Flow Control Faucets

[Antonio Martinez]

I was hoping someone could tell me if flow control faucets would eliminate the need to adjust line length for serving beers on tap at different carb levels. I'm looking at intertap flow control faucets at the moment.

 

[Robert65]

Yes they will, but I have a better suggestion: the flow control ball lock liquid disconnect by Kegland, sold by William's Brewing.

Flow control faucets can exacerbate foaming, by introducing turbulence right at the end of the line, where there suddenly is no more restriction. Putting the flow control at the keg end allows the same control of restriction and eliminates this new problem. I have had trouble with flow control faucets, and am really happy with the QDs. Just use a single line length, a flow control QD, and never worry about "line balancing" again. The disconnects are also way cheaper than faucets, and you can just keep using your existing faucets.

https://www.williamsbrewing.com/-KegLand-Stainless-Flow-Control-Ball-Lock-Threaded-P4747.aspx

 

[Antonio Martinez]

Yes they will, but I have a better suggestion: the flow control ball lock liquid disconnect by Kegland, sold by William's Brewing.

Flow control faucets can exacerbate foaming, by introducing turbulence right at the end of the line, where there suddenly is no more restriction. Putting the flow control at the keg end allows the same control of restriction and eliminates this new problem. I have had trouble with flow control faucets, and am really happy with the QDs. Just use a single line length, a flow control QD, and never worry about "line balancing" again. The disconnects are also way cheaper than faucets, and you can just keep using your existing faucets.

https://www.williamsbrewing.com/-KegLand-Stainless-Flow-Control-Ball-Lock-Threaded-P4747.aspx

Good to know, I'll go with those instead. I don't have faucets yet but am going to be converting my mini fridge soon.

 

[jschein]

Good to know, I'll go with those instead. I don't have faucets yet but am going to be converting my mini fridge soon.

I have these and they work great. My lines are now about 20 inches going to each keg

 

[Antonio Martinez]

Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't just replace all the beer out ball lock disconnects with these.

 

[jschein]

I changed all 4 of mine

 

[pvpeacock]

I have been very disappointed with the flow control faucets. Even using 11 foot long beer lines, I cannot always eliminate foam using the flow control.

Worse yet, my sons (plural) mistakenly thought the flow control was how you turned the beer on and off. Independent of each other, they each drained a 5 gallon keg of beer onto the garage floor when they snuck a glass late at night and didn't push the tap handle back to closed. The beer just drizzled out slowly overnight into the drip tray and onto the floor. I ended up buying a 5 gallon capacity floor tray just in case in ever happens again even though I had a long talk with each boy on how to properly use a beer tap with flow control.

 

[Antonio Martinez]

I have been very disappointed with the flow control faucets. Even using 11 foot long beer lines, I cannot always eliminate foam using the flow control.

Worse yet, my sons (plural) mistakenly thought the flow control was how you turned the beer on and off. Independent of each other, they each drained a 5 gallon keg of beer onto the garage floor when they snuck a glass late at night and didn't push the tap handle back to closed. The beer just drizzled out slowly overnight into the drip tray and onto the floor. I ended up buying a 5 gallon capacity floor tray just in case in ever happens again even though I had a long talk with each boy on how to properly use a beer tap with flow control.

Now that's alcohol abuse lol. Have you considered moving to flow control ball lock disconnects like the posts above suggested? Williams Brewing has them for 29.99 each. Not sure where others are buying them.

 

[pvpeacock]

I have two concerns about them. 1. The reviews raise some concerns about the inability to fully open the flow to the same level as a regular ball lock disconnect and this causing problems. 2. I used to have stainless steel ball lock disconnects which I expected to last a lifetime. However, the small ball bearings in the ring rusted out over time and ruined them. I fear that this could happen to these over time. So, for now, I'll stick with 11 feet of beer line.

Also, my sons are both away at college and now know how to use the flow control faucets when they are home, so I don't think I'll lose any more beer to the floor (containment mat).

