Intertap beer faucets

[BBBF]

I received the same stout adapter email.

 

[Ztup]

I received the same stout adapter email.

Me three.

 

[meckisland]

I said that they will fit, I have four 425s and the spout fits on two of the 425s. Not sure why they don't fit the other two. I will post a pic tomorrow

 

[okiedog]

Unbelievable! When I started this thread, I had no idea there would be this much to it. Patents, infringement? This patent stuff sure is complicated. It sure is fun reading all these posts and the back and forth though. It may just be simpler going with a cask and wooden spigot. But wait, are those patented also?

 

[day_trippr]

[...]It may just be simpler going with a cask and wooden spigot. But wait, are those patented also?

If they ever were, the patents have certainly expired by now.
You're good to go...

Cheers!

 

[okiedog]

Ha! Thanks, day trippr. I'd love to get a couple of casks, but currently have no place to put them. As for the forward seal taps, I'd like to see a totally new design from perhaps a new player. The versatility offered by Intertap's changeable spout types is very innovative, and I am surprised it hadn't been thought of before. There's got to be a simpler, even better design than the ones out now, ie: Vent-Matic, Perlick and Intertap. For now though, I'll probably be looking at Vent-Matic faucets, because I like "Made in USA". No judgement on anyone else, just my preference.

 

[Dolomieu]

The two new ventmatics I have are garbage. They leak under the bonnet something horrible. the one leaks slow enough that i still use it. the other has been trash since the day I got it.

 

[andrewmalizia]

i googled it. keep in mind im an engineer, not an attorney, this is how i interpreted what I read....

Vent-Matic Company, LLC v. Draught Technologies, LLC
Judgement was found in favor of VentMatic.
https://search.rpxcorp.com/lit/wiwdce-36200-vent-matic-company-v-draught-technologies

So long as Draught Technologies was the name of intertaps manufacturer, here is what I gathered from reading the complaint, which was filed 12/31/14 and settled on wait for it... 1/13/16.

It was licensed to the company, Amerimid, and DT was supposed to pay $30k up front, and $200k over the next 4 years in quarterly installments. Over the first 8 months, they only paid $28k.

The patent was than transferred to VentMatic as well as the trademark for VentMatic.

The claim was the terms of the licensing were violated prior to the transfer, therefore the patents were transferred and the new owner, VentMatic had exclusive licensing rights.


Like I said, I'm not even 100% DT was who was manufacturing the Intertaps. All I know is what I read.

 

[Ztup]

The Intertaps are Australian pretty sure. I think Draught Technologies company has nothing to do with them. Who knows though....

 

[JoshuaW]

i googled it. keep in mind im an engineer, not an attorney, this is how i interpreted what I read....

Vent-Matic Company, LLC v. Draught Technologies, LLC
Judgement was found in favor of VentMatic.
https://search.rpxcorp.com/lit/wiwdce-36200-vent-matic-company-v-draught-technologies

So long as Draught Technologies was the name of intertaps manufacturer, here is what I gathered from reading the complaint, which was filed 12/31/14 and settled on wait for it... 1/13/16.

It was licensed to the company, Amerimid, and DT was supposed to pay $30k up front, and $200k over the next 4 years in quarterly installments. Over the first 8 months, they only paid $28k.

The patent was than transferred to VentMatic as well as the trademark for VentMatic.

The claim was the terms of the licensing were violated prior to the transfer, therefore the patents were transferred and the new owner, VentMatic had exclusive licensing rights.


Like I said, I'm not even 100% DT was who was manufacturing the Intertaps. All I know is what I read.

It doesnt look to be the same company. I recall Vent-Matic having a dispute with a company prior though, so maybe that is what this is about.

 

[user 204491]

The two new ventmatics I have are garbage. They like under the bonnet something horrible. the one leaks slow enough that i still use it. the other has been trash since the day I got it.

If you're having trouble with the VM faucets I'm sure they'll make it right if you let them know. I have 6 myself and couldn't be happier, thinking about replacing the 4 Perlicks on my worm kegerator as well.

I've had lots of emails back and forth with them, and they've always came across as very nice folks that care about the quality of their products.

 

[Dolomieu]

If you're having trouble with the VM faucets I'm sure they'll make it right if you let them know. I have 6 myself and couldn't be happier, thinking about replacing the 4 Perlicks on my worm kegerator as well.

I've had lots of emails back and forth with them, and they've always came across as very nice folks that care about the quality of their products.

I have messaged them and waiting to hear back from them. I want them to work right, believe me.

