Crud growing in faucet

I've got some mushroom like crud growing in my faucets. I've taken them apart & cleaned & sanitized them & a week or two later it comes back. Thinking I needed to keep air & wild yeast out, I bought some faucet plug/brushes that I keep in them, but I just noticed the crud started to build up on the brushes themselves. I spray starsan on the brushes & reinsert them after every brew. The stuff is mushroom in color & has the consistency of a mushroom also. Anyone ever experienced anything like this? Would perlick forward sealing faucets prevent it? Mine are the standard ones. I can't imagine you would have to clean the faucets every two or three days to take care of it. Thanks in advance for help

Yes, Perlicks should prevent it. Spraying with starsan after each use and using the plugs should help a lot though.

I had a set of those plastic foam insert plugs that I used for a while. More trouble than they were woth in my opinion. I switched to the tap condom style plugs like this one http://www.kegworks.com/the-tap-soother-draft-beer-faucet-cap-412-p21089 Takes a pinch to get it on but keeps everything out. Really amusing when someone turns the tap on without taking it off first.

Additionally since you have gotten the growth and cleaned off for the same growth to grow back, you probably didnt get it all. I would disassemble the tap as much as you can, brush the heck out of it and soak the ever-loving bejeezus out of it in PBW or Oxy.

I think you're right, some of the crud must remain even after I clean & sanitize. There is a cavity in the faucet shaft that you cannot reach to effectively clean. I could probably soak it in oxyclean for a few days, but I think I'll just order some perlicks instead. These faucets have some age on them. BTW, the plugs I have are pretty cool, they just stick right in & stay put.

My plug ones did as well, but they seemed to soak up some beer. Didnt really want to contaminate my faucet and also they just looked cheap. But yeah, I have Perliks and love em, and the faucet caps are nice on em.

I use the plugs too, except that I fill them with iodophor solution before putting them on. Seems to work quite well.

MC

i'd just switch to perlicks. i bought a tower with perlicks from homebrewstuff.com almost two years ago and have been thrilled with it. it stays clean even when i don't pour from a particular tap for weeks.

Honestly I started with Pelicks. Figured in in something like this I should start out buying what I really wanted to save the money/effort in the long run.

stooby said:

I think you're right, some of the crud must remain even after I clean & sanitize. There is a cavity in the faucet shaft that you cannot reach to effectively clean. I could probably soak it in oxyclean for a few days, but I think I'll just order some perlicks instead. These faucets have some age on them. BTW, the plugs I have are pretty cool, they just stick right in & stay put.

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You should be able to completely disassble them. Unscrew the bonnet and take the lever/ball shaft out then the plunger slides out the back. Clean them really well. If you get the black condom style cover, you can fill it with sanitizer before you put it on then squeeze it after it's on and the sanitizer will get all the way up into the faucet.

Just make sure you have some sort of drip tray for when you remove them. And it is absolutely F'kn hilarious when someone goes to take a pull off your keg and forgets to remove the covers. When it shoots off into their mug... I just sit back and laugh.

I had my keezer in a hot and humid garage for an entire summer, with flies everywhere. And actually we kept full trash cans in the garage as well.

I went weeks in between pours, and never capped the faucets. Occasionally I'd spray some star san up in there if I remembered. I never had any problems with gunk building up in the faucets, this is with Perlick 525SS faucets. So really, in my experience some Perlicks will go a long way toward your crud problem.

I had a similar growth in one of my perlicks after using my hop rocket and some hop particles got stuck in the faucet. It has occurred once since

Sounds like its time to nuke them with bleach. 20-30 mins should do it. Just make sure you clean them well beforehand, and open/close the tap while submerged. I keep a spray bottle of starsan at the kegerator and give the inside of the tap a spray or two after every pour. That helps rinse out the residual beer and keep it sanitary. I've also got those black condom-type tap covers that I fill about half way with starsan when it'll be awhile before I pour again (ie: overnight)

I usually will do a keg of pbw or star san and every other week I blow out the lines/faucets with it (like 15 sec worth) and never have issues.

i have this issue, too. I've taken them all apart and cleaned them very well. I also do the starsan squirt after every pour and use the condom-style covers filled with starsan. This all helps, but doesn't stop the growth completely.

I can normally tell when I need to clean them again when the flow changes from the tap.

AgentHubcap said:

[...]I can normally tell when I need to clean them again when the flow changes from the tap.

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Ooog....I just threw up in my mouth a little