 

[Antonio Martinez]

I have two concerns about them. 1. The reviews raise some concerns about the inability to fully open the flow to the same level as a regular ball lock disconnect and this causing problems. 2. I used to have stainless steel ball lock disconnects which I expected to last a lifetime. However, the small ball bearings in the ring rusted out over time and ruined them. I fear that this could happen to these over time. So, for now, I'll stick with 11 feet of beer line.

Also, my sons are both away at college and now know how to use the flow control faucets when they are home, so I don't think I'll lose any more beer to the floor (containment mat).

Rusting is a serious concern. Hopefully someone with long term use of these can chime in on that. I'd rather adjust beer line length than worry about having that issue.

 

[gaburko]

Just chipping in, I have been using 3 flow control faucets in my keezer for 2 years now and have never had a problem. My lines are about 40cm (about a foot)

 

[Jag75]

I thought flow control was for people who are running long distances from their kegs to their taps .

 

[Antonio Martinez]

Just chipping in, I have been using 3 flow control faucets in my keezer for 2 years now and have never had a problem. My lines are about 40cm (about a foot)

To clarify, you're using flow control at the faucet or flow control at the disconnect off the keg?

 

[Antonio Martinez]

I thought flow control was for people who are running long distances from their kegs to their taps .

They may be but they are also used to prevent you from having to change out line lengths when serving beers off the tap at different carbonation levels.

 

[day_trippr]

I've never read any recommendations to use FC faucets for long-line systems here.
imo, the choice of FC vs non-FC is more a user preference than a necessity for any line configuration.
And that's fine...

Cheers!

 

[gaburko]

To clarify, you're using flow control at the faucet or flow control at the disconnect off the keg?

Flow control at the faucet

 

[LittleRiver]

I run four Intertap flow control faucets, and I don't have a problem with foaming. My line lengths are about half of what the calculators say they should be.

If it's warm (i.e. the faucets are warm) sometimes I will turn down the flow control when pulling the first few ounces. That limits foam while giving the faucet a chance to cool down. If I'm filling bottles or a growler from the faucet, turning down the flow helps limit foaming in the container.

No way would I want to have to open up the keezer to adjust flow, as would be required with flow control disconnects at the keg. I want the flow control right there on the faucet.

 

[Brooothru]

Yes they will, but I have a better suggestion: the flow control ball lock liquid disconnect by Kegland, sold by William's Brewing.

Flow control faucets can exacerbate foaming, by introducing turbulence right at the end of the line, where there suddenly is no more restriction. Putting the flow control at the keg end allows the same control of restriction and eliminates this new problem. I have had trouble with flow control faucets, and am really happy with the QDs. Just use a single line length, a flow control QD, and never worry about "line balancing" again. The disconnects are also way cheaper than faucets, and you can just keep using your existing faucets.

https://www.williamsbrewing.com/-KegLand-Stainless-Flow-Control-Ball-Lock-Threaded-P4747.aspx

I've got two of those I bought for my kegerator but never got them to work satisfactorily. At first I theorized that it was the combination of the flow control QD with the flow control Perlick taps, but I still couldn't get them to work even with standard taps. I went to great lengths to make sure the lines were proper length, I.D., vertical height from keg to tap, you name it. No Bueno. The only way to reduce foaming was to reduce CO2 pressure but that results in beer that is less carbonated than I want. At least it's cold, clear and on tap. Things could be worse .

Brooo Brother

 

[rwc_617]

I have one great Kegland flow-control quick connect and one useless quick connect. Cranking up the pressure on a highly carbed beer like a tripel works great with the working one. Visually, I cannot tell the difference between the two, but the useless one won’t seat properly on a beer-out post. Why, I don’t know. I would love three more working versions to fully equip my 4-tap keezer, but the Williams Brewing site shows they won’t receive any more until 9/15/21.