 

[user 204491]

I have messaged them and waiting to hear back from them. I want them to work right, believe me.

Yeah, sometimes it takes them a minute to get back to you, but they always did manage to answer my questions.

I think that Brulosophy review gave them a bit of unexpected popularity.

 

[day_trippr]

I don't know what "are Australian" means in this context, but considering the remarkably unfavorable exchange position of the Australian dollar versus the remarkably low retail pricing of the Intertap faucets in the US, it's highly unlikely that the Intertap faucets are made anywhere outside of Asia. Perhaps the Australian Connection is a wholesale agent...

Cheers!

 

[Ztup]

For what it's worth, I asked William's Brewing what their plans were as to restocking them, and they said they were trying but were unsure how long it would be.

 

[andrewmalizia]

It doesnt look to be the same company. I recall Vent-Matic having a dispute with a company prior though, so maybe that is what this is about.

Maybe. Like I said, it's just my interpretation. But the timing sure is interesting. 1/13/16. 4 Days later williams has a 20% off sale and sells their whole stock and removes them from the website (instead of saying out of stock).

The shoe looks like it fits to me.

 

[ljbecker]

The two new ventmatics I have are garbage. They leak under the bonnet something horrible. the one leaks slow enough that i still use it. the other has been trash since the day I got it.

It sounds like the bonnet is not tight. I have 5 ventmatics and they are the best that I have. The Perlick 425 might be as good but I only have the perl.

 

[Yesfan]

I got my tap and stout spout in yesterday. I planned on just getting the stout thinking it would mate up to my 425. Glad I got the tap as well.

Like what was mentioned earlier in this thread, the Intertap accessories won't work with the Ventmatics or Perlicks. Look at the difference in the threads of the spouts between the two. Perlick Spout is in the middle.

 

[Dolomieu]

It sounds like the bonnet is not tight. I have 5 ventmatics and they are the best that I have. The Perlick 425 might be as good but I only have the perl.

The tighter I go, the more the seemed to leak, iirc. I need to look at them again though and revisit tightening more. I really just haven't had much time to look at them recently(2yr?).

My 525ss have been more reliable at this point. Though i really like bottling from the vent-matics. I used a 2inch piece of tubing to hook up the growler filler to a piece of ss tubing(10inch). Filling growlers is cake and bottles are easier too.

 

[sabotenfighter]

It doesnt look to be the same company. I recall Vent-Matic having a dispute with a company prior though, so maybe that is what this is about.

Previously they had issues with Perlick, which lead to them coming up with the 525 style faucets. Looking up this company, they have some pictures of draft towers with very similar looking faucets to the intertap ones, so could be them or just someone branding the ones from the same supplier as Intertap.

 

[user 204491]

The tighter I go, the more the seemed to leak, iirc. I need to look at them again though and revisit tightening more. I really just haven't had much time to look at them recently(2yr?).

My 525ss have been more reliable at this point. Though i really like bottling from the vent-matics. I used a 2inch piece of tubing to hook up the growler filler to a piece of ss tubing(10inch). Filling growlers is cake and bottles are easier too.

Sorry, are you saying that you haven't had a chance to look at them in 2 years? If that's the case then it sounds like you might have got some of the old knock off ones from a while back, not actual VM faucets made by the people that actually hold the patents. Those were notorious for leaking, and I don't think there is any resolution. Did you order them from CHI company?

Also, I did the same things with my growler filler - essentially used it to build one of the old "Bowie Bottlers" that were popular for a while. Growler filler > 18" piece of vinyl tubing > 10 inch SS tubing with a stopper. It works great for filling both growlers and bottles, and you don't have to open up your kegerator or fiddle with the pressure at all. I've used it to fill everything from Kombucha (~5 PSI) to soda (30 PSI) with no problems at all.

 

[JoshuaW]

I don't know what "are Australian" means in this context, but considering the remarkably unfavorable exchange position of the Australian dollar versus the remarkably low retail pricing of the Intertap faucets in the US, it's highly unlikely that the Intertap faucets are made anywhere outside of Asia. Perhaps the Australian Connection is a wholesale agent...

Cheers!

While they are definitely made in Asia, they are being made for an Australian company called Keg King. Keg King owns the "Intertap" company.

 

[HLSheppard]

While they are definitely made in Asia, they are being made for an Australian company called Keg King. Keg King owns the "Intertap" company.

Correct. I contacted Keg King re: where they were made. They responded quickly and honestly saying that although they designed them in Australia; they are made in China.

