Should I be worried about a plastic spigot?

[Microphobik]

I just bought a vessel for fermenting Kombucha and it's one of those glass containers for lemonade, tea, etc, with a plastic spigot at the bottom. I know plastic is what you want and metal would be bad, but it's one of those plastic ones that has that chrome looking finish too it. Not sure if it's paint or the plastic itself. But it's that pretty common fake chrome finish we've all seen before. I have no doubt this was made in China. I bought it on discount at a local store.

I'm wondering if there is any reason to be concerned that this kind of plastic could be leeching something toxic into the kombucha because of the high acid levels. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Bitrate]

My glass 'beehive' jars have plastic spigots and I have read they are safer than most metal spigots. My guess is that as long as you sterilize the jar before each brew, you should be just fine. I used natural dish soap and very hot water to clean my vessels and I opened the spigot to let the soapy water run through it before rinsing it thoroughly with clean water. Please note that I have only been brewing for a few months and this is only based on my own experience. Best of luck with your brew.

 

[IslandLizard]

I see you are in N.Z.

It's probably "chrome plated" plastic. I'm not sure if it can stand up to the acids in Kombucha, over time, and that coating may dissolve slowly. You could keep it submerged in StarSan or a Citric Acid solution and see what happens after a week. Keeping it warm speeds up the chemical process. If it comes off then problem solved. If it doesn't, hmm, maybe it's much tougher and it's your call. Can you buy regular replacement spigots that are not coated?

Added: If you have access to a stronger acid, I'm quite sure the chrome will dissolve quicker.

 

[IslandLizard]

My glass 'beehive' jars have plastic spigots and I have read they are safer than most metal spigots. My guess is that as long as you sterilize the jar before each brew, you should be just fine. I used natural dish soap and very hot water to clean my vessels and I opened the spigot to let the soapy water run through it before rinsing it thoroughly with clean water. Please note that I have only been brewing for a few months and this is only based on my own experience. Best of luck with your brew.

Many plastic spigots have a body that consists of 2 barrels that rotate within each other, aside from the actual spigot that has the little handle on it. The slight space between those 2 barrels can harbor bacteria over time and need to be separated to be cleaned. Soak in hot water first then push them apart.

After the "soap" treatment and rinsing you really need to sanitize the vessel using a (surface) sanitizer such as Starsan or Iodophor to kill most of the bacteria. In brewing we generally sanitize, not sterilize as that requires autoclaving or baking in a 400°F oven.

Let me add, spigots are typically fastened with a nut and rubber washer on the threaded barrel. Those areas need to be taken apart, cleaned well, and sanitized too. You may not get problems after a batch or 2, but over time crud and thus bacteria can settle on there. Rubber washers and seals are not impervious. My bottling bucket's spigot washer started to get black spots after a few months... I now keep 2 inches of Starsan in that bucket, forever, with a lid loosely on top.

 

[Microphobik]

Yes, I am in NZ. Are you from NZ Islandlizard?

Thanks for all the input. I think I'll play it safe and find a different vessel or plug the whole with something else for now and get a Fido jar when I have a moment. Cheers.

 

[Bitrate]

Many plastic spigots have a body that consists of 2 barrels that rotate within each other, aside from the actual spigot that has the little handle on it. The slight space between those 2 barrels can harbor bacteria over time and need to be separated to be cleaned. Soak in hot water first then push them apart.

After the "soap" treatment and rinsing you really need to sanitize the vessel using a (surface) sanitizer such as Starsan or Iodophor to kill most of the bacteria. In brewing we generally sanitize, not sterilize as that requires autoclaving or baking in a 400°F oven.

Let me add, spigots are typically fastened with a nut and rubber washer on the threaded barrel. Those areas need to be taken apart, cleaned well, and sanitized too. You may not get problems after a batch or 2, but over time crud and thus bacteria can settle on there. Rubber washers and seals are not impervious. My bottling bucket's spigot washer started to get black spots after a few months... I now keep 2 inches of Starsan in that bucket, forever, with a lid loosely on top.

Thank you for your input. I noticed a very small drip right underneath my spigot after my kombucha had been fermenting around 3 weeks. After further investigating it, we found out that it did leak a little on to the carpet; a dark and syrupy liquid... just a few drops, over a period of 3 weeks. We ended up bottling what was in there and I then proceeded to disassemble to plastic spigot. I washed everything as best as I could and put it back together. We had another beehive container that we were anticipating using, but after seeing this drip, I returned it and went with a 2 gallon glass jar with no spigot.

Because we were anticipating brewing around 5 gallons this time, and we are well out of our return policy for the original beehive container, we are going to use it one last time before retiring it. I am nervous that it will leak very slowly again so I plan on monitoring it daily.

I wanted to share my experience here in hopes to save anyone from a future mishap. Best of luck with brewing!

 

[IslandLizard]

^ that's good looking kombucha in a nice vessel!

Those beehive containers are very cute and the spigot is a nice touch for dispensing. There's no reason you couldn't make the seal tight. And if a small drip develops, a little cup or tray underneath will catch it. The main problem is headspace increases while dispensing and your alcoholic beverage is exposed to air/oxygen until it's gone, or until you rack it into a better container. I guess you can flush the headspace with CO2 after each use. Or drop a piece of dry ice into it.

 

[Seahare]

Tomlinson plastic "ceramic crock" spigots are the suggested replacement spigots in the US.

 

[Microphobik]

Tomlinson plastic "ceramic crock" spigots are the suggested replacement spigots in the US.

Thanks for the info. I'll see if I can get one shipped over.