It is amazing what difference clean beer lines can make.
I cleaned my lines and took the taps apart on Sunday afternoon. Once they were all reassembled and not leaking anymore (I have a question about the leaks) the beer tastes great again!
I was getting an odd, kind of infected taste from all four beers on taps in December and was wondering if my brewing hiatus during our kitchen remodel had caused me to make some major mistakes. I had flushed all the lines and taps before kegs back in the keggerator but that wasn't clean enough. Alas, all my guests drank, sort of sour, beer over the holidays because of a lack of time to clean.
Now for my question; can tap shanks go bad?
I have 3 -10(ish) year old, chrome shanks and one stainless steel shank. I don't remember why I replaced the odd duck right now, maybe I stripped the threads or something.
When I reassemble everything, which I've done dozens of times over the years, two of taps were leaking at the junction where the Perlick faucet connects to the shank. I had to fiddle with them to get the pressures applied in any given spot adjusted "just right" to make them seal. I'm wondering if you all think they can wear out? Once we clear the holiday debt I'm leaning towards replacing them with stainless steel.
Thanks!