How do I tell what kind of taps I have?

[Garfield43]

Short version: Is there some sort of field guide to taps?
Shows the different brands, how to tell them apart, how to clean and repair them and where to get parts.

The LONG version.
I just got started homebrewing. I have been watching facebook marketplace and Craig's list for equipment. More often than not I find a good deal, start talking to the seller trying to set up a purchase and then the seller stops talking to me. Later he informs me someone else bought it.

I have been trying to get a CO2 cylinder, a regulator and some taps and hoses.
A guy about 50 miles away had 2 jockey boxes (a 2 tap and a 1 tap) 2 cylinders and 2 regulators.
He had $100 on the 2 tap and $75 on the one.
I asked how much for both and when he said $125 I said "I'll take it!"
I picked up the stuff and headed home.
Half way home it starts smelling like I hit a skunk.
Once I get home I figured it out.
Something bumped a tap handle and it dripped ancient decomposed zombie beer on to the floor of my van.
I was really thankful I took my van with the industrial rubber floor rather than my wife's car or my dad's car with leather seats.
Anyway it becomes obvious they just put this rig back in the barn after the last kegger.
I am assume I should throw away all the beer hoses at this point?
I rinsed out the cold plate on the 2 tap jockey box and it eventually ran clear.
I tried to do the same on the single.
I has a large stainless steel coil inside of the cooler.
It ran a little bit, displaced some more zombie beer and then stopped up.
I don't know if it is plugged at the tap or someplace in the coil.
Obviously I hope it is in the tap.
I didn't have a pressure tight water connection . They used those metal bands that you crimp on most of the connections. I cut the beer line right by the keg coupler and then stuck that line in a garden hose.
I am planning on going to the hardware store and making an adapter to go from the threads on the back of the cooler to a garden hose.
I will then open the tap, connect the hose and give it full blast hoping that frees the clog.
If not I will have to take the tap apart.
I want to anyway, obviously they need a through cleaning.
I did not see any brand name on the taps,
Most everything else is branded Micro Matic.
I am guessing I need a faucet wrench?
I would appreciate any guidance.

 

[grampamark]

If your faucets look like the first picture they are rear sealing. These are pretty generic, regardless of the manufacturer, and they work OK as long as you’re pouring beer every day. When left unused for a day or three, they will stick closed from the beer which is trapped behind the spout drying out and, basically, gluing the shuttle in place.

If your faucets look like the second pic they are forward sealing. The most common brands are Perlick and Intertap. This type doesn’t leave beer exposed to the air when closed, so are less prone to sticking.

Any online homebrew supplier, and most local homebrew stores, will have replacement parts (there isn’t much to replace on either type). Morebeer, Kegconnection, and Adventures In Homebrewing are good sources for draft system components and supplies, but there are many others, as well. And, yes, you’ll need a faucet wrench. They cost about 3 bucks. Good luck.

 

[day_trippr]

Definitely throw away every bit of flexible tubing - gas and beer. Not only because what you have is unlikely to ever be cleaned to the point of sanitation, but because there are better tubing options available today (look into "EVABarrier Tubing", for example) and the tubing will likely determine what style of connectors will be needed on both gas and beer sides...

Cheers!

 

[matt_m]

Every Perlick I've had has a script P on the front but perhaps they have lines that don't. And the Intertaps that came on my one kegerator said Intertap on the side. The cheap rear seal ones that came on my towers were unlabeled.

 

[day_trippr]

I would expect the OP has a set of rear-sealing faucets as it wasn't uncommon for them to have no evident branding marks...

Cheers!

 

[Garfield43]

Thanks for all the great replies!
My taps look like the rear sealers in the first pic.
Sounds like the thing to do is finish removing the rest of the tubing and then clean everything that is left .
I have read the DIY PBW thread and just went down in to my basement and found my container of Red Devil "I can't believe that's not TSP" cleaner. Mix that up with some Dollar General Oxi Clean and I should be in business.
I found a video that shows step by step how to clean these.


Should I use different sized hose for gas and liquid? (That is what they have now. The beer tubes are smaller than the gas.
Is this hose good enough?
https://www.kegconnection.com/gas-hose-red-5-16-id-9-16-od-per-foot/#hbf
As far a ball disconnects are they all pretty much the same or does it pay to get the brand name ones?
Feel free to post your recommendations/ where you buy yours and what kind you get.


Right now I am not exactly sure what I am going to do with all this stuff.
The way I look at it I got a deal on the tanks and got everything else for free.
If they get left as jockey boxes the rear sealing taps should be fine.

Could you put the cold plate in a fridge in a pan of water, plumb a beer line to it and have a room temp keg?
I know that is far from ideal but a Corny Keg just ain't gonna fit in my beverage fridge.
If I can find a mini-ish fridge that will take a Corny or 2 and still have freezer, I will probably buy it.
I saw a GE like this in the "Show us your Kegerator" thread. (I'm almost halfway done with that. There are some pro level craftsmen and artist in this group.) In the mean time I will keep looking for used 3 and 2.5 gallon kegs. I could fit one and maybe 2 of them in the fridge I have now.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Garfield43]

One more thing, anyone have a faucet wrench recommendation?
In spite of their 4.5 star reviews on Amazon when you actually read the reviews it seem none of the ones they sell work.

 

[day_trippr]

Hmm...I've had the same Krome Dispense faucet wrench since 2004. Costs around $7 and looks like this:

Otherwise, this wrench gets good reviews...

Cheers!

 

[bracconiere]

if you can't clean the inside. i'd imagine could be repurposed as immersion chillers?

 

[day_trippr]

I expect a cold plate would be hella inefficient as an immersion chiller.
Too much mass working against the effort where naked tubing is optimal...

Cheers!

 

[bracconiere]

I expect a cold plate would be hella inefficient as an immersion chiller.
Too much mass working against the effort where naked tubing is optimal...

Cheers!

i thought they used coils for jockey boxes? didn't remember that from the first post......

 

[day_trippr]

Yeah, come to think of it you're right about that.
My error. Carry on

 

[bracconiere]

I rinsed out the cold plate on the 2 tap jockey box and it eventually ran clear.

Yeah, come to think of it you're right about that.
My error. Carry on

no, no...you're right i've just never heard of, or know what a cold plate in a jockey box is.....

 

[day_trippr]

Ok, in defense of my errant capitulation...I've been drinking...

Cheers! (Still, do carry on )

 

[Garfield43]

The 2 tap has a cold plate , the single has a (plugged up maybe) coil.
Yea I figured leaving the beer room temp would be a disaster.
Maybe I will find a maxi-mini that will fit a corny and still make ice cubes or maybe my lovely and long suffering wife will see the wisdom in me getting a kegerator.

That double ended faucet wrench has a high star count.
Yet the top reviews all claim it is junk.

I ordered the one [B]day_trippr[/B] recommended.
BTW I think you mentioned that started out as a CB handle?
I still have a CB in my daily driver.
I enjoy talking to truckers.

 

[day_trippr]

Yes, the handle is vintage early 1970s, it traveled coast to coast over multiple routes before the paradigm flatlined.
I still have a couple of SSB radios in my shop and a dipole mast just because who knows what the future might hold, but otherwise it's a long gone thing...

Cheers!