Beer taps and towers.

[Fazzer]

Hi all.
I'm looking at installing a tower with 3 taps, as im using a beer gun at the moment.
Whats the difference between these 2 items?
I can see the additional equpment with the expensive one but does the huge difference in price justified?

 

[YeastFace]

Top one looks like it has much better quality taps and beer lines, also includes the beer out disconnects which the bottom one doesn't.

From experience of using both style taps, I'd definitely get the top. When I had the bottom the chrome degraded and the inside of the tap turned a manky black colour so I ended up replacing them with stainless Nukataps.

You may well not need the flow control ones though, which add a fair bit to the cost. Do they have an option for the regular stainless Nukataps?

 

[YeastFace]

Yes, it's £48 cheaper

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Similarly, having used both types, I would go with the NukaTap option.

 

[Fazzer]

Thanks for the replies.
I'm edging towards the more expensive version. I suppose you get what you pay for!
What would be the benefit of flow control?

 

[YeastFace]

None if you balance your lines correctly.

 

[JockyBrewer]

On the cheap one the taps are cheap, rear sealing design that lets beer sit in them and go mouldy, or dry up completely and make the tap stick solid. They're also going to be chrome covered brass/copper, and the chrome tends to corrode and flake off. The tower itself is going to either be paper thin metal or part plastic.

For the bottom one the stainless steel Nukataps are very reliable (I've been using 5x on my keezer for 3 years now), and cool down quickly to help beer pour without foaming. The tower itself looks like a fairly solid stainless steel construction. The keg disconnects and john guest fittings being included is nice too as they're worth around £10 per tap too. I think you can probably

I actually think the price of the cheap one is pretty astonishing, the problem is that I think that every single bit of it is garbage, and you'll be replacing it with something more expensive within a year.

It's also telling that I can't find a single review of the cheap towers (well, I found a single 1 star review on Amazon that said it was horrific, but not why...), and that the only sellers are on ebay/Amazon/AliEx, rather than reputable homebrew sites like The Malt Miller, Brewkegtap etc.

 

[JockyBrewer]

Thanks for the replies.
I'm edging towards the more expensive version. I suppose you get what you pay for!
What would be the benefit of flow control?

Personally I don't rate flow control taps. Either cut your lines to the right length for the pressure/carbonation you're putting in the keg, or get flow control disconnects for the keg as they do actually work well.

Jonny at BrewKegTap is normally happy to modify the packages he has on the website if you email him.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

I'd pay once cry once, cheaper set is not so good.
Have a look at this video.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

What would be the benefit of flow control?

As the name suggests, flow control allows you to slow down the beer flow rate and is supposed to fix the problem of over carbonated foamy beer and also allow you to put beers with different carbonation levels on the same tap/beer line. I have 7 flow control taps (6 fitted at the moment) and I have to say they really don’t live up to the claims. In restricting the flow they create turbulence which of course creates foam!

The only real benefit I’ve had from them is when filling bottles from the tap I can turn down the flow rate to a dribble as the bottle fill-level approaches the neck and avoid spillage.

You are better off balancing your beer lines as @YeastFace advised. You’ll save some money too, maybe spend a little of that on a good length of 3/16 beer line to experiment

 

[Fazzer]

Thanks everyone.
So much information.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Also don't believe the hype about flow control ball lock connectors.
Line length and diameter with soltys calculator are the key to control of your pour.

 

[Caramel Ox]

I also have both flow control and standard nukataps and I don’t think it worth the cost upgrade unless eg you have to direct mount one on a keg which I did at first.

The main thing I see influencing foaming is the room and hence tap temperature. To make use of the control I’d need to adjust based on that before pouring.