Old beer faucet, what's it made of

[Joewalla88]

I can't tell if this faucet is rusted, suffering from some major oxidation, or it was made of copper or brass or something like that. Can anyone tell me? I'm finally gonna get into kegging, and don't know much about some of these things.

View attachment 1503193756323.jpg

View attachment 1503193764454.jpg

View attachment 1503193773395.jpg

 

[day_trippr]

Chromed brass. The chrome always flakes off the interior probably due to the acidic nature of beer.
There's undoubtedly some beer stone buildup in there as well...

 

[brick_haus]

I would replace it if you can come up with twenty bucks or so.

 

[Joewalla88]

Yeah, I was thinking about just buying a new pair so everything matches anyway.

 

[augiedoggy]

Thats what the ones serving much of the draft beer in bars look like BTW...

I spluged for the fancey stainless perlick/intertap style myself..

These have the interchangable tips like the stout tip and growler filler hose tip that are interchangeable with the intertap ones..
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Bee...id=45db01f0-519b-4e73-9c1f-7f1dec736989&tpp=1

$32 shipped...There are others and cheaper sellers as well but without the shank.. like these https://www.aliexpress.com/item/For...id=da952b73-941d-4628-9ba5-dc230a8b75c9&tpp=1

The best part about these is they dont stick, they are spring loaded, They are stainless and they use the same rebuild orings as the perlicks.

I do have the flow control intertaps as well and these work just as well only without the flow control

 

[pshankstar]

I would look into just replacing the faucet. As others have said it's probably brass that was coated in chrome that wore off.

If you are looking into purchasing kegging equipment, look into the prices of ritebrew.com. It was recommended to me from another member on the forum here and it was some of the best advise given to me. Their prices were the best I could find, although I did not look into aliexpress.com. I went with the Intertap Flow Control Stainless Steel faucets and SS Shanks too. Good luck!

 

[Joewalla88]

Thats what the ones serving much of the draft beer in bars look like BTW...

I spluged for the fancey stainless perlick/intertap style myself..

These have the interchangable tips like the stout tip and growler filler hose tip that are interchangeable with the intertap ones..
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Bee...id=45db01f0-519b-4e73-9c1f-7f1dec736989&tpp=1

$32 shipped...There are others and cheaper sellers as well but without the shank.. like these https://www.aliexpress.com/item/For...id=da952b73-941d-4628-9ba5-dc230a8b75c9&tpp=1

The best part about these is they dont stick, they are spring loaded, They are stainless and they use the same rebuild orings as the perlicks.

I do have the flow control intertaps as well and these work just as well only without the flow control

These are the ones I was looking at. They look pretty sweet.

 

[Joewalla88]

I would look into just replacing the faucet. As others have said it's probably brass that was coated in chrome that wore off.

If you are looking into purchasing kegging equipment, look into the prices of ritebrew.com.

Thanks for this. I'll definitely check it out.

 

[augiedoggy]

These are the ones I was looking at. They look pretty sweet.

I ordered 6 different taps off aliexpress including thesecheaper kegking flow control ones

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New...id=941f7e92-63c0-45d8-a857-30254c4167fa&tpp=1 (which I actually got from ebay for like $20 shipped... its stainless and works well but sticks bad after it sits.



I ordered these which where real intertaps in the retail packaging and all but after sharing that on this forum someone caught wind and stopped the seller from selling direct for less than half price at the time without paying royalties to some non related defunct company which used a similiar design they had patented..
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hig...00001060668.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.EyPmlV
These work great BTW.


I have a few of these and they also work great... they are perlick clones of the no longer sold perlick model with the removable tips...
I think these are the best bang for the buck and hope to order more for the brewpub Im opening...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/For...32453833489.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.EyPmlV

Good luck in whatever you get but I would stick with stainless regardless.

 

[Joewalla88]

I actually just went to my LHBS and they had a sweet price on the SS intertap faucets. They were out of shank though. Do the intertaps just take the standard Shank? I found a decent deal on eBay, but wanted to make sure they fit first.

 

[Justintoxicated]

get yourself some nice 630 perls in SS and you will have the some great taps that will last forever. perls > intertaps to me. see my pictures in the intertap thread though, you can certainly save some money on intertaps if they are good enough for you.

