Croaky Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 The seal on my FV tap has been damaged. I've only done 4 brews and it has a small tear in it and is now leaking, I have always lubed it up with a small amount of Extra Virgin Olive Oil as instructed. Can I buy these seals separately or do I need to buy a whole new tap? Obviously don't want to have to replace every 4 brews so is there something else I could do to prevent it from happening again? Cheers Wade Scrap all that, just seen the old thread discussing, I've bought a new tap with free delivery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB2 Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 If the tap has failed early, despite looking after it and lubricating the rubber overmouldings, our customer service department would like to know about it. Give ém a yell. customerservice@coopers.com.au 1300 654 455 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergy1987 Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 I notice the instructions suggest you wet the seal when inserting the tap and yet other resources suggest using some olive oil - Was water for the old style tap? Also in regards to sanitising the tap, would you sanitise the tap and then apply the olive oil? Or is the olive oil only applied when the tap is not in use and in storage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB2 Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 Water is not as effective as olive oil. Apply olive oil just prior to inserting the tap into the Fermenting Vessel. During storage or if not being used straight away, it's best to keep the tap separated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPolo Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Water is not as effective as olive oil. Apply olive oil just prior to inserting the tap into the Fermenting Vessel. During storage or if not being used straight away' date=' it's best to keep the tap separated. [/quote'] Always been a bit wary of the idea of putting some foreign substance i.e. olive oil in very close contact with the beer that is fermenting. More comfortable in wetting with water/sterilising fluid. But if it HAS to be olive oil so be it. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPolo Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Water is not as effective as olive oil. Apply olive oil just prior to inserting the tap into the Fermenting Vessel. During storage or if not being used straight away' date=' it's best to keep the tap separated. [/quote'] Had a look at the Coopers store and read the info on the taps. "New design" says the info, "Note: no lubrication required when fitting." Now I'm confused. The taps on the website look identical to the one in my FV. So do we lubricate or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 I've been told recently that olive oil might be a bad idea and to use some keg seal lubricant instead. Dunno if the bit about the olive oil is true, but keg lube sure sounds like a good idea! In the meantime I've noticed that startsan solution does a pretty good job of making things slippery anyway so I'm just using that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB44 Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Had a look at the Coopers store and read the info on the taps. "New design" says the info' date=' "Note: no lubrication required when fitting." Now I'm confused. The taps on the website look identical to the one in my FV. So do we lubricate or not?[/quote'] I've just ordered a couple of these new taps. I will compare and review... I'm not sure how recent these "New" design taps are but I think coopers was still recommending olive oil lucubration in the later half of last year. This week while bottling I flicked the tap lever and beer squirted through the top of the tap (where the lever connects). Turned out the rubber thing inside had a tear that was ok until the lever was moved. Nothing to do with lubrication - the rubber that failed was internal. I used my last spare rubber thing (from a broken tap) - so time to restock. On lubrication - I've been using the same food grade lube that I already have for my coffee machine. Easy to apply and not so oily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPolo Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 So what about sanitation? After cleaning up the FV following a brew, I soak it in perc over night which obviously requires me to keep the tap in. I suppose some of the tap gets a treatment but not all the way through. When I empty the FV it is through the tap which obviously gives it a bit of a flush out but nothing like an overnight soaking, disassembled, which I did last time. Is the special treatment for the tap necessary? Or would the current regime of flushing the perc solution through and then sanitising with Starsan or its equivalent before reassembling and fitting to the FV be enough? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beervis Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 I've never had any issues with the tap, although I've got 2 taps so I generally soak one with my utensils in the sod perc and then switch them out before putting the brew down. I I think though that flushing it out with the soak solution then spraying with starsan is totally fine. Maybe every few brews you could take it out in between and soak it in a jar or something. Sometimes I rinse it with hot water and put it back together before refitting the tap. It's pretty unlikely IMO that you would get an infection from the tap if its been flushed out. The olive oil thing is crucial though, I've ruined 1 tap already by not doing that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyBrew2 Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 the new tap design with the O rings is much much better. PB2 looked after me and sent me a free replacement when my last one tore as above 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beervis Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 I just wish someone would come up with a better bottling wand that had a screw or clamp fitting. I find it's a massive PITA always falls out 3 or 4 times in each bottling session. I've switched to bottling my nicer beers in glass stubbies now and it's even worse, makes the whole thing take much longer than it needs to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPolo Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 On 5/8/2018 at 4:21 PM, Beervis said: I just wish someone would come up with a better bottling wand that had a screw or clamp fitting. I find it's a massive PITA always falls out 3 or 4 times in each bottling session. I've switched to bottling my nicer beers in glass stubbies now and it's even worse, makes the whole thing take much longer than it needs to. I agree. It is an absolute pain to put in. People have advised me through this forum to file it down somewhat but I'm not keen