Taps with or without flow control...

Brewedout · Post by **Brewedout** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 8:05 pm

I currently have a couple of enodis taps with flow control. These have been nice taps to use.

However, my old keggerator gave up the ghost, so I managed to get a much taller larder fridge when I upgraded.
I'd like to fit more than two taps and so I will be buying a set to match.

My question is... will I really miss flow control if I went with something like the malt millers intertap taps? Or should I hold on and save for flow control perlick taps?

Are all shank outer diameters the same? Wouldn't want to drill my new fridge door for my enodis taps to find out it was different for intertap or perlick!

Thanks

Post by **f00b4r** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 11:26 pm

Intertap flow control taps are meant to be on the way to the MM in a couple of weeks along with the spout range that lets you do some funky things

joe1002 · Post by **joe1002** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 11:29 pm

I used to have the same flow control taps but I have now switched to the intertap from TMM as I prefer the design of them.

My set-up is 2 beer engines and 2 taps therefore the two taps tend to have the higher carb'd beers on them. I have had to add in-line flow controllers so I don't pour a pint of froth.

If you do decide to keep the flow control taps I have two I will be happy to sell. One is Enodis, the other is a Chinese knock off, both have shanks with them. I can post pics if you are interested.

Brewedout · Post by **Brewedout** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 11:50 pm

Worthy of thought... could you send a picture of the enodis tap. What would your asking price be? Pm if you prefer. Also are the shanks for the intertap the same diameter as the enodis?

joe1002 · Post by **joe1002** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 11:59 pm

Brewedout wrote:Worthy of thought... could you send a picture of the enodis tap. What would your asking price be? Pm if you prefer. Also are the shanks for the intertap the same diameter as the enodis?

I'll dig it out after work tomorrow (we are in the middle of putting a new kitchen in so the house is completely disorganised at the moment).

No, the shanks are different unfortunately.

Brewedout · Post by **Brewedout** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 1:19 am

joe1002 wrote:
Brewedout wrote:Worthy of thought... could you send a picture of the enodis tap. What would your asking price be? Pm if you prefer. Also are the shanks for the intertap the same diameter as the enodis?
I'll dig it out after work tomorrow (we are in the middle of putting a new kitchen in so the house is completely disorganised at the moment).

No, the shanks are different unfortunately.

Ok great thanks. Do the enodis shanks have a bigger or smaller diameter?

joe1002 · Post by **joe1002** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 11:25 pm

They were marginally different, I can't remember if one was bigger than the other of whether nor had a bigger flange. They almost fit, but not quite. Remind me at the weekend and I'll take one of the intertaps off and have a look.

Here is my enodis

Brewedout · Post by **Brewedout** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 11:47 pm

Thanks, for the pics. Looks in good condition. How much do you want for it?

joe1002 · Post by **joe1002** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 12:02 am

PM'd you Brewedout

Rad · Post by **Rad** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 11:55 pm

Sorry for jumping on this but was there an answer? I'll be building a keezer and I can't decide. I'd like all my taps to match (there'll be 4 of them) and I prefer the looks of standard Perlicks or Intertaps. Would you give up the flow control if you were to build a new system?

npg · Post by **npg** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 1:06 am

Rad wrote:Sorry for jumping on this but was there an answer? I'll be building a keezer and I can't decide. I'd like all my taps to match (there'll be 4 of them) and I prefer the looks of standard Perlicks or Intertaps. Would you give up the flow control if you were to build a new system?

You want some form of controlling the pressure unless you want a very lively pour with carbonated beer. Beer line size and length is a factor. It's simpler to have flow control on the tap.

Kev888 · Post by **Kev888** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 12:14 pm

You can balance the system with long enough bits of 3/16" beer line, so a flow control device isn't essential (and its one less thing to clean). But even then its nice (IMO) to have some ability to tweak and adjust, either to fine tune or to accommodate different beer styles at different pressures (either now or in the future).

But if you wanted taps that don't have the ability, you can get in-line flow controls. TBH for standard dalex taps I'd just get the types with flow control built in, but I can see the attraction of those end-sealing shiny ones.

IronBlue · Post by **IronBlue** » Fri Apr 01, 2016 3:20 pm

I have 3 Perlicks on my Keezer. Two 'standard' and one with flow control. I tend to use the flow-control tap for higher-carbed IPAs etc.. Although to be honest, it takes one minute to fit a longer 3/16" beer line to reduce the flow to a standard tap.

I believe this is the key - American style taps allow for a much faster flow without foaming, and as such you can use much shorter beer line than for Dalex taps. I run only about 18" of beer line at 10-12 psi. This makes it very cheap and easy to replace the beer line or tune the length.

Having said that, a flow-control Perlick is well worth having - for parties you can use one directly on a cornie post (with no beer line) without lowering the keg pressure:

Brewedout · Post by **Brewedout** » Fri Apr 01, 2016 9:37 pm

I've stuck with flow control, I previously used 3/8 tube for both the gas and liquid. In my new keggerator build I am using 3/16 inside the keggerator for gas as it is more flexible. I may do the same for the Beer line too!

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