yet another kegerator problem!

[Cummins_BLACKBREW]

So I bought a 2 faucet kegerator for about 200 dollars, seemed like a great deal, at first I had a few flow problems, i replaced regulator and hoses and a few attatchments, Now the flow problem is gone! But now I have another problem, nasty beer! So I did 2 huge cleanings that took about 2 hours each, still nasty. Returned the 5 gallon keg of sculpin to the home brew mart and started talking to them about my problem, they told me that the chrome plating on all the faucets and shanks could go bad revealing brass making beer taste nasty.. so I come back and... well damn, tons of brass showing, or at least a color that is not shiny chrome but more of a brown or gold color. So does that mean I need to replace all of this? I'm looking at 150 easy on these.. kind of upsetting.. any way to clean them, or maybe replace them or use them somehow so they are not a waste, cheap fixes? Anything?

 

[estricklin]

What exactly does the beer taste like? Is it homebrew?

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Pick up a couple of these: http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/perlick-525-ss-faucet/

you should be able to reuse the little shank into the tower. Get fresh beverage lines if you haven't already but I think you did that on another thread. Also your handles will thread right onto these faucets.

 

[MrHopScotch]

+1 on the stainless perlick faucets. They're wonderful.


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[Cummins_BLACKBREW]

Pick up a couple of these: http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/perlick-525-ss-faucet/

you should be able to reuse the little shank into the tower. Get fresh beverage lines if you haven't already but I think you did that on another thread. Also your handles will thread right onto these faucets.

Those perlicks deffinitly look good, I'm going to replace the shank and coupler and faucets with Ss, but I just don't want to toss them all away, I have like 4 old faucets showing brown on the inside, 3 shanks and elbows (from another project) showing brown on the inside and the couplers probes are showing some gold to, so idk if there usable or if they can be repoupused, maybe recoated, anything? Just seems to be a wast, and yup I'm already on my second pair of lines that are working great,

 

[MrHopScotch]

Even though spending the money is a bummer, the stainless stuff will last forever and you can carry it over onto future builds.


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[Cummins_BLACKBREW]

Well I guess everyone is concentrating more on if I'm going to get Ss or not(which I am) rather then what I'm more concerned about is if the old ones are usable on anything else like a jockey box or something, or would they just make everything take horrible?

 

[hachi-roku_fan]

Pour yourself a beer without the kegerator, taste to confirm that's the problem. If it is, then you'd probably have to replace those, or have them replated to cover the brass. Does it taste metallic?


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[sandyeggoxj]

I just replaced the faucets on my kegerator and they probably look like yours. I'm going to put them on a jockey box. I didn't have any problems with them. Sorry I can't help you there. Replace what you have and see if it fixes it. If so then maybe **** can the old ones. If it is the same then build a jockey box!

 

[masonsjax]

Describe what you mean by "nasty". Try pouring a pint through a picnic tap, does it taste similarly nasty?

 

[Cummins_BLACKBREW]

It is a metallic taste, it taste kind of like what they smell like when I'm scrubbing them

 

[Zamial]

I am having a hard time believing that the faucet is tainting the beer. Did you take the faucet apart and see it there was crud in it? The liquid that would be in contact with the brass is a miniscule amount. What if you pour about 2 oz into your glass, dump and rinse the glass, then fill it as normal is the flavor still there? or less? If not it may be the faucet...

As for buying new SS Perlicks I would seriously wait a few months.The Perlick faucets that are available now have a known flaw. As a home brewer/end user you may never run into the issue but it is possible that you may. They will be releasing a new deign at some time in the near future. (And they kick the snot out of the old ones) Which means the old models will be on sale...

GL

 

[PGEduardo]

I fought a bitter metallic taste in my keezer until I bumped the temp up near 40f and also taped the temp probe to the bottom of a keg instead of it hanging in the chamber.

Over-carbonation was the culprit. Try this.

 

[Cummins_BLACKBREW]

Hmm I might try that, right now I have the thermometer in a glass of water on top of the keg since my kegerator only goes down to 39 and defrost all the way to 43 and I was told 37 is the best, so I thought if I put it in liquid temp and in the warmest part then it might get colder, And I don't know if it is tainting the beer, my local home brew shop said if all the chrome plating has fallen off then it will cause a nasty tast, so I looked at the faucets and the couplers and shanks and none of them are shiny anymore like chrome but more like gold brown like brass, I have it set to about 39 degrees liquid temp at the top and 9 or 10 psi right now with new 3 /16 8 foot tubing,and it's flowing well, maybe after having half of the keg at 3 psi with 1/4 4 foot tubing and it shooting beer out and switching to the new tubing is what made it go bad?

 

[masonsjax]

Have you tried pouring through a cheap picnic tap yet? That should answer your question before you go spending a fortune replacing everything.

 

[Cummins_BLACKBREW]

Well I had already returned the keg that went bad and got a discount on the one I have now,should I risk contaminating this keg and try it with what I have now and if it taste good just keep it all?

 

[masonsjax]

If the beer in the keg is contaminated, it's either in there before you get to it, or going in from your gas lines.

 

[Indian_villager]

I have chrome plated faucets and they are not lending a taste that I can pick up. What kind of lines do you have on the liquid side?

 

[Cummins_BLACKBREW]

Well the first half of the keg was good then it went bad, And as far as chrome plated goes I'm not saying chrome plated is bad and will make beer taste bad I'm saying old chrome plated that has Lost all of its chrome on the inside revealing brass Apparently Is What Makes My Beer Taste Bad According To My Home Brew shop. And as far as lines there just new 3/16 8 foot lines from the brew shop

 

[Homercidal]

There isn't much in a clean keg that would cause that kind of off flavor. They are stainless. I doubt the faucets, even if some brass was exposed, would lend itself to that kind of thing either, and if so, it MIGHT only be in the first beer poured.

Tap lines can become dirty and harbor odd flavors. Also the wrong kind of plastic might lend an off flavor.

One other thing that comes to mind is a bad gas refill. CO2 is generally the same no matter where you get it filled, but sometimes you can get a fill up that is either the wrong mix (like welding gas instead of pure CO2) or some how has a minor amount of some other thing in it like lubricant, or what have you. This is not a huge deal for welding, but might show up as an odd flavor in beer.

I'd pull a sample directly from the keg using a thief and see how it tastes. This would eliminate the lines as a cause. Once contaminated gas has carbonated a beer, the taste will likely remain.

 

[Cummins_BLACKBREW]

Wish I wouldn't have returned the last keg then, but if this one goes bad with the new stainless that means it must me bad air becaus I have replaced everything with ss