to do that. Don't know what might happen then. It should be fundamental that a product works reasonably simply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPolo Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 On 5/6/2018 at 7:42 AM, Beervis said: I've never had any issues with the tap, although I've got 2 taps so I generally soak one with my utensils in the sod perc and then switch them out before putting the brew down. I I think though that flushing it out with the soak solution then spraying with starsan is totally fine. Maybe every few brews you could take it out in between and soak it in a jar or something. Sometimes I rinse it with hot water and put it back together before refitting the tap. It's pretty unlikely IMO that you would get an infection from the tap if its been flushed out. The olive oil thing is crucial though, I've ruined 1 tap already by not doing that I'm interested in the olive oil thing. As I understand it, the purpose of the olive oil is to help the tap glide in. I've found that just wetting it with Starsan seems to do the job OK. However, recently I've noticed some drops escaping when the tap is just bumped a little and when I'm putting the bottling wand in. Not too much but enough that I'm thinking "that shouldn't be happening". I guess I've not been wanting to put the olive oil on even though I did the first few times for fear of introducing something foreign into the brew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPolo Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 On 8/19/2017 at 4:55 AM, PB2 said: If the tap has failed early, despite looking after it and lubricating the rubber overmouldings, our customer service department would like to know about it. Give ém a yell. customerservice@coopers.com.au 1300 654 455 I've used my tap a few times (maybe 8 brews) and now the lug of the seal closest to the FV has folded over a little. This explains by the occasional leak I get when bottling. Is the only solution to buy a new tap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB2 Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 email us with your address details and we'll replace it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 You can get olive oil aerosol spray, $2.30 at Woolworths. I'll probably stick with spraying with sanitiser though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPolo Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 17 hours ago, PB2 said: email us with your address details and we'll replace it. Ta have sent the email. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB2 Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 Yep, Star San works brilliant as a lubricant on the tap. We say olive oil because it works and most households have it. Only need use the tiniest amount on your pinky finger and smear it on - no need to spray it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 On 10/27/2018 at 4:30 PM, PB2 said: Yep, Star San works brilliant as a lubricant on the tap. Ohhhhh ... now I feel very silly. I have been Starsan-ing and then olive oil-ing when I could have just been Starsan-ing! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPolo Posted November 7, 2018 Share Posted November 7, 2018 On 10/26/2018 at 7:37 PM, PB2 said: email us with your address details and we'll replace it. Have just received the tap ta. Currently cleaning the FV. Will probably be able to return the original tomorrow. Thanks for the postage paid return envelope! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beervis Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 On 10/25/2018 at 10:36 AM, DonPolo said: I agree. It is an absolute pain to put in. People have advised me through this forum to file it down somewhat but I'm not keen to do that. Don't know what might happen then. It should be fundamental that a product works reasonably simply. Wouldn't filing it down just make it pop out more often? I don't think I'd want to try that either. I've got two, one won't go in to the tap at all, period, and the other one falls out probably 3 times if I'm bottling a 23 litre brew. I've been thinking of super gluing it into one of the tap fittings, but I'm not sure I could get the whole contraption into the spare fridge like that. Generally I think Cooper's gear is great, but this one step is by far the most frustrating aspect of the brewing process. When this batch of gear dies, I'm considering switching to a different FV just to avoid the %^&^^%ing bottle wand! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPolo Posted November 15, 2018 Share Posted November 15, 2018 On 11/10/2018 at 10:53 AM, Beervis said: Wouldn't filing it down just make it pop out more often? I don't think I'd want to try that either. I've got two, one won't go in to the tap at all, period, and the other one falls out probably 3 times if I'm bottling a 23 litre brew. I've been thinking of super gluing it into one of the tap fittings, but I'm not sure I could get the whole contraption into the spare fridge like that. Generally I think Cooper's gear is great, but this one step is by far the most frustrating aspect of the brewing process. When this batch of gear dies, I'm considering switching to a different FV just to avoid the %^&^^%ing bottle wand! I agree. Look, this day and age, products you buy are supposed to work reasonably well and you shouldn't have to 'customise' parts just to get them to do what they are supposed to. When starting to bottle I get the part where you put the bottle wand in then I have to stop, sigh and then get on with the 'chore' of fitting the bottling wand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashed Crabs Posted November 15, 2018 Share Posted November 15, 2018 Iv been using the Brigalow bottling wand and it's fits the 4 different tap heads on my FVs, Brigalow FV, Coppers FV, Bunnings 10 Litre and 30 Litre FVs. Never had a single issue with it being to tight or falling out and requires no modification Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beervis Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 (edited) On 11/15/2018 at 1:28 PM, Smashed Crabs said: Iv been using the Brigalow bottling wand and it's fits the 4 different tap heads on my FVs, Brigalow FV, Coppers FV, Bunnings 10 Litre and 30 Litre FVs. Never had a single issue with it being to tight or falling out and requires no modification I looked at this at Big W the other day, was wondering how it would go. I assumed you'd need a different tap head to get it to work with the Coopers FV. I've been thinking of upgrading to stainless steel FV's with a threaded tap and just using food grade tubing, but it'll be a pricey upgrade for just kits n shits which is all I'm brewing currently. I'll give the Brigalow one a try on my next brew! Cheers for the tip. Edited January 10, 2019 by Beervis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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