Intertap beer faucets

[Turb]

I contacted Keg King directly to see if there was any way around not having a US distributor and this is the response I recieved...

Hi Douglas,
We currently can't sell the Intertaps in the US due to a patent dispute. We currently sell the Intertap taps in Australia and they are also being sold from Keg King Shanghai Distribution center. Neither of these locations are governed by any active patents on forward sealing taps that Bradford G. Amidzich owns.

We did contact Brad last week regarding this and also have him specific information showing several forward sealing models that have been sold in Australia dating back as far as the 1940s. These other forward sealing models that have been sold in Australia clearly show that Brad's Ventmatic taps were not the first forward sealing designs and also we have reason to believe that his patents in America can be invalidated based on this information. If a thorough enough prior arts search been carried out it would have revealed these common forward sealing models in Australia and the patent would not have been granted in the first place. With that said he still does have an active patent granted by the USPTO so it will take at least several months if not more than a year to get these patents invalidated if we do go down this path.

We have also voice another option to not invalidate the patent and simply pay a royalty in America however we have not heard back from Brad regarding this so we can only assume that he is not going to entertain this as an option.

If we do not hear from Brad in a reasonable amount of time we will commence legal action to have his patents invalidated.
Cheers,


Aran Burns
Customer Service Manager
Keg King – Keg Dispense Specialists

Looks like we are out of luck for now

 

[PeteNMA]

Good luck getting an inter partes review completed in a hurry.

 

[dammBrewer]

I contacted Keg King directly to see if there was any way around not having a US distributor and this is the response I recieved...

Hi Douglas,
We currently can't sell the Intertaps in the US due to a patent dispute. We currently sell the Intertap taps in Australia and they are also being sold from Keg King Shanghai Distribution center. Neither of these locations are governed by any active patents on forward sealing taps that Bradford G. Amidzich owns.

We did contact Brad last week regarding this and also have him specific information showing several forward sealing models that have been sold in Australia dating back as far as the 1940s. These other forward sealing models that have been sold in Australia clearly show that Brad's Ventmatic taps were not the first forward sealing designs and also we have reason to believe that his patents in America can be invalidated based on this information. If a thorough enough prior arts search been carried out it would have revealed these common forward sealing models in Australia and the patent would not have been granted in the first place. With that said he still does have an active patent granted by the USPTO so it will take at least several months if not more than a year to get these patents invalidated if we do go down this path.

We have also voice another option to not invalidate the patent and simply pay a royalty in America however we have not heard back from Brad regarding this so we can only assume that he is not going to entertain this as an option.

If we do not hear from Brad in a reasonable amount of time we will commence legal action to have his patents invalidated.
Cheers,


Aran Burns
Customer Service Manager
Keg King – Keg Dispense Specialists

Looks like we are out of luck for now

Well, that certainly explains the email I got back from Williams Brewing today. Yes, they responded. *Not in as fast of fashion as I would have expected, but they did respond. I will still consider them should I need an item. Looks like I am going with Perlick 650SS FC's instead.

That said, Here is the response they sent:

We are currently out of stock on all Intertap items and do not have an in stock date. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Janis Mullins
William's Brewing
2088 Burroughs Avenue
San Leandro CA 94577
U.S.A.

510-895-2739 extension 100
[email protected]

 

[user 204491]

I think you could adapt any tap/shank combination you just need to measure the clearance you have between the shank and the back of the valve and find an appropriate spring to fit it. Good luck

Would you mind posting a quick how-to on this? I'm interested, but failing to see how it all goes together and works from your description.

 

[okiedog]

With all the uncertainties about Intertap faucets, I think I'd like to wait on the sidelines and see what happens when it's all hashed out.

 

[PeteNMA]

The intertaps are made in China where they don't care about IP.

 

[passedpawn]

The intertaps are made in China where they don't care about IP.

I doubt the patent laws care where something is fabricated, only where it's sold.

