ultratap or intertap? is there a difference?

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Hi Meddo - yes we will continue to produce the Intertap which was always our product and whilst customers like it then we will have it together with its accessories. The Ultra Tap in other colours at the moment only have the standard spout but we may look at it if enough people are interested. I might get a few done to put them on display to see the customer reactions.

The Ultra Tap willnot be made with any flow control.
I would think that the stout spouts should be made in body matching colours as they'd be likely to stay on the tap long term, the other specific-use adapters (growler, ball lock etc) would be fine in stainless.

Opens up a can of worms having tap colours cos I reckon if you I were kitting out my rig with coloured taps I'd want matching colours on all of the components - spouts, shanks, collars, k-lok adapters...

I prefer stainless personally though.
 
Oh well, there goes "throw away" although anything less than $100 for a decent beer tap a few years ago was unheard of, there's still a question mark over the shuttle, plastic (yeh whatever) v stainless steel? I've got 50yr old chrome plated brass taps that the chrome has worn off, and they still work perfectly, if that was some sort of rubber coating on a plastic "matrix" (been watching too many movies) what's the chances???
 
Very interesting thread (excluding the politics). It would be really interesting to see some side-by-sides (same beer, same tube lengths) from people with different taps of anyone has the time.

Lots of marketing when it comes to taps, but how much does it really matter?
 
Lots of marketing when it comes to taps, but how much does it really matter?
One would think that the best pour would "A" be the primary consideration, and "B" fairly easy to quantify.
But we see comments such as "it's ugly" wtf!, or "I love the look but it has sanitary issues" wtf!! or "does it come in colours?" wtf!!!
Sorry guys no offence intended here just pointing out that what on the face of it should be a simple enough decision becomes rather complicated once we introduce the "human condition" :rolleyes:
 
One would think that the best pour would "A" be the primary consideration, and "B" fairly easy to quantify.
But we see comments such as "it's ugly" wtf!, or "I love the look but it has sanitary issues" wtf!! or "does it come in colours?" wtf!!!
Sorry guys no offence intended here just pointing out that what on the face of it should be a simple enough decision becomes rather complicated once we introduce the "human condition" :rolleyes:
The Ultra Tap is a true laminar flow tap which reduces foaming. We originally made the Intertap but that design was not able to achieve the laminar flow. So the Ultra Tap was made and it is the successor to the Intertap. We will soon have a bit more info coming out about this.
 
Well we would be comparing our own product with our own product of course but why not. Our team works closely with Monash Brewlab so we might ask them to do this and give us something a bit more in depth.
The Inter/Ultra has long been debated with the misconception that one was from KK and the other was from KL, now that they are both confirmed to be KK products and any bias to one company or the other has been removed it would be good to get a professional opinion as to the effectiveness of each.
I admit to suffering from "the human condition" (see previous post #65) and prefer the look of the inter (which I use) over the debatable superior pour of the ultra (which I've used for friends builds) would love it if a comparison could include some of the other tap designs also, especially the micro matic roto type.
A consideration could also be life expectancy of the various types given the roto has a plastic insert/valve as does the KL Nuka, see my post #63 and the expected service intervals.
Probably opening a can of worms, and creating conflicts of interest but it would be a very interesting exercise.
fwiw the inter/ultra's come apart really easily for cleaning with few parts and just a couple of seals.
 
Well we would be comparing our own product with our own product of course but why not. Our team works closely with Monash Brewlab so we might ask them to do this and give us something a bit more in depth.
Don't think it matters that you make both products, I for one am interested in the performance differences. Aesthetics is personal, so A looks better than B is not much use, unless there is an actual cosmetic design element not apparent via the web pictures. Personal experience with the taps is also of benefit, but as not many people seem to get one then replace them with the other and so are unable to do a side by side comparison, I am lead to believe that neither of these taps have any major defects that would make them a bad purchase. The internal seal differences is interesting as well in that some comments lead me to lean towards the intertap being better, but then hearing the shuttle mech is better performing in the ultra puts them back on par. Maybe when update time comes, create a Hypertap, with the best of both, and open it up for users of these taps to give some feedback on what they would like to see improved?
Then of course there is the Nukatap to consider in the mix, but now they have priced themselves above the competition.
 
The Inter/Ultra has long been debated with the misconception that one was from KK and the other was from KL, now that they are both confirmed to be KK products and any bias to one company or the other has been removed it would be good to get a professional opinion as to the effectiveness of each.
Hahaha, like this one. So what happens with the KL supporters that loved the Inters, and the KK supporters that hated the Inters now it comes out KK own them both?
 
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@CaptainMachSnot Obviously I don't know what your set up is but for $25 for an inter and $30 for an ultra why not buy one of each and see how they go, it's a very personal thing and either of these taps will see you out, unless you live to 100 so might as well get the right ones (for you) and if it means keeping a $25 tap as a spare well so be it.
 