 

[Joewalla88]

I actually went with the intertaps, because that's what my lhbs carries, and they were at a good price. I like to support them when I can, so since they had a really good price I decided to go with those. They were out of the shanks though, ans she said it take a while to get some in. So I'm trying to figure out what shank I need to fit these. Do they use the standard size?

 

[augiedoggy]

I have both perlick and intertaps... both are made in china and are of comparable quality. Actually the clones are almost indistinguishable from the brand name taps which makes me wonder if they are from the same manufacturer.. The perlick clones with the removable tips are my favorite. since they are the best of both taps. a lot like the perlick 425ss models which I believe are now defunct because of patent issues.

in short you cant go wrong with either really.. and yeah the standard shanks work fine... you can buy springs for them too but then the shank might matter.

 

[Justintoxicated]

I actually just went to my LHBS and they had a sweet price on the SS intertap faucets. They were out of shank though. Do the intertaps just take the standard Shank? I found a decent deal on eBay, but wanted to make sure they fit first.

I'm not seeing anything on ebay or ali express that would make me order from there instead of williams brewing or rite-brew (for intertaps). Plus if I had issues with them I would always wonder if they were knockoffs or the real thing was the problem.

Those original perlick clones looked pretty cool above. But I wonder if the internal parts are the same (like wil you be able to find replacement o-rings easily?) I always love when people have those origionals.

 

[Joewalla88]

I actually ordered shanks on eBay from a seller I've bought stuff from before. They had a good price and fast free shipping. I was hoping to get it put together this weekend, so fast shipping is good.

 

[augiedoggy]

I'm not seeing anything on ebay or ali express that would make me order from there instead of williams brewing or rite-brew (for intertaps). Plus if I had issues with them I would always wonder if they were knockoffs or the real thing was the problem.

Those original perlick clones looked pretty cool above. But I wonder if the internal parts are the same (like wil you be able to find replacement o-rings easily?) I always love when people have those origionals.

I dont want this to turn into an arguement over something so silly and Its your perogative to choose where you want to buy and how much you want to spend but it doesnt change the fact that its still a chinese item regardless of whome you purchase it from and how much extra you pay.. For me something as simple as a beer faucet shouldnt need an extensive support network and all the fees that would go along with it that a customer has to pay for. if its bad I would exchange or return it right away from any seller I buy from.

Whe it come to the perlick clones, If you read my post you would have seen that they are identical... I said so above and shared that I have both to compare.
Also in the intertap thread I shared photos side by side of real perlicks and these.. even swapped guts to show they are 100% compatible ... except the perlicks I have arent stainless and cost me more $ used than these did complete and new..

The intertaps I bought were stainless flow control models and I got them for $32 each shipped (now $35)... at that time williams wanted over $60 each shipped for the same thing in the same packaging... paying over double the price for nothing makes no sense to me...
Intertap is branded and distributed by kegking.
all keging products are from china and are available on aliexpress from other vendors for much liess like my $35 kegking branded beergun which was a clone of the older blichmann... From what I have seen over time in many cases kegking just sees something already for sale from china or elsewhere and approaches a manufacturer to make them or clones for them to brand and sell. just like they did with the robobrew which was on aliexpress (and ebay) before places like Williams started carrying them at a higher price.

In this case every tap sold through intertap distributors in the US is subject to a patent fee that goes to venti matic for a similiar design they own. that why the cost is much higher through them.

BTW you should know all this since you were like the only person in the 100 page long intertap thread that remember posting that the build quality was bad and the intertaps didnt work well for you if I remember right..

 

[augiedoggy]

I actually ordered shanks on eBay from a seller I've bought stuff from before. They had a good price and fast free shipping. I was hoping to get it put together this weekend, so fast shipping is good.

I bought my first 3 tap stainless tower with spring loaded taps and the tools to assemble new for $100 from ebay... I still use it now minus the basic taps they came with only because they stuck so bad as the basic style often does if you dont use them often.
At the time I could have gotten the same chinese setup from kegworks retail store 10 minutes from me but it would cost me about $200 instead...
Anyway the seller sent his card and note explaining to let him know if I have any issues and he (or she) would take care of me and to let them know if I had any questions setting it up... checking the sellers feedback gives a good indication of the type of transaction it will be..

 

[Justintoxicated]

I actually ordered shanks on eBay from a seller I've bought stuff from before. They had a good price and fast free shipping. I was hoping to get it put together this weekend, so fast shipping is good.

