Plumbers tape on bottling bucket spigot?

[WildernessBrewing]

Just bottled a brew last week and had a slight trickle at the spigot of the bottling bucket. I'm thinking that a good solution would be to wrap the threads and inside of the nut with plumber's tape, but I'm wondering if this would cause any issues. I can't imagine it would be enough to cause any off flavors. Obviously I would replace the tape between bottling after cleaning and sanitizing the bucket/spigot, or it could be a source of infection. I'm sure I'm over thinking this.

 

[ModlrMike]

I've done this quite frequently. No problems thus far. As long as you change it out after every use.

 

[flars]

It would be worth trying. Changing the tape between uses would negate any contamination issues.

I had cracked the flange on a spigot trying to get it tight. Solution, for me, was to use two soft washers, one inside and one on the outside the bottling bucket.

 

[WildernessBrewing]

Yeah that's not a bad idea. Already have two soft washers sandwiching the drilled hole, but replacing with some foam washers might also be a good solution

 

[unionrdr]

Plumber's teflon tape would work in the hole the tap goes in were tight enough to where the lug on the spigot had to be threaded in. I have a better solution that works great on all my buckets with the red/white Italian spigot. Go to home depot or lowe's & find this brown rubber sheet on the endcap of the isle where the tubing is. Trace one of the spigot washers on it & cut it out with a razor knife, as in the first pic;

Then when the spigot is cleaned, rinsed & sanitized, along with all the parts, Assemble it to the bucket with the "new" washer going on first. Then the spigot washer & lock lug. you'll now notice that the spigot doesn't have to be tightened so much to get a good seal...

 

[WildernessBrewing]

Wow this is a great idea, thanks

 

[unionrdr]

You're welcome. It's still working great about a year later. I just clean & sanitize it along with everything else.