Faucet selection... opinions needed

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Well... Ventmatics (what you have linked there) are probably some of the best faucets you can find, and are the kind I'm looking forward to picking up myself. The downside is that they have been out of production for a little while now. Rumor has it that they will be able to start supplying them by month's end, but we'll have to wait and see.
 
That link is not a 'vent matic' brand. It is another brand with a 'seal forward' design by 'ultraflow'. I have heard so much about the vent matic brand but not about this one. I dont think I will have a problem going with one brand over another, was just wondering if the 'seal forward' design is all they say it is?
 
UltraFlo is the what VentMatic calls their product if I recall correctly. AFAIK, VentMatic and Perlick are the only folks who produce(d) seal-forward style faucets - Perlick licensing the general design from VentMatic - but I could be wrong on that bit.

I can't say I've used them myself, but all the folks I've ever heard from swear by them.
 
If you can wait for the Ventmatics to become available, definately get those. If you need faucets sooner, grab the Perlicks. Get them from superprod.com. (Search for Part# 851300 if the link doesn't work). The best price I could find for these.
 
I've used both the traditional faucet and the seal forward design (both the Perlicks and the Vent-Matics).

The traditional faucets are problematic. First, they stick between uses, especially if you go a couple of days and don't tap a beer. Sometimes they stick so bad you feel like you will break the handle off trying to draw a beer. Next, they just get plain nasty inside with dried up beer and crud. I sold them and got Perlicks which were like night and day.

The Perlicks NEVER stuck, even after a couple of weeks of inactivity. Plus, when I went to clean them, there was virtually nothing inside to clean out. They were as clean as when I installed them. When I embarked on the Great Fridge Project, I sold the Perlicks and bought the Vent-Matics. Same basic design, but a bit cleaner look. Also, the main forward seal on the Vent-Matics is a bit more reliable. The Perlick seal is a simple O-ring that can leak a little if you don't make absolutely sure that the faucet handle is pushed all the way back after drawing a beer. I would be especially wary if I had a larger tap handle with some weight to it. The Vent-Matic has a more reliable/positive seal when it is shut-off. Over-all, I like the Vent-Matics best, but the Perlicks are still great and you will save a bit of money - plus, who knows when Vent-Matic will start shipping again.

Prosit!
 
You are correct Darth, UltraFlow is the VentMatic. I cannot find those as others seem to have noticed as well. I am not really in a hurry but I like to order everything at once to minimize shipping charges. This is going to be in an order with other parts that I do want to start working with so I may go ahead and go with the perlicks. I will call a couple of places first and see when they think they will be available. Thanks for the replies!
 
I got a reply from ventmatic.... They say 30 days out. I spoke to someone at more beer and when I told him what they said, he replied with '*Sigh* another excuse/delay. They keep putting it off again and again'.

He also said that they were currently getting different manuafacturers to produce test products so that they could pick which manuafacturer they wanted to go with. This concerns me a bit. I am wondering now if the quality will be as good as they used to be.

I am now considering going with Perlick but I understand there may also be a problem getting those right now. :confused:

Think I will order the Perlick and if they tell me they are backordered, I will cancel the order and wait till the ventmatics come out again.

P.S. Darth you were right 'Ultraflow' is the 'Ventmatic' brand.

One other opinion needed if you would... Stainless shanks vs. standard... I already decided and paid the extra $$$ for stainless just for piece of mind and I realize this may have been for nothing. Think it makes any difference?
 
DyerNeedOfBeer said:
One other opinion needed if you would... Stainless shanks vs. standard... I already decided and paid the extra $$$ for stainless just for piece of mind and I realize this may have been for nothing. Think it makes any difference?
I went all stainless, but mostly because I had already gone whole hog on everything else. Plus, I read this article:

http://www.stainlessone.com/DPS11020-8pgReprint.pdf

In reality, I think you should only go stainless if you want to do everything possible to eliminate as many risks to your beer as possible. There may also be some benefits for long term storage of bottles bottled from the tap (I have long since ditched my CPBF in favor of bottling from the tap). I think in general, chrome plated shanks are fine. Bars and restaurants have been doing it for decades. Get the Perlicks/Vent-Matics because of the forward seal design (which is totally worth the cost) not necessarily because they are stainless steel.
 
I just called MoreBeer (because I got really excited when I saw the "Ultraflo" stamp on the side of the faucet at that link). Asked the guy if it was, in fact, a Ventmatic faucet and he said, "No, it's very similar but made by Perlick."

Damn... got my hopes up too. For the reasons tnlandsailor listed, I'll continue holding out for the Vents. I've waited this long...
 
Just made another trip to the Ventmatic site. Looks like he's taken most of it down in exchange for a single page with an email addy.