Congrats! Shipping is important!

I dont want this to turn into an arguement over something so silly and Its your perogative to choose where you want to buy and how much you want to spend but it doesnt change the fact that its still a chinese item regardless of whome you purchase it from and how much extra you pay.. For me something as simple as a beer faucet shouldnt need an extensive support network and all the fees that would go along with it that a customer has to pay for. if its bad I would exchange or return it right away from any seller I buy from.

Whe it come to the perlick clones, If you read my post you would have seen that they are identical... I said so above and shared that I have both to compare.
Also in the intertap thread I shared photos side by side of real perlicks and these.. even swapped guts to show they are 100% compatible ... except the perlicks I have arent stainless and cost me more $ used than these did complete and new..

The intertaps I bought were stainless flow control models and I got them for $32 each shipped (now $35)... at that time williams wanted over $60 each shipped for the same thing in the same packaging... paying over double the price for nothing makes no sense to me...
Intertap is branded and distributed by kegking.
all keging products are from china and are available on aliexpress from other vendors for much liess like my $35 kegking branded beergun which was a clone of the older blichmann... From what I have seen over time in many cases kegking just sees something already for sale from china or elsewhere and approaches a manufacturer to make them or clones for them to brand and sell. just like they did with the robobrew which was on aliexpress (and ebay) before places like Williams started carrying them at a higher price.

In this case every tap sold through intertap distributors in the US is subject to a patent fee that goes to venti matic for a similiar design they own. that why the cost is much higher through them.

BTW you should know all this since you were like the only person in the 100 page long intertap thread that remember posting that the build quality was bad and the intertaps didnt work well for you if I remember right..

Well my prerogative is not to push intertaps or perlicks but to make an informed decision. The intertaps ordered from china (aliexpress) are $25 (and they can no longer be shipped to the states), they are $27 from ritebrew. I imagine it would be MUCH easier to return something to ritebrew than to send it all the way back to china because I have delt with this sort of thing before (it's often cheaper to throw things away than return them). Plus shipping from china can take months instead of days. That's why I was suggesting ordering from a local place over aliexpress.

Intertaps have a cool design, but the quality IMO is not as good as the perlicks. The insides are not as smooth (you can see the casting), they are kinda bulky and appear to be chrome plated stainless instead of polished stainless (even if you order stainless). The spouts and tap do not match because of this though. The insides are not as smooth as the perls, and the splines appear to be cast (like the older perlicks) rather than milled (perlick went away from this due to complaints), they could rotate and round out on my shanks without allot of pressure. Threads are a bit smoother on the perlicks too. I had no metal flakes in my Perlicks when I disasembled them, but I did with the intertaps. Like you said, you can see my post in the intertap thread for pictures on the quality. I'm not biased one way or the other, but I did return those flow control intertaps for perlick 650ss.

Intertaps do have changeable nozzles, and the floating rocket design allows them to have loser tolerances and still seal perfect (I like this design). Their flow controls do not have a sulfur issue like the 650ss , and you can get them with self closing springs instead of flow controls. I just ordered some non flow control versions for my jocky box due to the self closing design (which is good for this). But yes the machining is significantly better on the perlicks IMO. The growler filler for the perlick flow controls is better too because the tubing is narrower.

 

[augiedoggy]

Fair enough.. we are kind of comparing apples to oranges here as well since there was over a $25 difference in each flow control tap when I bought mine. The intertaps have dropped considerably in price. And I was really recommending what would be close to the perlick 525ss which cannot be sold in the US under the perlick name due to copyright infringment anymore (apparently) they also have the benefit of the interchangable tips but the simplicity and replacement parts from the perlicks with the ball and oring design, They do come spring loaded as well with stainless shank and a plastic handle ALL for as little as $24 shipped.

I just ordered 9 more of these taps with shanks and a few extra tips like the growler , stout and ball lock tip for $279 shipped... all stainless and the while the inside of the tap isnt completely smooth it doesnt appear to effect the function of mine so I dont overthink it.

 

[Justintoxicated]

Fair enough.. we are kind of comparing apples to oranges here as well since there was over a $25 difference in each flow control tap when I bought mine. The intertaps have dropped considerably in price. And I was really recommending what would be close to the perlick 525ss which cannot be sold in the US under the perlick name due to copyright infringment anymore (apparently) they also have the benefit of the interchangable tips but the simplicity and replacement parts from the perlicks with the ball and oring design, They do come spring loaded as well with stainless shank and a plastic handle ALL for as little as $24 shipped.

