Off flavor from shanks

[Shiga Mike]

Hello. I have 4 new SS shanks that are producing a nasty metallic taste in my beers. It was really bad when I first installed them, so I soaked them, the SS nipples, and the ventmatic faucets in BLC overnight. This helped a lot, but it still affects any beer left in the shank for more than a couple of hours. Once I pull the ounce or so out of the shanks and dispose of it, I get a glass of good beer.

Any suggestions for getting rid of this nasty taste and smell?

Any hints would be greatly appreciated.

Mike

[USMC - Retired]

Ohio gasiamasu and welcome aboard Mike. I must say I'm a bit envious of you. I spent four years in Iwakuni Japan and miss Kirin Lager something awefull. I would say you need to take your faucets apart and, using a small stiff pipe brush, scrub them with a BLC solution. Do the same with the nipples using a pipe cleaner or whatever you can get to do the job. Sounds like they were not cleaned well prior to leaving the *******. Hope this helps, drink a Kirin Lager for me.

Semper Fi,
The Gunns

"Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy" - Benjamin Franklin

[Shiga Mike]

Thank you for the reply.

I took a hard bristle brush to them and the combination of that and the BLC soak did reduce the taste quite a bit, but it's not completely gone. I imagine that just being in contact with the beer will eventually clean it out, but I have to waste an ounce or so of my precious every time I want to pull a pint.

Ex-marine here, too. Spent four years in Okinawa starting in 1982, four in Hawaii. Got out and went to university to get my master's and came back 10 years ago. Guess I'm here for the long haul...

Mike

[USMC - Retired]

Ooh Rah, what are you doing in Japan now?

Semper Fi,
The Gunns

"Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy" - Benjamin Franklin

[Shiga Mike]

Hey Gunns,

After a few years as a Japanese instructor at the University of Hawaii, I decided to come back to Japan and teach here. I'm now a professor at a university here, although more of my waking hours may be devoted to brewing...

Mike

[USMC - Retired]

That sounds cool. I'm guessing by your nick that you live near Shiga lake? Do you do any hunting? I got my Japanese hunting license while I was there and made many great friends of Japanese hunters. some really great hunting and fishing ops over there!

Semper Fi,
The Gunns

"Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy" - Benjamin Franklin

[brzez]

Mike,

I just did a kegging setup similar to yours (5 stainless shanks and nipples from Micromatic and 5 fuacets (4 Ventmatic and 1 Guinness). I to have a very strong metallic taste after the first ounce or two and then its much better or disappears altogether after a pint. I flushed BLC through my lines before running my first pints through them and then flushed with lots of water.

The metallic taste is definately from the shanks or nipples since the beer out of the keg using a plastic cobra tap does not have any metallic taste. Its not the Ventmatic faucets since the Guinness faucet has the same issue.

Were you able to resolve your problem? If so what was the fix?

If anyone has had a similar issue and resolved it, please chime in.

Thanks..

-- John