 

[PeteNMA]

Which is why they are selling fine in Australia but not in the US. It is very hard to enforce patents internationally, even between countries who have recognition agreements, so international patent or not the Chinese will crank it out for you if you can provide a couple of model items and a down payment for materials

 

[passedpawn]

Which is why they are selling fine in Australia but not in the US. It is very hard to enforce patents internationally, even between countries who have recognition agreements, so international patent or not the Chinese will crank it out for you if you can provide a couple of model items and a down payment for materials

Sounds like good old 100% US capitalism to me, and I'm 100% for it. Innovate or become extinct. That's another good American ideal.

 

[masonsjax]

I gotta say, I wanted Ventmatics when I built my first keezer. At the time they had recently become unavailable. I went with Perlick 425ss and have been very happy with them. I'm really glad I was able to get them before the lawsuit pulled them from the market. I hear the original Ventmatics are a little nicer regarding fit and finish, but these have given me no problems and are built solid enough to last several lifetimes.

Voilà

 

[Turb]

Would you mind posting a quick how-to on this? I'm interested, but failing to see how it all goes together and works from your description.

You can see it in the Intertap video starting at the 9:30 mark...



The spring is sandwiched between the tap and shank like this...

The only difference will be with a standard shank you won't have as much clearance as their special shanks and so you need a shorter spring, the length is what you need to measure for.
Take a measurement of the space inside the shank to the front...

Now measure the space between the back of the valve shuttle and the back of the tap...

Add the two measurements together and you've found the length of spring you need. You don't have to worry about the overlap, you want a little compression on the spring even with the valve closed.

Hope that helps

 

[day_trippr]

[...]

Add the two measurements together and you've found the length of spring you need. You don't have to worry about the overlap, you want a little compression on the spring even with the valve closed.

Looking at the shank end of the shuttle it sure doesn't look like there'd be enough space to fit a spring between it and a conventional shank.

Looks similar to the interference the 425 Perl had with many standard shanks: the shuttle didn't have enough room to fully open the faucet...

Cheers!

[edit] Just realized the faucet in that pic is one of the Ventmatics, not the Intertap...

 

[user 204491]

Looking at the shank end of the shuttle it sure doesn't look like there'd be enough space to fit a spring between it and a conventional shank.

Looks similar to the interference the 425 Perl had with many standard shanks: the shuttle didn't have enough room to fully open the faucet...

Cheers!

[edit] Just realized the faucet in that pic is one of the Ventmatics, not the Intertap...

Yeah, I have the Ventmatics, not the Intertaps, and I was thinking it doesn't really look like there'd be room to stuff a spring between the shuttle and a conventional shank.

@Turb - have you tried this mod with the Ventmatics? If so, what spring did you use?

 

[cfrazier77]

Since there is a lot of referring to the Vent-Matic story and few know it, can someone link to it or post it? I would like to know what happened.

 

[cfrazier77]

2012.
The rights for production get sold to a company on the east coast. They are supplied with incorrect blueprints. It takes time to "fix" the problem. But... guess what? The contract states that payments must be made w/in X amount of time. Since the product is defective, sales are an issue, thus payments can't be made, thus the mfg. rights are voided as per the contract with all previous/initial payments withheld to the tune of $200K+!!!! Then waa-laa.... he sues for breach of contract to make MORE money.
This is THE PATTERN of that person with many patents in several industries.

If this is true I wish he could face criminal charges and enjoy the rest of his years in a jail cell. I can't stand people who fleece others.

 

[PeteNMA]

Just goes to show you should read a contract before you sign it

 

[okiedog]

Incorrect blueprints? He did that on purpose! That guy sounds like a real scum bag!

 

[PeteNMA]

Bear in mind that that is entirely speculation...

 

[ClunkClunk]

Sounds a lot like the M.O. of patent trolls in the tech industry.

 

[Ben58]

Coming soon to a Canadian vendor...







www.OntarioBeerKegs.com


January 27 at 7:28pm · Mitchell ·
.

Landed a very interesting product earlier this week. Will be available around early April. This product is extremely popular in Australia. It would be in the states but some legal issues. They will likely eventually get there though for good. As talked about on HBT, the features and add ons for this product are really cool. Your likely going to want one for your kegerator. Details to come soon.

