Types of taps!

[Cazamodo]

Ok, so my kegs, C02, regulator, and all the bits and pieces should be here soon, along with my chest freezer.

I did plan to make a tower on top, so the taps where on top, and make a nice lid for the freezer.
Thing is, getting the faucets in the UK is crazy, after trawling the internet, they are much more expensive than I thought...

What other tap types can I use? Ive seen these...
Ok I cant find them now, but they where long, and tall, and curved at the top with the tap on the end, they had what looked like some small tubing out of the fitting at the base. Are these fine to connect to the beer line coming from my keg?
Or will I need anything extra for different types of taps?

 

[Coldies]

Are you talking about picknick taps?

 

[Cazamodo]

Not sure, I meant the stainless taps that people use on their kegorators.

 

[Cazamodo]

Could I use taps such as....

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/e11030.m43.l1123/7?euid=965d3f205e7749f4ad59e04a42feada3&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.co.uk%2Fws%2FeBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D260833164736%26ssPageName%3DADME%3AB%3AEF%3AGB%3A1123

 

[Golddiggie]

Items no longer listed...

There are Perlick faucets listed on Amazon. Not sure about shipping those to where you are, but you might want to look into it.

 

[Cazamodo]

Think I fixed the link ha!

And ive seen them on amazon, they dont ship here. The ones ive seen here, for a chrome tap plus the shank are around £45-50

 

[Golddiggie]

Looks like an old style Perlick faucet with a nasty looking handle on it. You should be able to pull the extension out of the beverage out end and connect it to a shank that's long enough. That looks like it came from a tower. If you do go with a tower, then it should be ok. But, you'll probably need the nut and barb on the inside end of the shank (not pictured)... Something like this...

Personally, I'm going with stainless faucets and shanks for my setup. I actually ordered them up on Thursday of last week from Keg Connection, and expect them by Thursday of this week (shipped out yesterday). Of course, I forgot the dip tray, so I'll be ordering that up before too long into tomorrow.

Are there no home brew supply places in the UK? None that carry kegging hardware?

 

[Cazamodo]

Theres not a huge kegging factor here, the pressure barrles are more popular.

Ive seen These... think its the same as This.. But as you can see they are rather expensive. At least to me anyway haha! Since they cost the same/more than the keg itself.

Theres also
This type which look like they go straight onto the keg.

Would I be better just splashing out on these, rather than the ones I found on ebay?
I only want two to start off with, its just two taps for £100 seems like alot!

 

[Golddiggie]

The last one can be placed onto a shank and installed wherever you want. I don't like the idea of the first two you linked to. Why would you need another valve in the faucet? Just another place for things to get caught, stick, or grow (and not in a good way)...

If you're that cheap, then just forget about getting real faucets and use the picnic type. No metal, you'll have to open up the freezer to pull a pint, but you'll get away cheap...

Personally, I'm getting good taps to use for the fridge, along with more beer line (the picnic taps that came with my first kit, and two other kegs are just too short) and other items. Faucets alone are running almost $40 each, then there's the shanks, connection kits, spout plugs and such. Just to get my three taps setup (without the drip tray) is running me over $200. But, it's pretty much all one time costs, so I don't worry about it. I'm going with the 575SS faucets, so that I can use them with anything I brew. I'll probably use the 525SS for the cooler keg chest that I'll be building (cooler already ordered)...

If you want to do this up right, be prepared to spend some money. Just go with the items you'll want for the long term, not just ones to get started with. Especially you'll end up spending more in the long run that way. If money is that tight, then set up one faucet now, and add the second one (or more) later. I'm already thinking about adding a fourth faucet to my brew fridge. Not sure if I actually NEED to, or will want to, but I've arranged things so that I can have four kegs inside it. The fourth spot might be just for carbonating while I'm enjoying the other three.

 

[scrambledegg81]

x2 for stainless towers. They tend to keep the beer lines colder than standard plastic ones, which means less foam.

 

[Golddiggie]

Even better than towers is going right through the side of the fridge/freezer. I'll be doing that for my brew fridge once all my hardware arrives. Just trying to decide if I should order the hardware to setup the cooler brew dispenser now, or in a few weeks. I'm probably going to wait for the cooler to arrive, then decide if I just want to go through the front of it, or build up a tower.