Recommend Me Some faucets!

Hello HBT Members! I recently snagged a great deal on craigslist. a Half Full 10# Aluminum C02 tank, regulator, sanke D style coupler, Ajex USA Faucet and 4" shank for a whopping $60! Which I think is a good deal! Now I have one simple question:

What is a Good Model Faucet without breaking the bank? College student here!

Thank you very much
-Don

If by "solid" you mean "not plated brass" you could do a lot worse than to get one of these...

Cheers!

www.ritebrew.com and get a perlick. I have chrome plated, others need/prefer stainless

Moen, Price Pfister, ...

Perlick. I got some brass finish ones and they are flawless in operation.

Changed to good But I do like the look of that perlick! why go with a perlick over other brands?

Other brands will stick horribly. So you pull a beer, then a day or two later the faucet is just stuck shut and you have to pull pretty hard to un-stick it. Yes, the cheap ones still work, but if you're anything like the rest of us, it'll DRIVE YOU CRAZY. And you'll be buying faucets twice.

SpeedYellow said:

Other brands will stick horribly. So you pull a beer, then a day or two later the faucet is just stuck shut and you have to pull pretty hard to un-stick it. Yes, the cheap ones still work, but if you're anything like the rest of us, it'll DRIVE YOU CRAZY. And you'll be buying faucets twice.

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Yep! Perlick all the way! Enough said!

can a Perlick be had for around $20? excluding the shank (which I will need)?

DonH said:

can a Perlick be had for around $20? excluding the shank (which I will need)?

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The cheapest Perlick faucets are chrome, which is much cheaper than stainless steel. So if you're OK with chrome, that'll save you money.

The old model Perlick was the 525. The chrome one is model 525PC. You should be able to find the 525PC for $20. A few examples:
http://www.ritebrew.com/product-p/843162.htm [$19 but currently out of stock, maybe that's it for them since discontinued]
http://www.homebrewing.org/Perlick-Chrome-PlatedStainless-Lever_p_3395.html [$20]

If you wanted to go stainless (525SS) you're looking at $35+ per faucet.

The recently updated model is the 630SS (doesn't appear to come in the cheaperchrome). Don't know much about them but here's a link discussing the differences. Evidently some people had leak problems with 525s that the new design is supposed to address. For what it's worth, I and tons of other people here have used the 525 without issue, so I would absolutely recommend going with it if it's cheaper than the new 630.

I was shopping for stainless faucets and shanks so I'm not sure this holds true for chrome, but RiteBrew had far and away the best shank prices when I was building my kegerator last year. If you're only buying one faucet and one shank it's probably not worth ordering from separate places though.

Good luck and happy building!

The Perlicks are forward sealing faucets and I love mine. I can go a day or two or more and not worry about sticking. In a bar, the Perlicks are a moot point, since they clean the faucets or pull beers constantly. In the home, the more intermittent use makes a forward seal faucet a much better option.

I'm not sure if anyone else makes forward seal faucets anymore, or if any of the Perlicks are better/worse then they used to be.

The slightly higher price over other faucets should not be a concern when you think about the YEARS of trouble-free operation you will get.

I haven't pulled a beer from mine in over a week and never had any issues. I have two "cheap" faucets I had stick years ago and was too green in brewing to know what was going on. I am reserving them for a jockey box someday.

30Bones said:

I haven't pulled a beer from mine in over a week and never had any issues.[...]

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Another datapoint: when the Spousal Unit and I return from our annual two weeks on some Out Island in the Caribbean there's never been a problem with sticky Perls...

Cheers!

Your cheapest solution is going to be a party tap - http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/valve-flex-faucet-head-w-barb.html. It's not fancy but it'll get you by until you can go full-on keezer.

That said, +1 on Perlicks. You'll save money in the long run because eventually you'll end up replacing cheap, back-sealing faucets with Perlicks...and with a little shopping around the initial price difference isn't that much.

^^Indeed. I would rather use a $3 picnic faucet than a back-sealing faucet. So just use picnic taps until you feel you can afford the Perlicks.

thank you for the recommendations guys. I think Im going to pull the trigger on two Perlicks and shank assemblies.

+1 on the brass perlicks. Feel free to buy the stainless if money is no object. Otherwise, be wary of the hype. The forward seals in the perlicks do work well for homebrewers who don't pour as much as pubs (who use the el cheapo taps). The perlicks dont gunk up as easily.

PS-morebeer has shanks on clearance for $9.99 right now:
http://morebeer.com/products/faucet-shank-45-nipple.html

money is an object for me (broke college student currently) Bt I do save up for things like this Im probably going to go witht he chrome ones.

Weezy said:

+1 on the brass perlicks. Feel free to buy the stainless if money is no object. Otherwise, be wary of the hype. The forward seals in the perlicks do work well for homebrewers who don't pour as much as pubs (who use the el cheapo taps). The perlicks dont gunk up as easily.

PS-morebeer has shanks on clearance for $9.99 right now:
http://morebeer.com/products/faucet-shank-45-nipple.html

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Im heading to more beer today! yippee!

You will be very happy with them.

cool now do most of you guys, if any, place a piece of wood on the inside of the refrigerator door? Im thinking I should do so where my faucets will be secured. good idea?

DonH said:

cool now do most of you guys, if any, place a piece of wood on the inside of the refrigerator door? Im thinking I should do so where my faucets will be secured. good idea?

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Yeah I drilled holes in a piece of 3/4" plywood for my faucets and didn't crank down on them like I did when I changed to a keezer collar and solid wood