Nukatap flow controllers: function and pricing

[jakeauc]

Hey all, debating these vs the normal Nukatap, I like the idea of being able to highly carbonate certain beers and then throttling down the flow. Are these worth it compared to the normal faucets? Also, I am looking to purchase 6, any vendors doing a deal when buying large amounts or will more beer be the best pricing I can find?
Thanks!

 

[micraftbeer]

On my keezer, I don't have flow control faucets. At times, I've thought it would be nice to have them as I've had to mess around with CO2 pressure and length of lines. I've done a lot of work with keeping the lines cold and having good air circulation inside my keezer, and I've got temperature measurement that says those are successful. But I still juggle sometimes between speed of pour and foaming.

As for flow control, I have used the Nukatap flow control faucet that's coupled with a ball lock fitting. I was skeptical this would work, but it actually worked really well. Below is a picture from my trial where I poured a beer from my keezer. I adjusted the flow control lever to get to a 12-second fill time for my glass of beer, which was the time it took for my normal keezer setup to fill the glass.

You can see more foam on the flow control faucet, which I figure is due to just the flow restrictor in the tap that the beer has to flow through. But it's not bad.

 

[Broken Crow]

Flow-control faucets came into being as a solution to the 'too short line length' problem that came about with servers expanding what they serve to include brews with higher carbonation levels than were anticipated when their systems were first assembled.
You mention purchasing 6 of them..if 6 and no more is the number of taps you need; Are they all lacking the correct length and diameter beer line? Do you have and use secondary regulators to maintain the carb level appropriate to each beer? Would simply switching to the 3mm ID EVAbarrier or longer line be a more practical solution?
When I outfitted my first kegerator, I had as a precaution, used 10' of Bevlex 200 and bought a Nukatap FC... and it is a really nice looking tap....I have yet to use or need it. My current kegerator has long enough lines to handle the highest carbonation I have any taste for, but the Nukatap FC is in my cupboard 'just in case'. The only plan I have now for someday having something more highly carbonated is to switch my 4mm ID lines for the 3mm ones.
One or two FC faucets on a keezer strikes me as practical, but a full set rather than a properly balanced and prepared system just seems wasteful.
Not denigrating at all; just looking for clarification and trying to save you some cash that could be more effectively spent before the beer reaches the tap.

 

[pvpeacock]

I had two Intertap flow control faucets and I got rid of both. In my experience, they did not do anything worthwhile. To the extent I needed any flow control, I found that the Kegland flow control ball lock quick disconnects worked better. In addition, I prefer to have self-closing springs on my taps which you cannot use with flow control faucets.

 

[jakeauc]

On my keezer, I don't have flow control faucets. At times, I've thought it would be nice to have them as I've had to mess around with CO2 pressure and length of lines. I've done a lot of work with keeping the lines cold and having good air circulation inside my keezer, and I've got temperature measurement that says those are successful. But I still juggle sometimes between speed of pour and foaming.

As for flow control, I have used the Nukatap flow control faucet that's coupled with a ball lock fitting. I was skeptical this would work, but it actually worked really well. Below is a picture from my trial where I poured a beer from my keezer. I adjusted the flow control lever to get to a 12-second fill time for my glass of beer, which was the time it took for my normal keezer setup to fill the glass.

You can see more foam on the flow control faucet, which I figure is due to just the flow restrictor in the tap that the beer has to flow through. But it's not bad.
View attachment 828267

Thanks for the detailed reply! I ended up purchasing and am happy with them!

 

[jakeauc]

Flow-control faucets came into being as a solution to the 'too short line length' problem that came about with servers expanding what they serve to include brews with higher carbonation levels than were anticipated when their systems were first assembled.
You mention purchasing 6 of them..if 6 and no more is the number of taps you need; Are they all lacking the correct length and diameter beer line? Do you have and use secondary regulators to maintain the carb level appropriate to each beer? Would simply switching to the 3mm ID EVAbarrier or longer line be a more practical solution?
When I outfitted my first kegerator, I had as a precaution, used 10' of Bevlex 200 and bought a Nukatap FC... and it is a really nice looking tap....I have yet to use or need it. My current kegerator has long enough lines to handle the highest carbonation I have any taste for, but the Nukatap FC is in my cupboard 'just in case'. The only plan I have now for someday having something more highly carbonated is to switch my 4mm ID lines for the 3mm ones.
One or two FC faucets on a keezer strikes me as practical, but a full set rather than a properly balanced and prepared system just seems wasteful.
Not denigrating at all; just looking for clarification and trying to save you some cash that could be more effectively spent before the beer reaches the tap.

I ended up purchasing them. Already had 6 12’ lines right now, with 4 secondary regulators, going to purchase 2 more to have each keg individually pressured. I brew various styles, ciders, setzlers and wanted to have the ability to fine tune carbonation. I am happy with them so far, but have not done too much tinkering! At 20 bucks more vs the regular faucet, I figured why not! Plus, couldn’t go with two fc and four regular, the wife likes everything to match. Cheers!

 

[jakeauc]

I had two Intertap flow control faucets and I got rid of both. In my experience, they did not do anything worthwhile. To the extent I needed any flow control, I found that the Kegland flow control ball lock quick disconnects worked better. In addition, I prefer to have self-closing springs on my taps which you cannot use with flow control faucets.

Thanks for the input. The nukatap FC faucet does in fact take a self closing spring, which works well!