Leak on tap

gary

Its been 24 hours since i barreled my latest brew and have noticed that the tap has a small leak roughly a few drips per day .Its a youngs 5 gallen pressure barrel and the leek is not from the black seal between the barrel and the tap but from where the beer is dispenced itself .Ive tried turning the tap a touch this way and that but still can see a small drip over time forming what can be done ? Is it possibe to bottle at this stage and what do i have to do,or can it  be fixed somehow what do you recomend. Also will this ruin my brew .

HBO_Staff

If the drip is definitely coming from the very end of the tap and not the black rubber washer, it may be stopped by turning the tap to the 90 degrees position. This is where it is fully off, as it works on the same principle as a washing machine isolator tap, if turned past 90 dgress it could begin to open up again in rare situations. If this doesn't fix it then it may be that the inside of the tap itself is just not quite making a perfect seal and some brew finds it's way out when under pressure. Whilst this will not affect your brew in any way, in this situation we would recommend you just collect the few drips whilst you drink this batch, and then get a replacement tap before you next use the barrel. If the barrel is fairly new and came from us, just let us know and we will more than happily send you a replacement which will just screw in

gary

decided to change the tap because i had a spare on another barrel ,put a small amount of sugar in the barrel just in case and will test pressure in a week to avoid any problems .{over carb }shame i used a coppers  stout with a muntons spray malt and 500g of brewing sugar just hope theres no after affects through tinkering ,had a little taster nice .be in touch with thanks gaz . 

gary

Changed the tap seemed fine at first but this one also has a drip .Both taps  have only been used once before and without any problems carnt understand it ,

HBO_Staff

If the tap is at 90 degrees they really shouldn't be leaking as it is very rare, so the chances of 2 doing it are very low. The only thing we can think of which has been reported to us before, is the drip was coming from the black rubber seal, and then running down to the tap making it appear as though the tap was leaking, but a good nip up with a pair of grips/spanner stopped it. Just double check it is in nice and tight and nipped up with a pair of grips/spanner, as hand tight is never enough due to the large pressure inside the barrel, and let us know how you get on