Beer faucets...

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Geneticjim

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2016
Messages
236
Reaction score
26
There are way too many to choose from. I am looking to get rid of my crappy picnic faucet. I do not want to drill into my keezer. I have plenty of space to build a little stand basically out of 2x4s for a few taps inside the keezer. I am looking for good quality. Not too sure where to start.
 
Standard answer is perlick, there are other options too, but they seem to be the most commonly used higher end faucets.
 
Standard answer is perlick, there are other options too, but they seem to be the most commonly used higher end faucets.

Thanks! Is flow control needed? Those forward sealing flow controls are about $60 a piece. Ouch
 
I agree with everything about the intertap. I picked up one last week and will be adding more. And the screw on attachments are great. They also have a flow control model.
 
Whatever brand you get, get a forward seal faucet. Traditional faucets are okay for commercial bars where they will get tons of daily use, but for most homebrewers, they present a lot of problems. Specifically, the sugars in the beer form a glue that can get the faucet stuck. I've literally broken tap handles trying to get faucets unstuck... Until I switched to forward sealing Perlicks, that is.
 
Thanks! Is flow control needed? Those forward sealing flow controls are about $60 a piece. Ouch
Yes Yes and Yes. Get flow control taps. It with be the best thing you can do for kegging. Perfect pour EVERY time. There are endless line balancing threads,my beer is flat and foamy threads and so on and so and so on....You will have none of those issues...trust me they're worth it
 
Love all my perlick faucets. have 4 525ss and 3 630ss. The 630ss are best yet. Had to rebuild a couple of my 525s due to excessive dripping.
 
If comparing intertap directly to perlick which would one choose? I heard about flavors being imparted from the perlicks but i dont recall why.

Since the intertaps are really not much cheaper. Morebeer has the intertap forward sealing stainless steel for $33 and ritebrew has the perlick version for $37. Morebeer also has intertaps flow control model for $48 and ritebrew has perlicks flow control for $48 as well.
 
Personally I went with Perlick faucets because they're tried and true with an established track record. I started with traditional rear sealing faucets, and have loved my Perlicks ever since switching.

For the very small price difference, I couldn't see a good reason to go with Intertap over Perlicks. Although I'm sure Intertap faucets are great.
 
If comparing intertap directly to perlick which would one choose? I heard about flavors being imparted from the perlicks but i dont recall why.

Since the intertaps are really not much cheaper. Morebeer has the intertap forward sealing stainless steel for $33 and ritebrew has the perlick version for $37. Morebeer also has intertaps flow control model for $48 and ritebrew has perlicks flow control for $48 as well.
The Perlicks are the 650ss. Cant help with the Intertap. The Perlick issue is a Sulphur smell that has to do with low Ph beers and ciders effecting the metal. Its fixable with a soak and youll find far more people (including Myself) that have never had any off flavors, I wouldn't worry about it. The Intertap get good reviews and if I was getting another faucet I would probably get one just to try them out.
 
Yes, i know its the 650ss which is where i got my prices from.

So i think the intertaps might actually be better. Found this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_tvk8iCRCw#t=0.903252 which shows how the intertaps use a shuttle design which should be more effective at sealing than the perlicks. As well i read the sulphur issue is because they use 303 stainless as opposed to 304 which the intertaps use 304 eliminating that issue. Finally they have the screw on interchangeable spouts which is just a neat extra imo.

Based on that preliminary search i'd say the intertaps are of superior quality. There isnt that much info on them out there though.
 
Hmmm - I've had both; flow controls from Perlick and flow controls from Intertap. While the Intertap faucets were great for my normal carbed beers (2.5 vols and lower), I simply could not get a decent pour with my highly carbed Tripel and Hefes... I know it wasn't the lines (tried differing lengths to no avail) and changing to a Perlick flow control solved the issue, so I replaced all of my Intertaps with Perlick FCs. Can't promise you it was the tap at fault, but I've yet to have a recurrence.
 
I'm a fan of the CMB V3S. They have given me great pours for almost a year. The creamer function is also a cool feature. The only problem I had was one creamer function didn't seem to work. Kegconnection sent a new piston chamber and it fixed the issue.
 
Those Intertap faucets look like a solid faucet. Kinda wish I would have known about those a couple months back. I went with the CMB V3S faucets and am super happy with them.
 
