Leaking Barrel Tap

[BrewHouse]

Hi guys,

I have a new batch of chocolate stout which has been sitting in a plastic barrel for a few weeks and the secondary fermentation has caused the tap to leak. The leak is not from the thread on the tap, but from within the tap itself. It is only a few drops and so I can live with the loss, however, I am concerned about the risk of infection from the mass of fruit flies (I assume) that are amassing around the tap. I have cleaned the tap on several occasions with sterilising solution but this is an ongoing problem.

My intention is now to transfer the whole batch to bottles, but am aware that if I already have an infection in the tap, then any beer that I run through the tap using a Littler Bottler may cause every bottle to be infected. Is it safer just to leave the batch in the barrel and hope that the beer inside is still ok (tastes ok at the moment), to tip the barrel on its side and replace the tap and recondition, or to transfer into bottles?? I suppose there is also the option of transferring to bottles/new barrel using a siphon and taking the tap out of the equation.
Any advice please?

[alexlark]

I would firstly clean the tap and then release some pressure by either unscrewing the cap or drink a few pints. You shouldn't have any infection with the fruit flies.

[JamesF]

If you want to keep the fruit flies off, could you not just stick a plastic bag over the tap with an elastic band? Not ideal, clearly, but at this point probably nothing is

James

[fego]

Are you sure you have the tap in the right position?

No idea what keg you have but if it is a budget one with a white plastic 'slider' tap, you need the tap to be set at the quarter to three position and not pushed full way round to ten past eight. If you push the tap too far to the right, the aperture of the flow part of the tap won't be sealed and under pressure you will get a leak.

Whatever the issue, it's unlikely to cause an infection in the beer.

[Dave S]

Yes, if it's a budget keg you have to watch the position. I've had many a drip with the lever positioned all the way round. Try some slight adjustment. As for infection, whatever is going on outside - fruit flies or whatever, it won't affect what's happening inside. Just make sure the outside is clean when you transfer.

[normanh]

Lay the barrel on its side with the tap fully verical of course and simply replace the tap, they just screw in - eet the pressure out slowly if you want to be save on the seal use some PTFE tape on the threads. Taps are pretty cheap so dont struggle.

Norman

[Bazz]

I've had exactly the same problem before, it was simply resolved by moving the tap from the fully closed position to a point where it is parallel with the barrel, or perpendicular to the threaded part if that makes sense.