Keg King Intertap

[Dazzbrew]

I bought a FC one too. Just need time to give it a thorough clean and make up the mounting board for it. Im going to mount mine inside the keg fridge.
A question on cleaning; should some keg lube be used on all the seals when putting it back together?

 

[verysupple]

I bought a FC one too. Just need time to give it a thorough clean and make up the mounting board for it. Im going to mount mine inside the keg fridge.
A question on cleaning; should some keg lube be used on all the seals when putting it back together?

Great question, I'm wondering the same thing. They don't seem to open and close very smoothly after I stripped them down and soaked everything. Although I didn't take much notice how smooth they felt straight out of the box when they still had all that greasy stuff all on the inside.

 

[mofox1]

Great question, I'm wondering the same thing. They don't seem to open and close very smoothly after I stripped them down and soaked everything. Although I didn't take much notice how smooth they felt straight out of the box when they still had all that greasy stuff all on the inside.

Could be the shuttle is upside down. There was definitely one good side and one bad side to all four of mine.

I needed to clean up the edges of the hole drilled through the centre as they were a bit ragged and the tap post(?) bit didn't sit in nicely.

All good now, fit either way round. Bit of lube as well and everything is dandy.

Note: These were the non-fc ones, but I imagine the fc's probably have similar machining issues.

 

[verysupple]

Well, my fears were unfounded. I've just poured my first two pints from one of my FCs and everything seems fine. The first one I was a bit scared of foaming so I didn't turn the flow up very high, but the second one I had almost fully open. I'm not serving at a particularly high pressure, though (90 kPa at 6 degrees). Also, the taps feel a bit better now they've had some beer through them. So myabe I won't bother lubing the inner workings.

 

[Bribie G]

I've just ordered two Intertap plain non-FC taps to replace the old chrome plated brass micromatics that came with my font back in the last decade and have been foaming and sticking (see the Don't Use Perc thread) :blink:

Is it advisable to take them apart and clean after every keg and, if so, what parts if any need to be lubed with my amazing wee black tube of keg lube I bought in 2010 that will definitely see me out in my pine box or recycled cremation carton?

 

[Bribie G]

Just got my Intertaps from National Home Brew HBHB today and fitted them, they didn't have any greasy gunge in them, so just a quick rinse and they were serving immediately.

These seem to be the go, a good cylinder of clear beer into the glass, not like the Micromatics where I was usually getting a "hollow" air-filled cylinder of beer coming out that immediately foamed up on hitting the contents of the glass.

Seal perfectly.

 

[fraser_john]

Different designs?
Well we got 8 of the Intertaps, non flow control model for the Geelong Craft Brewers portable bar and I was stripping them down to give them a good clean and noted one was a totally different design on the inside.....

Only one of the 8 was like this!

Any one else seen design differences?

 

[pist]

Are these compatible with snaplok adapters? Would not mind getting one of these if i can fit it to a snaplok adapter

 

[MastersBrewery]

Are these compatible with snaplok adapters? Would not mind getting one of these if i can fit it to a snaplok adapter

They have a standard tap thread so yes a snaplock adaptor will fit. Note KK are releasing their own qick release pannel adapter soonish.

 

[pist]

I hope it will be better than their jg fitting knock offs

 

[verysupple]

Different designs?
Well we got 8 of the Intertaps, non flow control model for the Geelong Craft Brewers portable bar and I was stripping them down to give them a good clean and noted one was a totally different design on the inside.....

Only one of the 8 was like this!

Any one else seen design differences?

IMG_20160213_153416.jpg

IMG_20160213_153509.jpg

Mine are the FC ones but look like the version on the right. Odd that only one of the eight is different.

 

[mofox1]

Having a touch of trouble with these units.

The self closing spring just doesn't cut it. It needs to be stiffer, and (oh dear), longer. When I first got them the springs were compressed too far and barely reached the shuttle, let alone push it forward.

So I've stretched them out and they seem to be okay, although I had to take a tap off y'day to stretch the spring again. Not sure if I didn't stretch it enough to begin with, or if it's being deformed back to original shape.

That and the fact that the some of the shuttles were a bit rough to begin with and needed a bit of drill/file TLC... some breaking in issues. Will be interesting to see if it's smooth sailing from here.

 

[schtev]

The self closing spring just doesn't cut it.

I've found the exact same thing. Unless I have the little collar that screws on to the handle not attached, the spring doesn't really do anything. It's only a $2 spring so I'm not too fussed, but it's pretty crappy that it doesn't work as advertised.

My tap also has a few rough bits inside the elbow. I've tried filing them down but it's hard to get a file in there. Certainly not up to the standard of my Perlick 630SS. It doesn't seem to matter too much because I can still get a nice pour, but I worry about crud getting trapped there and bacteria growing.