I just ordered 9 more of these taps with shanks and a few extra tips like the growler , stout and ball lock tip for $279 shipped... all stainless and the while the inside of the tap isnt completely smooth it doesnt appear to effect the function of mine so I dont overthink it.

I think those are closer to the 400 series perlicks (with the interchangeable tips. if I don't like my intertaps I picked up for my jocky box I think I will try those! How long is it taking for the shipment from that seller?

 

[Weezy]

10-20% lead would be my guess.

 

[augiedoggy]

I think those are closer to the 400 series perlicks (with the interchangeable tips. if I don't like my intertaps I picked up for my jocky box I think I will try those! How long is it taking for the shipment from that seller?

15-20 days according the the site.. past orders from different sellers took about the same. I see the price from the seller I ordered from yesterday almost doubled to $43... perhaps I bought all his stock? others sellers still have them for under $30.

 

[augiedoggy]

10-20% lead would be my guess.

Well thats a totally unfounded statement...
especially since most taps and home brewing equipment comes from china... Theres never been any metallurgy issues with any of that

I guess the intertaps are made of lead too because some of them are even cheaper and also made in china?

Is it because your from Pittsburgh?

 

[Weezy]

I was talking about old brass faucets alluded to in the op... long before we were importing from China. Old brass was commonly 10-20% lead.

Relax bub. Nothing warrants personal attacks around here.

 

[augiedoggy]

I was talking about old brass faucets alluded to in the op... long before we were importing from China. Old brass was commonly 10-20% lead.

Relax bub. Nothing warrants personal attacks around here.

Ah, My apologies I misunderstood and thought you were making a derogatory assumption. It honestly wasnt very clear what you were talking about so I incorrectly assumed it was the current topic of the newer faucets.
It also wasnt meant as a personal attack just making a point and trying to understand the reason for what I thought you were implying.
I work down in PA from time to time and when a steel related comes up in the Pittsburgh area, It often can be like talking to a retired GM employee about foreign cars..Very negative set opinions more often than not. Such things are kind of expected honestly but there is a lot of sour grapes from folks who worked in the industry... I used to also see it by my in Lackawanna when I had some accounts there where Bethlehem steel used to be.. Very depressed area since the industry went overseas.

 

[Joewalla88]

Alright a new issue with my new faucet. The beer that I put on this was finally ready, so I went to fill a growler, and this circular piece that's supposed to hold the faucet on the shank popped off. I was pretty quick to pull the ball lock off, so I don't think I lost too much beer, but I can't get this to stay put. The faucet just keeps popping off now. Any ideas of what to do?

View attachment 1505606821558.jpg

View attachment 1505606832041.jpg

 

[day_trippr]

Yeesh. Never saw that happen before. That snap-ring must've been deformed just right for the coupler retainer (4, below) to slip past it.

If you remove the snap ring you should be able to slip the coupler parts on the shank, run them down past the snap-ring groove, and re-install the snap-ring. But before putting the snap-ring back in place you should check to see if it's distorted and try to get it round again.

Just in case, here's a simple diagram showing the order and orientation of the shank/coupler parts...

Cheers!

 

[Joewalla88]

Part 4 (according to your diagram) looks like it's been kinda worn. I bought the shank new, but it doesn't look like it's brand new on the inside. Not that it looks f'd up, but there's some weird "rubbing" type markings on it.

 

[day_trippr]

I wouldn't be surprised if the retainer ring has marks on the inside from being pulled over the snap-ring, and on the outside from the coupler rubbing on it. As long as it's still round it should be fine...

Cheers!

 

[Joewalla88]

Well, that was easy enough. The clip looked okay, but after taking it off, I was able to fit it to the retainer, and it worked. I've been bottling for 4 years and finally decided to pull the trigger on kegging. I didn't realize how much of a learning experience this would be. I lost a little beer as this came shooting out at me this after the faucet came off. I also lost a whole bunch of beer last weekend when the dry hops and fruit clogged the dip tube on the keg. I would be less frustrated if this didn't turn out to be one of my favorite beers I've made in the 4 years I've been brewing. Oh well, I guess it's all part of the fun. Learnings half the battle right?