That is what comes with bottling buckets at my LHBS. I like the store in sanitizer idea!

Also I picked up a sprinkler system elbow, barbed on one end, threaded on the other, and cut the barbed end down partway. Then thread it on the back of the valve after the valve is installed on the bucket. Makes a great dip tube for really emptying the bucket, but seems to end up with a little air in it.

wzd said:

Makes a great dip tube for really emptying the bucket, but seems to end up with a little air in it.

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Tilt your bucket using a 2" x 4" at about the mid line...no need for a dip tube. Tilt in the opposite direction while fermenting if, like me, you ferment in the buckets. If you use a pretty floculant yeast, no trub of any sort and only about a cup left int he bucket of sweet, delicious beer.

I disagree with the OP. The Italian Bottling Spigot cannot be cleaned. Stay away from it. The white 2 piece spigots work well and can be cleaned easily.

OH but it can, if you dip it in boiling water for 30 seconds you can pull the whole thing apart, including the two pieces of the body. Grab a round chopstick for leverage where the red bit gies

I may be in the minority, but I just buy a new spigot after using it for 30 or more batches. Its pretty cheap so its not worth the trouble and worry of an extensive cleaning for me

m00ps said:

I may be in the minority, but I just buy a new spigot after using it for 30 or more batches. Its pretty cheap so its not worth the trouble and worry of an extensive cleaning for me

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And I may be in the minor minority , the spigots on my current fermenters aren't disassemblable and I haven't changed them in coming up to 5 years now. I've never once had an infection and all has been good, but I did however just recently order replacements just figuring after all these years why not? and also since there is some coloration from dark malts. I just make sure when cleaning them to open/close the valve a bunch of times to get the cleaner everywhere and do the same when rinsing. Never had a fruit fly issue but that could be my location or just my house and screens. I just give the nozzle a few sprays with StarSan from my spray bottle after taking a sample if it's going to continue to sit.


Rev.

Here in Australia I use this Snap Tap from Coopers.

Comes completely apart for cleaning (the red stuff is silicone).

Only designed to fit the new Coopers fermenter, which to my mind is the best thought out plastic fermenter on the market (patented design by a company that's been making home brew gear for about 50 yrs).

http://store.coopers.com.au/coopers-diy-beer-fermenting-vessel-34ltr.html