Has anyone had any luck smoothing down the tap interior?

 

[fraser_john]

I've found the exact same thing. Unless I have the little collar that screws on to the handle not attached, the spring doesn't really do anything. It's only a $2 spring so I'm not too fussed, but it's pretty crappy that it doesn't work as advertised.

My tap also has a few rough bits inside the elbow. I've tried filing them down but it's hard to get a file in there. Certainly not up to the standard of my Perlick 630SS. It doesn't seem to matter too much because I can still get a nice pour, but I worry about crud getting trapped there and bacteria growing.

Has anyone had any luck smoothing down the tap interior?

I noted this too, you would need a high speed die grinder to get in there. I might do it with my dremmel if I can be bothered, but, just use a spray bottle with star san in it after a nights pouring and it will be fine.

 

[Keg King]

Hi everyone.

We have done testing smoothing out the elbow on the tap and it simply doesn’t make any difference to the pour and from our testing it does not affect “crud getting caught”. A simple clean with any beer line cleaner will keep the elbow it top condition. Also if you got in there with a high speed grinder there is a risk that you will damage the seat where the o-ring seals so I would not recommend it and it’s simply not necessary.

With regards to the tap spring we use a fairly soft tap Spring that requires approximately 9.5 newton force to overcome the spring tension.

The following three paragraphs will reference this drawing below:
http://www.intertap.beer/Downloads/Intertap%208022.pdf

Springs that apply more force are easy to fit however as you increase the spring force the tap becomes more unpleasant to use as it will require more force to open the tap and a soft touch tap is preferable. If the tap is lubricated correctly and the correct seal compression in seals 6 and 7 is applied then the 9.5 newton force should be sufficient to close the tap automatically.

As mentioned in the youtube video here () this will show you to how to adjust the tension of part 3 in the link above. If the part 3 is done up too tight then the spring may not actuate the tap so it’s important that if you use the spring then part 3 is adjusted accordingly.

So all you need to remember is adjust part 3 and also lubricate parts 6 and 7. If for some reason you want a stiffer spring and if we get enough requests for a stiffer spring then we are happy to make stiffer springs however the 9.5 newton spring should be more than enough for you guys if the tap is setup correctly. From our perspective the only reason a stiffer spring should be require is if customers are using large and/or heavy tap handles. Oversized tap handles may require more spring force.

...................................................................

I personally do not use the springs, this way you can be pouring a beer with one hand and drinking another beer with the other!

 

[earle]

I personally do not use the springs, this way you can be pouring a beer with one hand and drinking another beer with the other!

 

[fraser_john]

ah frinkiac

<edit fix my bad spellin>

 

[Bribie G]

After using these taps for a few weeks, I'm very impressed.

At first I was getting a bit of foaming under certain conditions, mostly by trying to run them on the same pressure as my old Micromatics. The problem there was that if I ran the Micromatics on less than 70 kPa they wouldn't pour a solid "cylinder" of beer, just a hollow one if you can picture that, that promptly frothed as it came out and dropped to the glass. Running at up to 90 kPa would give me a solid cylinder of beer that would usually do the trick, but more often than not break into foam because the pressure was just too high.

Initially the beer in the original kegs when I switched the taps over was carbed to that degree, so it was also frothing with the Intertaps, for a while.

Now I've stabilised the carbonation by going to a "sweet spot" on my system, that's bang on 50 kPa and gives me a perfect pour. Took a bit of monitoring and trial and error but I've got it nailed.

With the old micromatics I used to approach the tap with apprehension, whether it was going to be jammed shut with baked on crud around the exposed end of the slide, or whether I was going to get a glass of foam.

With the Intertaps, no such problem. Every pour is a good pour.

Very pleased indeed, recommended.

Ed: thanks to HBHB at National Home Brew. He offered to exchange if I had any problems.... no worries. :beerbang:

 

[schtev]

I've been using my Intertap non-FC stainless model for about a month. I think it's a reasonably good tap for the price. It certainly isn't up to the fit and finish of a Perlick tap, but at half the price it does well.

The lever mechanism doesn't feel as "nice" as my Perlicks. I like it more since taking the auto-close spring out though.

I've found that the Intertap has a tendency to get a few ml of beer stuck in the nozzle after closing, that usually splashes into the drip tray a few minutes after pouring or if encouraged to come out with a prod of the tap opening. Bit annoying but not a big deal.

Overall I think they're a great tap if you're on a budget, but I'll be sticking with Perlick for now.

 

[Bribie G]

Haven't had the drip problem, maybe something to do with your spring removal? Agree the lever action isn't really smooth, but still miles ahead of the similarly priced Micromatic taps.