Party taps

[fletchsj]

So since I just experienced a nasty surprise... I figured it warranted a reminder to folks that haven't physically cleaned out their party taps in a while.

So I just disassembled my taps in my kegerator and MAN where they GROSS!!! I run oxyclean and sanitizer through them at every beer change as well as star san through the lines pretty regularly so not to keep stale beer in the lines as well. occasionally I'll send a "line cleaner" through but felt comfortable with my other methods for the most part.

well I was mistaken. These party tap handles need to be pulled apart and manually cleaned... I've never had an infection before or an issue with these, but I was doing my annual cleaning and decided to take apart the tap and see what was inside. Yuck! Green slime, fuzz, etc all in the silicone seal. I tossed them and am going to grab new today. But, looks like I'll have to add that cleaning job to the regular schedule. Ugh.

 

[kcpup]

I've found that certain beer styles gunk it up worse, especially witbier. I've decided that I'm going to replace my party taps annually. I couldn't figure out a way to reliably and completely clean out the residue/gunk.

BLC didn't do it. Oxy didn't do it completely either. Let me know if you find a good solution.

I clean them routinely, but eventually I can't get all the gunk and I replace ....

 

[audger]

BLC didnt do it?! i would try that again, and make sure you use the proper concentration (or slightly stronger than directed for line cleaning)... caustic soda should remove everything except beer stone.

i actually use an ultrasonic cleaner with hot BLC mix in it to clean all my ball locks and party taps.

 

[fletchsj]

I'm talking above the party tap stopper. The line is clean. The stopper goes down and stops beer from flowing into your glass, but a small amount is left in the nozzle that looks to make a not so nice fuzzy issue.