looking for tap breakdown and cleaning procedure

[beernutz]

I have a 4 tap keezer I built in 2013 that I clean every 2-3 months using a small pump which circulates a BLC solution for 15 minutes through each line followed by a starsan mix for another 15 minutes.

I thought this procedure was sufficient until my last keg which had an off taste to it that I first assumed was a result of a brewing mistake. However when I found a grey glob of something in a glass that I was pretty sure wasn't from the keg* the light bulb finally came on that maybe my cleaning procedure wasn't good enough.

So I removed that tap and also the connection to the shank inside the keezer and what I found was gross. I manually removed as much of the other grey globs and their residue as I could see and soaked the tap a while in a double strength starsan solution and when I put everything back together the beer suddenly improved.

Long story short I'm looking for some recommendations on how to not get into the same situation again. Specifically what are some good cleaning products for the taps themselves? Is the consensus to remove and clean the taps each time you run BLC through the lines? Is there something better that BLC out there?

TIA.

*I use a Clear Beer Draught System in that keg which pulls from the top but the glob was in the bottom of my glass

 

[brew703]

I have a two tap keezer that I built two years ago. I run hot tap water through the lines using a pond pump. Then I sanitize in the same way. I use BLC about every other keg.

I had an issue with one of my taps so I removed it and broke it down. it wasn't bad but had some buildup of crud that the hot water and blc didn't take care of.

I will be doing the same with my other tap but I haven't experienced anything like you are referring to.

I surely do not want to take apart my taps every brew or two. I've only taken them apart 1 time in two years.

 

[day_trippr]

The only times I've removed faucets were to refresh the O-rings when needed. I do recirculation cleaning as well, start by running hot tap water through one pass to flush out most of what's in the 6-tap system, then follow with hot BLC or LLC (these days the latter as I bought a quart of concentrate) for 20 minutes. Then I run 10 gallons of fresh hot water one-pass through for rinsing. I don't bother with sanitizer.

I just did a cleaning two weeks ago right before breaking down the keezer to the bones for repainting and some upgrades (a rinser for one). Didn't want sticky beer everywhere. When I removed the faucets and shanks they were clean as a whistle.

Debris buildups are going to compromise cleaning for sure, and one thing that strikes me is I'm kinda OC about keeping debris out of serving kegs, which may explain the lack of debris in the faucets...

Cheers!

 

[Wayne1]

Brewers Association offers the Draught Beer Quality Manual

http://www.draughtquality.org/wp-content/uploads/DBQM17.pdf