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Barrel tap smelling of vinegar

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garfo

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 4, 2014
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Portugal
Hello, I've got 10 litters of mead that I've put into an oak 10l barrel. After one week I started noticing that the room where the barrel sits was smelling of vinegar.
I then realized it was the wooden tap that was absorbing some of the liquid and creating that smell. I removed the tap and left it on an hot water solution with some active oxygen to kill the bacteria. After that I covered it with some beeswax to isolate the tap from the exterior and put it back to the barrel.
Is there any danger that the tap will infect the interior of the barrel?
 
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gniznik

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 23, 2014
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54
How does the mead taste?
There's no way of predicting what will happen. You'll just have to wait and see.
Assuming you are using a neutral barrel you should sanitize it between fills with kmeta and citric acid. Search barrel care for the correct proportions
 
mannye

mannye

Administrator
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Oct 10, 2012
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Miami Beach, FL
Actually, if the tap is the only thing contaminated so far, it will eventually make mead vinegar of the whole barrel. I suggest you spray the tap with sanitizer and drain the thing onto some K meta. Then thoroughly sanitize the barrel and put everything back.


Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now.
 
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garfo

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 4, 2014
25
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Portugal
I've removed the tap and placed it first on some active oxygen solution, and then I've left it for 15 minutes on hot water with a solution that is used to clean barrels. It has Sulfurs and other chemical stuff. I'll have to see how it tastes in a couple of weeks.
 
mannye

mannye

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Oct 10, 2012
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Miami Beach, FL
garfo said:
I've removed the tap and placed it first on some active oxygen solution, and then I've left it for 15 minutes on hot water with a solution that is used to clean barrels. It has Sulfurs and other chemical stuff. I'll have to see how it tastes in a couple of weeks.
Click to expand...

You don't have another vessel to move the mead into? You should. We are talking about microscopic organisms. In two weeks it might be too late.
 
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