Should I Worry About my Spigot?

[calimainer]

I use only plastic fermenters, all with spigots. I've been reading that the spigots are breeding grounds for infections, so it's better to siphon and avoid using the spigot. If I stop using the spigot except to take hydrometer readings, will the risk of infection from the spigot be eliminated?

 

[Gabba]

Spigots are hard to sanitize, which is why they're only used as bottling buckets instead of fermenters - a lot easier to sanitize it when you can take it sucker off and plop it in a bucket of starsan.

Your idea will work, but when you open the tap to bottle, the beer can get infected from teh nasties on the outside bucket/inside spigot

 

[calimainer]

But if I siphon from the top to bucket, and the spigot remains permanently closed, will this still be an issue?
And even so should I still take apart the spigot and clear it between uses?

 

[ACbrewer]

I've been using a bottleing bucket for fermenting since I went to 5 gallons. I use it for taking hydro readings. While I some times have leaks, the one infected beer I had was due to not having properly sanatized tubing for a transfer, not the spiket.

Key points - 1 I run sanatizer through the spiket before filling. 2 I sometimes (not everytime) breakdown the spiket from the bucket to be sure I've got no lingering crap and 3. I keep some sanatizer on hand in a spray bottle to spray up into the spiket if I'm concerned about it. It is worth noting that unless flys land on it (possible) bacteria falls down, not up into a spiket. Again, personal an millage may very.