 

[day_trippr]

I love this thread...

Cheers!

 

[okiedog]

Ben, it seems that legal issues are becoming more prevalent in home brew products. I guess that must be because it is such a growing market.

 

[cboatdts]

It looks like these guys will ship to the USA.

http://www.ibrew.com.au/products/intertap-stainless-steel-model-8022

shipping for one is $14, two or three is $28 and the stainless faucet is $44.95.

But it looks like those will all be Australian dollars, with the current exchange rate at 1AUD = .7USD . So three faucets shipped would be $115. Has anyone ordered from them??

cboatdts

 

[JoshuaW]

It looks like these guys will ship to the USA.

http://www.ibrew.com.au/products/intertap-stainless-steel-model-8022

shipping for one is $14, two or three is $28 and the stainless faucet is $44.95.

But it looks like those will all be Australian dollars, with the current exchange rate at 1AUD = .7USD . So three faucets shipped would be $115. Has anyone ordered from them??

cboatdts

Hell of a first post! If you are ever in Northern Indiana, I owe you a beer!

I just ordered eight flow control, plus two stout nozzles and two growler fillers. The full order worked out to be about $480/USD with shipping. (thanks strong dollar!) Totally worth it, these have superior features, and I got the two stout nozzles and two growler fillers for basically the same price as Perlick 650SS.

I will update everyone as my order ships and of course when I receive them.

Edit: It has posted to my Amex card, $472 for the grand total with shipping. Shipping was $69AUD (about $50) for Airmail with Tracking.

 

[Ztup]

I found an Australian eBay seller last week to get Stout Nozzles. I ordered 6. Shipping was $25 AUD. With shipping because of the strong USD, it was actually cheaper than Williams Brewing when they had them, but I won't have them for a couple more weeks.

 

[JoshuaW]

I found an Australian eBay seller last week to get Stout Nozzles. I ordered 6. Shipping was $25 AUD. With shipping because of the strong USD, it was actually cheaper than Williams Brewing when they had them, but I won't have them for a couple more weeks.

I didnt even think of something like that. I really only needed one, but I figured I would order a second in the event I changed my mind later on. Im hoping that things will be straightened out in a few months though, so we can just order them from US merchants.

 

[JoshuaW]

iBrew only has three Flow Control models in stock, and wont be getting anymore for six weeks or so. I told them to cancel my order, since I need eight

I cant find another seller that ships to the US and has the FC model in stock. I went ahead and emailed a few that had it in stock to see if they would ship to me, so hopefully someone comes through.

 

[Yesfan]

iBrew only has three Flow Control models in stock, and wont be getting anymore for six weeks or so. I told them to cancel my order, since I need eight

I cant find another seller that ships to the US and has the FC model in stock. I went ahead and emailed a few that had it in stock to see if they would ship to me, so hopefully someone comes through.

You should have gotten the three while you could. What if someone else doesn't have the 8 you need, but only has 4-5 and their next shipment is also 6 weeks out?

I've got 5 Perlick 425s, but sometimes I wished I had bought one or two more if I wanted to add more taps and/or save for parts should support for those faucets are discontinued for whatever reason.

 

[JoshuaW]

You should have gotten the three while you could. What if someone else doesn't have the 8 you need, but only has 4-5 and their next shipment is also 6 weeks out?

I've got 5 Perlick 425s, but sometimes I wished I had bought one or two more if I wanted to add more taps and/or save for parts should support for those faucets are discontinued for whatever reason.

I considered that. I have a strong lead that can get eight for me, and will ship them out, so I'm hoping that plays out. If it pans out, I will ask if they are interested in helping some other fellow brewers out. In the meantime, I told iBrew to let me know when they get more in, if I haven't gotten them I can still order them, and if I have, I can possibly order more.

 

[dothedrew730]

I did have an issue where the shank didn't quite seal up with one of the faucets. Took me awhile to figure out where the extra couple of drips a day in the drip tray were coming from. Assuming this is just user error since the other Intertap I have hooked up does not seem to have this problem. I did notice these faucets do not seem to tighten as snug against the shank as my 525ss did.