Fermenter Taps

[The Cardinal]

I'm a bit of a newbie at this, and I've been making a right mess trying to syphon the beer from the brew bin/fermenter into bottles: air keeps shooting back up the tube, the tap on the end of the tube leaks etc. and it's making me pretty unpopular in the kitchen. Far simpler - I reckon - to simply fit a tap near the base of my fermenter and use this to deposit it straight into the bottles. HOWEVER....I'm wondering how I'd go about sterilising the tap each time: can't soak it in a solution coz it's attached to the bin, and surely after it's been sat in either my spare room or my garage for a week or so whilst primary fermentation occurs, the inside of the tap that's exposed to the air will have picked up bacteria. Any suggestions, or do I just risk it?

[Vossy1]

I bottle direct sometimes also.

2 options.

After sterilising your gear prior to making the beer, seal the tap with cling film.

2nd, What I do. Fill a pipette with iodophor soln and squirt into the spout of the tap a few times, then rinse with pipette and boiled water.

It's never let me down

[Vossy1]

If you use a tap to bottle make sure you fit a tube that reaches the bottom of the bottle so the beer doesnt splash or aerate.

or, run the beer down a tilted bottle

[PieOPah]

I have a tap on my fermenter and it has made life ever so much easier when bottling.

So far, I have never sanitized my tap - never even thought about it to be honest. So far (touch wood) I have never had this cause a bad batch whenther I am kegging (when I will have a sanitized syphon attached) or bottling (when there is no tubing attached and allow it to gently dribble down the side of the bottle).

I have probably just been lucky... Throughout the fermentation, I take samples from the tap to test the gravity. Even then I never clean the tap, again, it just never occured to me.

[The Cardinal]

Thanks all. Great advice: I think I'll take a combination of them all (i.e. will keep covered with clingfilm, will sanitise with a pipette, and not worry too much about it if it proves too difficult!).