Anyone spoken to Brad lately? Is the ETA still "30 days out"?
 
Send Pumbaa over to knock on their door and ask WTF? I used to live about 2 miles away from them in Pewaukee, WI. Either that or I'd move over to Perlick. I wouldn't be waiting forever.
 
I live just east of Pewaukee and have an email into the office to check on availability on the vent-matic as I'm interested in picking up a pair. I'll put a call in if I haven't received a response in a couple of days. I'll let everyone know what I find out.
 
I suspect that the broken glasses are in large part operator headspace errors. If you don't pull the glass down before you try to pull it out the glass breaks. It's really no differen than the occasiona chips I'd see people get filling pitchers and normal glasses when they bang the glass against the tapper.

As with all things-- something new (especially something that makes the person feel like their skills are less valuable) takes time for people to accept.


On the other hand, unless you have high volume or are willing to clean them frequently they are taking all the worst features of the 'common' tap head and exaggerating them by about 4 inches.
 
I have 2 perlicks and they are like butter! they needed a good cleaning and lubed all the orings when you get them. easy assembly and cleaning and perfect pour everytime! no stickies!!

some photos on a kegerator in my signature below.
 
I just bought 4 Ventmatics direct. I sent them an email and told them what I wanted. They told me what was available and how much. I filled out an order form, emailed it and a few days later they arrived and the price was better then any I had seen. Shoot an email off and see what happens. I believe they are what you want (if you want the best!)
 
tnlandsailor said:
I've used both the traditional faucet and the seal forward design (both the Perlicks and the Vent-Matics).

The traditional faucets are problematic. First, they stick between uses, especially if you go a couple of days and don't tap a beer.
This is obvious folks. We ALL need to get the traditional faucets. We will then have to pour at least one beer from each tap every day. :D
 
RichBrewer said:
This is obvious folks. We ALL need to get the traditional faucets. We will then have to pour at least one beer from each tap every day. :D

Sonvolt needs to read this thread related to his problem with too much beer. Maybe if he wasted a bit with bad taps his problem would go away.:mug:
 
Brewpastor said:
I just bought 4 Ventmatics direct. I sent them an email and told them what I wanted. They told me what was available and how much. I filled out an order form, emailed it and a few days later they arrived and the price was better then any I had seen. Shoot an email off and see what happens. I believe they are what you want (if you want the best!)
BP - How recently? What version did you get? Last I spoke with the owner they had plenty of the SS/gold and all gold versions, but no SS only versions. I want the latter.
 
The post mark on the box is March 24. I got 4 of the 1000s, but he also said he had a few of the 2000s. I didn't need the capacity to put a tap lock on them so the 1000s are perfect.
 
DrewsBrews said:
I'm almost to that point. I just have this nagging feeling that the minute I commit to the Perlicks, the Vents will be available.

I'm wondering of the history of Ventmatic Inc. I almost would guess that he/she/they were pissed off x-employees of Perlick since they're only 10 miles away or so from each other :).
 
desertBrew said:
I'm wondering of the history of Ventmatic Inc. I almost would guess that he/she/they were pissed off x-employees of Perlick since they're only 10 miles away or so from each other :).
I've heard mixed stories. I believe he told me that he'd been an employee of theirs and had something to do with the design of the seal-forward faucet they sell. He left, for whatever reason, and took his design and changed/improved it to what he sells as Ventmatics. He claims to hold the patent on the design and that he's won in court against Perlick.

As others have mentioned, the guy seems to know his sh_t. I really enjoyed talking with him, albeit he's a little egotistical about his product. He's just flaky about the status of the production of new faucets. I'd rather the guy say, "Honestly, it's all up in the air right now. Could be 30 days... could be six months. Just keep checking the website." Quit telling us it'll be soon until it really is, man.
 
Just wanted to post an update on my attempts to reach someone at the Ventmatic office. I've sent 2 emails which have so far gone unreturned and a phone call to the main number goes straight to voicemail which has also gone unreturned. I even sent an email from my hotmail account thinking my work email (law office) may have scared them off or something. You know, no one likes lawyers.
 
DrewsBrews said:
I've heard mixed stories. I believe he told me that he'd been an employee of theirs and had something to do with the design of the seal-forward faucet they sell. He left, for whatever reason, and took his design and changed/improved it to what he sells as Ventmatics. He claims to hold the patent on the design and that he's won in court against Perlick.

As others have mentioned, the guy seems to know his sh_t. I really enjoyed talking with him, albeit he's a little egotistical about his product. He's just flaky about the status of the production of new faucets. I'd rather the guy say, "Honestly, it's all up in the air right now. Could be 30 days... could be six months. Just keep checking the website." Quit telling us it'll be soon until it really is, man.