Then again - so is my iphone....

 

[Savagejair]

Unbelievable! When I started this thread, I had no idea there would be this much to it. Patents, infringement? This patent stuff sure is complicated. It sure is fun reading all these posts and the back and forth though. It may just be simpler going with a cask and wooden spigot. But wait, are those patented also?

I agree it has been fun to read the posts here. As I was the one made the observation of the similarities between the taps. (I'm sure it would have been pointed out soon enough) As I was only looking into the vent-matic taps after the great review from the brulosophy website. So I wanted to go with this brand. I too want to support home grown business. Go figure this thread had been quite the read[emoji482]

 

[Dolomieu]

Sorry, are you saying that you haven't had a chance to look at them in 2 years? If that's the case then it sounds like you might have got some of the old knock off ones from a while back, not actual VM faucets made by the people that actually hold the patents. Those were notorious for leaking, and I don't think there is any resolution. Did you order them from CHI company?

Also, I did the same things with my growler filler - essentially used it to build one of the old "Bowie Bottlers" that were popular for a while. Growler filler > 18" piece of vinyl tubing > 10 inch SS tubing with a stopper. It works great for filling both growlers and bottles, and you don't have to open up your kegerator or fiddle with the pressure at all. I've used it to fill everything from Kombucha (~5 PSI) to soda (30 PSI) with no problems at all.

Yes as crazy as it sounds over the last 2.5 years my time home has been limited. Priority went to planning and getting married, building a deck, keeping the house in one piece, build a new keezer in a weekend after my last one died. So basically i have been doing enough to keep the beer from spilling all over the floor for my wife and fiends so that there is beer for them at the ready.

I hope your wrong and I didn't end up with a knock off. I picked them up from Chi Company when they showed back up on the market. I will have to look into that. I'm being forced to take vacation time this week so I guess i will try to figure that out. Was Chi Company selling knock offs?

I had a bowie bottler and still used the growler filler part, thought the "complement" was just too narrow for my liking. I stepped up the diameter of that piece and shortened the tubing so that it all actually hangs from the taps. for the bowie i use a piece of silicon tube to sure up the connect around the faucet and bowie bottler. I don't adjust my PSI at all, i bottle at 12 psi. the nice thing about having the setup hang is that i don't have to mess with a piece of SS tubing with a 18 inch lead. though i had gotten good at managing that, but i wouldn't go back to it. for me at least, it's just easier when doing it by myself. I can leave it hang as i cap.

So growler filler>2-3in tube> lager dia SS tube

with the 525s i slip the silicon tubing half way on the faucet and the push the growler fill in. so it just sits on the outside of the conntection of those two things. It had popped out on my once or twice when i was filling bottles at 5psi. since adding this piece i can bottle at 12psi like i do the the (alleged) vent matic.


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=6020206&postcount=1106

 

[user 204491]

Yes as crazy as it sounds over the last 2.5 years my time home has been limited. Priority went to planning and getting married, building a deck, keeping the house in one piece, build a new keezer in a weekend after my last one died. So basically i have been doing enough to keep the beer from spilling all over the floor for my wife and fiends so that there is beer for them at the ready.

I hope your wrong and I didn't end up with a knock off. I picked them up from Chi Company when they showed back up on the market. I will have to look into that. I'm being forced to take vacation time this week so I guess i will try to figure that out. Was Chi Company selling knock offs?

I had a bowie bottler and still used the growler filler part, thought the "complement" was just too narrow for my liking. I stepped up the diameter of that piece and shortened the tubing so that it all actually hangs from the taps. for the bowie i use a piece of silicon tube to sure up the connect around the faucet and bowie bottler. I don't adjust my PSI at all, i bottle at 12 psi. the nice thing about having the setup hang is that i don't have to mess with a piece of SS tubing with a 18 inch lead. though i had gotten good at managing that, but i wouldn't go back to it. for me at least, it's just easier when doing it by myself. I can leave it hang as i cap.

So growler filler>2-3in tube> lager dia SS tube

with the 525s i slip the silicon tubing half way on the faucet and the push the growler fill in. so it just sits on the outside of the conntection of those two things. It had popped out on my once or twice when i was filling bottles at 5psi. since adding this piece i can bottle at 12psi like i do the the (alleged) vent matic.

