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Proper maintenance for kegerator

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  • Proper maintenance for kegerator

    Bought a used kegerator in feb ‘20. This is my first kegerator, so I guess that I am going through some learning steps. However, it has been pretty much just plug-n-play. On my 3rd and 4th sixtels, I Started having some taste issues. Bought a new coupler and also changed the spout. Might have done Some good but kind of hard to tell. I thought that I spotted some solid stuff in my beer on my 4th keg. I definitely see some on my 5th/ current keg.
    After each keg, I clean my beer line, coupler and spout. I use PBW for about 5-10 minutes. And then rinse.
    when keg is hooked up, I only use a rubber cap on the spout. I only did this because I keep my keg in the garage and somebody told me to beware of fruit flies. I have never noticed fruit flies.
    went to the local growler station the other night and spoke with the guy behind the counter and he said that he cleans the spouts each night with a liquid sanitizer and scrubs the spout. But he doesn’t rinse.
    what is proper protocol for keeping spouts clean?
    i thought about making a solution with the PBW, but I think that you are supposed to rinse well after using.
    thanks

  • #2
    Do you take apart the coupler and the faucet when you clean?
    What I have: Haier two tap, 525 faucets, tower cooler, 10' lines

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    • #3
      Yes, I disassemble the faucet and coupler when cleaning

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      • #4
        Do you disassemble the faucets down to their individual pieces, not just remove them from the tower? Have you changed the beer line? Lines get old and can take on taste of stronger beers that have gone through them. There is no need to clean the faucets all the time, when you switch kegs is fine.
        Last edited by djc; 11-24-2020, 05:24 AM.
        What I have: Haier two tap, 525 faucets, tower cooler, 10' lines

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        • #5
          When I bought the new coupler, I also changed the beer line. I did not replace gas line. I did replace faucet, but not a new faucet.
          the previous faucet, I could disassemble down to all individual parts. The one that I am currently using I disconnected some parts, but I could not remove the “ part that sticks into the slot inside”.

          my subject line should have read “mold in my beer”. But I changed it to “maintenance for a kegerator”.
          do you disinfect/clean your spout at all before keg is empty?

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          • #6
            It’s coming from the faucet. It is a breeding ground - particularly the mechanism you are talking about. It gets coated in beer and then exposed to air. You need to get it apart for a full cleaning. You don’t need to clean it mid keg, I typically have a keg around for a month and have never had mold cleaning at that frequency. You could treat yourself to some forward closing faucets which are much more forgiving since they have no mechanism exposed to air. They also never stick.
            What I have: Haier two tap, 525 faucets, tower cooler, 10' lines

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            • #7
              Djc
              when searching forward faucets, I do not see many show up in the results. Will the description normally say forward faucet? Does standard faucet mean rear sealing? On micromatic website - out of 15+ results for beer faucet only 1 showed forward seal in the description.

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              • #8
                Forward closers will say they are, everything else isn’t. Also a giveaway for rear closing is the round barrel that moves in and out at the front of it. Sometimes you will see front closers called Perl or Pearl faucets. Micromatic sponsors our discussions, so buying from them is good.
                What I have: Haier two tap, 525 faucets, tower cooler, 10' lines

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