Do you guys take the tap off the fermentor and clean/sanitize it?

I am wondering that when you guys are brewing, you remove the tap and its parts from the fermentor...and clean and sanitize it?

Or just simply run some PBW through it during several minutes and then sanitize it?

I am afraid of removing it since I am not sure that the hole on the plastic can handle the force I apply when I assemble or disassamble it.

Any thoughts on this?

 

Are you referring to the spigot on a bottling bucket? I would absolutely take it off and clean it. The threads would be a great place for something to build up and harbor bacteria. Just be gentle and don't over tighten anything and it should be fine.

 

Depends on how gummed up it is. I'll generally clean out a tap line every month or so by filling an empty keg with hot sanitizer (no-foam star san) and push that through my taps with CO2. The lines that run from the keg to the tap I have spares for, so I can just detach them and hook a clean one up.

 

I have had 2 infections. Both were caused by my bottling bucket spigot. You need to clean the heck out of those things.

 

I dont really work with Co2....so I normally use a vinyl tube that I put on it and block the end of it, fill it up with PBW and leave it there for a few minutes. I am not sure this is a good enough cleaning....so that's why I posted this question.