Unfortunately, yeah, it seems like you got the knock offs from CHI company. I don't know the whole crazy story (there are bits and pieces of it in different HBT, etc. threads), but basically VM licensed the patents to a 3rd party who manufactured the faucets for a bit and sold them through CHI company. The 3rd party did a terrible job, had them manufactured somewhere in China, and they were not at all the same faucets that VM previously sold. So the patent holders got involved and sued to get the patents back (which they did), CHI stopped selling the faucets, and VM has recently started manufacturing/selling them directly, which are the good VMs that people are buying now. I know at the time that CHI was offering refunds to anyone that wanted one. I'm not sure what they'd do 2 1/2 years after the fact, but they're a pretty reputable company, so it probably couldn't hurt to ask.

You actually make a pretty good point about the short tube on the bottle filler being easy to handle on your own. I actually ran into just that last time I was filling bottles. After I got a couple done and ready to cap I thought to myself, "but what do I do with this thing" and just ended up wedging it in my dip tray to hold it. I might re-work mine with a shorter bit of tubing and see if that helps.

FYI for mine I am using growler filler > 1/4" ID vinyl tubing > 3/8" OD SS tube, and it is a pretty snug/solid fit. The SS tube that I'm using is 12" in length and has a .335" ID.

 

[akthor]

So are these for sale? Thinking of selling my perlicks and getting these. I hate that my perlicks don't have a spring to return them when drunk people have filled their cup and not pushed the tap handle back. Its cost me a lot of beer and a lot of hassle cleaning up lost beer. Once I had the kegerator out on the porch since it was an outside BBQ/bonfire party. I actually lost about 1/2 a sanke keg of beer to the tap was left on. We actually ran out of beer before the party ended because of it.

I love that they can sit for weeks and never stick and always pour but I got too many drunks and people unfamiliar with using a tap.

 

[Dolomieu]

Unfortunately, yeah, it seems like you got the knock offs from CHI company. I don't know the whole crazy story (there are bits and pieces of it in different HBT, etc. threads), but basically VM licensed the patents to a 3rd party who manufactured the faucets for a bit and sold them through CHI company. The 3rd party did a terrible job, had them manufactured somewhere in China, and they were not at all the same faucets that VM previously sold. So the patent holders got involved and sued to get the patents back (which they did), CHI stopped selling the faucets, and VM has recently started manufacturing/selling them directly, which are the good VMs that people are buying now. I know at the time that CHI was offering refunds to anyone that wanted one. I'm not sure what they'd do 2 1/2 years after the fact, but they're a pretty reputable company, so it probably couldn't hurt to ask.

You actually make a pretty good point about the short tube on the bottle filler being easy to handle on your own. I actually ran into just that last time I was filling bottles. After I got a couple done and ready to cap I thought to myself, "but what do I do with this thing" and just ended up wedging it in my dip tray to hold it. I might re-work mine with a shorter bit of tubing and see if that helps.

FYI for mine I am using growler filler > 1/4" ID vinyl tubing > 3/8" OD SS tube, and it is a pretty snug/solid fit. The SS tube that I'm using is 12" in length and has a .335" ID.

Well ****e. I guess I'll contact chi and see what's up. Thanks for filling me in. I figured that I would have gotten an email from them but maybe I just over looked it.

 

[Yesfan]

So are these for sale? Thinking of selling my perlicks and getting these. I hate that my perlicks don't have a spring to return them when drunk people have filled their cup and not pushed the tap handle back. Its cost me a lot of beer and a lot of hassle cleaning up lost beer. Once I had the kegerator out on the porch since it was an outside BBQ/bonfire party. I actually lost about 1/2 a sanke keg of beer to the tap was left on. We actually ran out of beer before the party ended because of it.

I love that they can sit for weeks and never stick and always pour but I got too many drunks and people unfamiliar with using a tap.

Just looked on William's sight, and they are no where to be found. I bet they will no longer be carried. Even if they had them, I don't think you could get the springs for them as they were only available through Keg King (which is in Australia).


IMO, I would keep the Perlicks you have. I love mine.

On another note, if people get so drunk that they can't shut off a GD beer tap, then they don't need to be at my house. Period. That's just being disrespectful.

 

[JonW]

I hate that my perlicks don't have a spring to return them when drunk people have filled their cup and not pushed the tap handle back. Its cost me a lot of beer and a lot of hassle cleaning up lost beer.

On another note, if people get so drunk that they can't shut off a GD beer tap, then they don't need to be at my house. Period. That's just being disrespectful.

I've seen this problem with large tap handles since the Perlicks open and close so easily, the weight of the tap handles sometimes enables this issue. If you crank down the tightness of the little collar on the handle shaft, it does at some additional resistance to the opening/closing.