perlick versus cheapo's

[kscaglio]

I am looking to finish my keezer and was planning on buying cheap taps for now at $10 each. Is it really worth the extra for perlicks? Do the cheapo's work fine? Here are the ones I was going to pick up today. Thanks for the help.

http://www.homebrewing.org/Chrome-Beer-Faucet_p_329.html

 

[motobrewer]

yes. it is worth it. so, so worth it.

 

[runningweird]

Perlicks are better made than the cheap taps and I would recommend buying them over the cheap taps. That being said there are thousands of bars that use cheap chrome taps every day to pour lots and lots of beer.

 

[bwomp313]

I bought perlicks myself and I love them. they look nice and they've given me no problems whatsoever. I always hear about the cheap chrome ones getting stuck and gunked up.

 

[JoeyChopps]

I have the cheapos and have also wondered this. Are the perlics less likely to have foam issues?

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I rock the chrome but I've experienced the perlick... the latter is better, hands down, no question.

 

[jafo28]

Perlicks are better made than the cheap taps and I would recommend buying them over the cheap taps. That being said there are thousands of bars that use cheap chrome taps every day to pour lots and lots of beer.

Thats when the cheap ones work best when they're being used everyday. If you let them sit for a while they gunk up. I'm just switching over to the perlicks now.

 

[kscaglio]

Thanks for the input, I'm going with the perlicks. The questions now is which one? I have a lot of money through amazon currently so I will be getting them from there. Anyone have an preference for the 525 vs the 575? Is the creamer function of any use? As always thanks for the input!

 

[runningweird]

Cheapest ones are the 525ss from farmhouse brewing. I use those as I don't see needing a foam option - might be wrong at some point but I like what I have.

 

[Sea]

I love my 525's, but have never used the 575. I've read that they don't make a whole lot of difference though. Personally I'd rather have less head (on my beer) but that's just me.

 

[mcginnis842]

I love my Perlicks. As far as 525 vs 575, the foam feature is interesting but not all that exciting. If you do get the 525s and wish you had that feature you can actually replace just the 525 handle lever with the 575 lever as everything else is the same (I tried it on one of mine for ****s and giggles to see if it would work.) You can get just the handle lever with creamer feature directly from Perlick (part 67030A) for about $14. Not really worth doing at that price, but it is possible to convert from a 525 to 575 after the fact.

 

[two_hearted]

I hate my cheap faucet. It gets gummed up if I don't pull a pint or two everyday. I usually take it apart and soak it in pbw after each keg. Still sucks. I'm about to upgrade.

 

[jaynik]

I have 525s and a 575. My 575 doesn't really do anything when I try to activate the creamer function. I just get a smaller stream of beer coming out. I wouldn't buy it again unless I'm just missing one key but simple element.

 

[dfess1]

I don't have any creamers, but i was pissed when i realized how much better these faucets are. Pissed because I spent far too long messing with the cheapo faucets, because, well, I was being cheap. These are worth their weight in <insert_metal_of_choice>.