If you ever intend to pour nitro beers, I would suggest Intertap, simply because of the changeable spouts. You can spend $60-100 for a stout faucet, or buy an Intertap, ($30), plus a stout spout, ($13), (Williams Brewing Intertap prices), and serve stout when you want, and switch to regular beer when you don't.



I can't speak for flow control faucets from any manufacturer, because I've never found the need for them.


Thanks for the link for the faucets @imasickboy, I will be getting 2 flow control faucets, springs, shanks, growler, and stout tips. I'm all set as far as faucets. Now do you have a good hook-ups for kegs?[emoji3]
 
Thanks for the link for the faucets @imasickboy, I will be getting 2 flow control faucets, springs, shanks, growler, and stout tips. I'm all set as far as faucets. Now do you have a good hook-ups for kegs?[emoji3]

Depending on what style youre going with, kegconnection has pinlocks for $34 and they include the disconnects. Thats where i've bought all mine.
 
Depending on what style youre going with, kegconnection has pinlocks for $34 and they include the disconnects. Thats where i've bought all mine.

Big difference in price between ball & pin lock kegs. What's the reason? They seem to basically do the same thing.
 
Big difference in price between ball & pin lock kegs. What's the reason? They seem to basically do the same thing.

I've never understood the price difference either, but they do have differences in size, the pins are a bit shorter and more wide than a ball lock. Which to me is no big deal, pinlock can be less common than ball lock tho. ex: I've not seen any pins on my local craigslist, but lots of ball lock.
 
Thanks for the link for the faucets @imasickboy, I will be getting 2 flow control faucets, springs, shanks, growler, and stout tips. I'm all set as far as faucets. Now do you have a good hook-ups for kegs?[emoji3]

The springs don't work with the flow control.
 
Big difference in price between ball & pin lock kegs. What's the reason? They seem to basically do the same thing.

With my research other than the size the difference would be:
The pin locks do not have a manual relief valve. It has a relief valve that is set open after a certain PSI. Also you can't reverse the out and in lines on a pin lock. Other than the pin/vs ball locks I couldn't find any difference. The ball locks just seem much more popular....
 
Thanks, do the faucets work with standard 4" shanks, or do I need to buy their's?

The springs will work with any shank. When you get it all, you'll think the springs will never fit, but they do. They are just larger than you will expect.
 
The springs will work with any shank. When you get it all, you'll think the springs will never fit, but they do. They are just larger than you will expect.


So is it better to get the flow control faucets, or the regulars with springs? I don't want foaming issues, but the self closing feature is pretty neat.
 
So is it better to get the flow control faucets, or the regulars with springs? I don't want foaming issues, but the self closing feature is pretty neat.
Flow Control, Self closing although cool don't really serve a purpose. Flow control save you aggravation,headaches slow pours and coiled up lines in your kegerator
 
A lot of people say just balance your lines properly (or simply put use a long length like 15+ feet). Well that can be spendy as well and getting FC's can save you money in the long run.

You're supposed to change your lines like what, once a year? If you had 10 taps to swap out at 15 feet each every year that adds up as well. Not to mention the mess it makes in your keezer.

I'd rather just spend the extra $11 per faucet and be done with it and never have to think about it again.
 
Balance your lines properly, and you'll have little need to worry about foaming.

There is also inline flow control. It's a bit spendy, but can be useful for those occasions that you put a highly carbed beer on one of your shorter lines.


So it looks like after reviewing everything. I will be ordering the intertap flow control faucets. The stout and growler attachments were the clincher. The intertap shanks are pricey compared to other SS 4" shanks, about double. Can I use a different brand, or should I just by the intertap shanks. Thanks again for all the advice, it's been a big help.
 
Yeah I actually asked them that question and that's what they told me too. So what would happen if you use an existing shank with this faucet? Where does it self seal??? And what the hell is self sealing. My current ones have that forward sealing.
 
You can use any shanks you like if you're not using the springs... if you're using the springs, apparently you have to use the intertap shanks.


Thanks, I might stay in budget after all.
 
You can use ANY shank with the springs. You can even use ANY non-flow control tap with the springs. I can say with 100% certainty that the springs work with Perlick faucets, and non-Intertap shanks.
 
You can use ANY shank with the springs. You can even use ANY non-flow control tap with the springs. I can say with 100% certainty that the springs work with Perlick faucets, and non-Intertap shanks.

Well, that's good to know... when these taps first came out the communication was that the springs required the Intertap shanks... maybe just a ploy to get folks to buy more KegKing products!
 
Back
Top