Flow Control Faucet Woes

[bradthebold]

Has anyone figured out how to make the Perlick flow control faucets work better? Most threads about them, people like them, though there are some with complaints. I have 2 630SS and 2 650SS faucets and am deciding what to get more of. My current complaints with the 650SS:

-More resistance: they pour significantly slower fully open than the 630 at the same psi/line length
-The first couple ounces have a sulfur taste/smell. Just normal beer, no sours or ciders that are more acidic.
-More foam when bottling/filling growlers. Even taking 1+ min to fill a bottle just barely flowing anything produces much more foam than turning a 630 down to 4 psi and filling it in 10-15 seconds. This kind of defeats the purpose of the flow control. Otherwise they pour slow with the same line length and it's hard to get any head.
-They cost 25% more.

I like the idea of them, but am less impressed with the actual use. And with other complaints of using the flow control on high carb beers with normal 11 psi length lines producing too much foam, I doubt they would work well for that without rebalancing line lengths either.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

The sulfur smell has been reported with the Perlicks. Theres a whole thread about it. I haven't noticed any sulfur. I think it has something to do with the way the metal was made at certain factories. There is a small serial number on the bottom of the faucet. You could check that and post it to see if it was a batch that would be an issue.

I have zero complaints with slow or lack of head pours. I run 4 ft lines with sanke kegs and the flow is just right. Fast, powerful without foam issues.,,the faucets aren't your issue with that.....your setup needs adjusting

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

The number is tiny. If its hooked up and I assume it is. Use your cell phone to take a pic and zoom in

 

[bradthebold]

Yeah, it looks like the 650SS are the ones with the sulfur issues because of whatever different stainless they use inside it. I don't have the issue with the 630.

I started out with the 650 and a 15ft bev-seal ultra barrier line and have been cutting it down. I down to 7 feet on the 650 and the 630, which seems weirdly short for 11psi for any material, especially the bev-seal. It's about perfect for the 630, but I'll probably have to cut another couple feet off the 650.

What about the flow control though? Any foam issues when using that for filling growlers, etc? This is my main issue since this is supposed to be the main advantage. If I have to turn the pressure down to fill, then the flow control is a waste.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

When I fill a growler from a warm unused tower I turn the flow control down to clear the warmer lines then go full throttle. Gets me close to full and settles out by the time I get to where I'm going.

If I had a few before filling the growler its full throttle the whole time on a tilt.

If you system is setup correctly you should barely even need the flow control. First beer in the summer if anything.

 

[bradthebold]

Yeah, that was part of my point. If your system is balanced and the faucet is cold, what's the point of the flow control? Just for a couple seconds on the first pull? Otherwise the 630 can do that cheaper with less potential issue.

Have you run a 3-3.5vol beer on the 4ft line with it always partially flow controlled?