Well considering Perlick still sells their model and Ventmatic all of a sudden has stopped I'm wondering who may be winning this little court battle... I know which company has more $...
 
I have three ventmatic 1000s, and love them. the guy there is really up on his product and general draft system design.

I have also heard good things about the perlicks, but I went with the ventmatics because you can rotate the tap handles. I have my taps on a triple tower, which place the handes really close to each other. With some of the bigger tap handles, I need to rotate them just to get side clearence.

As far as the turbo tap, you can get the same results by adding 4 to 6 inches of beer line to the end of a standard tap, and bumping up your serving preasure. All the turbotap does is fill from the botom of the glass so that you can speed pour your beer. TurboTap is not a sanitary pour solution if you do refills since the tap itself comes in contact with the old beer in the glass.
 
:mad: I too have left several emails to no avail. I intend to keep trying though. I am really after the Ss/Gold. Hopefully someone will holler back. I am wondering if our Lawyer friend has it right since I work for a large radio corporation and my email has that signature attached:confused:
 
Sneakysnitch said:
:mad: I too have left several emails to no avail. I intend to keep trying though. I am really after the Ss/Gold. Hopefully someone will holler back. I am wondering if our Lawyer friend has it right since I work for a large radio corporation and my email has that signature attached:confused:

When I left my voicemails, I stressed that I live 20 minutes away and would be happy to drive by to pick them up to alleviate any hassle of shipping them. Still, no call. If I'm in that neck of the woods this weekend, I'll drive by and see what I can find. If I have any luck, I'll let you know and could pick a couple up for you if any are available.
 
I emailed Ventmatic to see about the new 2000 Gold Faucets, and received an email response in 2 days telling me they are in stock, and they also sent an invoice. $51.95 per faucet.

I have Perlick and love them, but have a brass tower, so I wanted to see how much it would be to change over.
 
MilwaukeeHomeBrewer said:
When I left my voicemails, I stressed that I live 20 minutes away and would be happy to drive by to pick them up to alleviate any hassle of shipping them. Still, no call. If I'm in that neck of the woods this weekend, I'll drive by and see what I can find. If I have any luck, I'll let you know and could pick a couple up for you if any are available.

The way they've been so mysterious; bring cash... Something doesn't feel right with them. You don't just shut the doors waiting to sell your new thing. You keep making what works then discontinue when the new is ready. It's called cash flow baby. BTW, I got ventmatics and love em and don't need any more but WTF?
 
MilwaukeeHomeBrewer said:
When I left my voicemails, I stressed that I live 20 minutes away and would be happy to drive by to pick them up to alleviate any hassle of shipping them. Still, no call. If I'm in that neck of the woods this weekend, I'll drive by and see what I can find. If I have any luck, I'll let you know and could pick a couple up for you if any are available.

MHB, that'd be way cool! I'm really interested in Gold colored units..:ban: .
 
Sneakysnitch said:
MHB, that'd be way cool! I'm really interested in Gold colored units..:ban: .

GoldUnits, GoldMember.. Whichever :)

goldmember.jpg
 
kornkob said:
Funny-- I emailed them 2 days ago and have not heard a peep.

2 weeks later I get an aswer:
From: sales [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, May 01, 2006 2:06 PM
To: Robinson, Jason
Subject: Re: beer faucets


We will have new faucets in around the 25th of May. You can pre-order on the attached and we will put you on the list.

Sales

The quoted price for 2 is $69.90
 
:ban: Gang, you won't believe this. Got a call from Vent-matic (now Ultra-Flo), :rockin: Said "Fill out this form, we'll call you back". They sent it, I did, and I got my new faucets today! :tank: SS/Gold were 41.95 and all gold were $57. They seemed to move right fast with it. The quality looks good so we willl see as soon as I hook up.

Murphy
 
Just bought and received the Turbotap chrome tower kit. Quite nice IMHO, but probably a bit overpriced. My kegerator came with a cheap faucet I hated from day one, so I splurged for this one hoping it might reduce some of my foaming problems. FYI, the Turbotap itself just slides onto any standard faucet, and they are sold separately if you don't want the whole kit.

The kit comes with a nice digital thermometer that told me my kegerator wasn't cold enough...guess I have several issues to solve. I'll keep you posted as I gain more experience.

Buy them here:
http://www.micromatic.com/search.aspx?q=turbotap

4688-kegerator.jpg
 
I spoke with a barkeep who installed a couple turbotaps.

He said it did work to reduce head but there were sanitation concerns that caused him extra work and some trouble. a) the thigns need to be cleanedpretty regularly unless veyr high volumes are being poured b) reusing someone's glass (pouring a new beer in the same glass) is contraindicated because of hte risk fo contamination.

Other than that he thinks they are great.
 
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