Faucets/Shanks, does the material matter?

im in the process of gathering the materials for a keezer and, being new to this whole homebrew thing, am not sure what the difference in faucet types, brands or materials are.

if i get a cheepy brass/chrome faucet will it change the taste of the beer or give me lead poisoning*?

perlick vs non-brand?

TIA

John

* CA Proposition 65 Warning: Consuming foods or beverages that have been kept or served in brass faucets can expose you to lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm.

My advice would be to spring for the Perlicks. Not only are they SS, but the forward sealing design is excellent.

You will end up buying the good ones when the cheapies fail so I would just buy the expensive ones now

Perlick 525 are super sweet, and much cheaper than the 425's were. The chrome plated brass ones will lose their plating where the beer comes in contact over time. Hindsight shows you will not regret buying better parts in the first place.

Spring for the Perlicks. They are worth every penny IMO. I love mine.

bendavanza said:

Perlick 525 are super sweet, and much cheaper than the 425's were. The chrome plated brass ones will lose their plating where the beer comes in contact over time. Hindsight shows you will not regret buying better parts in the first place.

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The 425's are more expensive, but the spout twists off.

Might not be a big deal to most but it is super handy for attaching tubing to bottle from the tap.

can't argue that SS & forward sealing are best, but not everyone has that kind of money right now. I've been plenty happy with my random assortment of hand-me-down taps. I have chrome plated, solid brass, and plastic, and they all work just fine. Speaking of which, it's time to go pour one......

love my perlicks. they never fail and are solid.

i agree that you should buy the good stuff the first time through. if you are building a keezer, you either (1) already spent $400 on a freezer and controller; what is another $45 for a good faucet. Or, (2) you got a really good deal on Craig's List and should reward yourself with a great faucet.

I ended up finding a really great deal for some used/referb SS Perlicks on ebay and went with those. once everything comes in i'll start yet another GE FCM 5 keezer thread and chronicle how it goes.