Hahaha, like this one. So what happens with the KL supporters that loved the Inters, and the KK supporters that hated the Inters now it comes out KK own them both?
Probably a bit like Holden fans finding out they were weren't Aussie they were GM, look at the ignition key on a Gemini, it says Isuzu. It's called badge engineering, very common these days. People get sucked in, just look at the joke Bathurst has become.
 
Hahaha, like this one. So what happens with the KL supporters that loved the Inters, and the KK supporters that hated the Inters now it comes out KK own them both?
Not sure that there were many KK supporters who hated the Intertaps as they were always available from us. We just developed the Ultra Tap as we were able to buy the exclusive rights to those patents from Ventmatic and we wanted to offer a laminar flow tap. The Intertap is a good tap but the Ultra Tap gives you a bit more. Sadly though the Intertap name has been used by companies in China who are infringing patents and many people have purchased products which are not the real deal.
 
@CaptainMachSnot Obviously I don't know what your set up is but for $25 for an inter and $30 for an ultra why not buy one of each and see how they go, it's a very personal thing and either of these taps will see you out, unless you live to 100 so might as well get the right ones (for you) and if it means keeping a $25 tap as a spare well so be it.
This was what i was thinking. Was going to get two plated ones, then kit entire keezer with stainless ones when i knew which was better, but no pc in the ultratap range. Also debating between ultra and nuka since there had been a bit of a cloud around the inters, was going to cross them off the list. If kl, had been superseded by the nuka, and if kk, then superseded by the ultra. Wasnt sure how long they would be around, cause i am buying them as funds allow.
 
This was what i was thinking. Was going to get two plated ones, then kit entire keezer with stainless ones when i knew which was better, but no pc in the ultratap range. Also debating between ultra and nuka since there had been a bit of a cloud around the inters, was going to cross them off the list. If kl, had been superseded by the nuka, and if kk, then superseded by the ultra. Wasnt sure how long they would be around, cause i am buying them as funds allow.
There will be no plated chrome in the Ultra Taps. Plated is not very good for health reasons. It has been found that Brass used in taps often contains a small amount of Bismuth which can have very bad effects on people.
 
Was only going for a short term test and then replacing, cause i have read about it and also cannot handle the harsh chemicals used in brewing. On a side note had a little chuckle to myself - my son has a bird called Bismuth (i know it is also an element), so a little bit of bird in every pour.
 
Bit OT, but here is a bit of a funny story about birds in beer:
A couple of weeks ago I was making the Stone and Wood clone originally made by Earl, I had boiled the hop/wort and was letting it cool in the sink when my daughter asked me to help her print out a document to suspend her trainee-ship (stupid Covid). Went over to her computer, and found she had tried to print it a dozen times, cause thats what you do when it wont print, just keep sending it to the printer till it eventually comes out. Anyway, spent a good half hour trying to get it to work. She thought she would be helpful while I was doing this and got out a cloth and started wiping the table down. Walked over to the sink and dumped it in without looking what she was doing. I saw at the last second, but before I could do anything, it was too late. Rushed over to the sink to see seeds, feathers and little bits of bird shit floating around in my precious liquid. Thought about re-boiling, but was more turned off by the fact it would be too bitter more than the fact it had stuff in there that should NEVER go in any beer. I had to tip it out, but didnt want to waste the malt I had already poured into the fermenter with an unknown amount of water to dissolve - it was a Briess product, and I didnt want to tip $50 down the sink. I only had a tin of the coopers australian pale ale, and no idea how much of the malt to get rid of since it was 2.5kg of fermentables in there. Decided to pour it out into a sanitised saucepan and calculate how much to remove to bring it back down to 1.5kg. Added the pale ale tin and mixed up. Once I got it into the ferment fridge, I realised I had mis calculated and in fact had 2kg malt in there, turned out to be a bit over 6.5%. Dry hopped with galaxy at what I thought would be 4 days to go. Turned out that it needed almost 3 weeks in the fermenter to finish up. Looked nice and hazy, and tasted good, so didnt bother c'cing it. Kegged it, and the Australian Dumb Blonde was born. Was surprised, it is quite delicious. Might even make it again, sans bird shit.

Edit: add pic
20200507_195936.jpg
 
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Was only going for a short term test and then replacing, cause i have read about it and also cannot handle the harsh chemicals used in brewing. On a side note had a little chuckle to myself - my son has a bird called Bismuth (i know it is also an element), so a little bit of bird in every pour.
The problem here is they are not exactly the same, sure the design is the same but the rasp/grit that you get from a ss is not the same as on a cp, and then we get onto what is brass? or rather what is in it? I believe lead has been added in some brass alloys to aid in the machining process, ss? jeez how many variations of ss are there? Manufacturer's will provide a product on price irrespective of quality and I have so called ss that is rusting, apparently stain LESS means it does rust just not as much as ordinary steel, where one draws the line is debatable, marine grade does not "stain" at least not the stuff on my boat, so what is the difference? and how does it perform in our particular usage with chemicals etc. End of day we need a trusted supplier that produces good quality gear, and if that means paying more for the same product but made with superior material then such is life.
 

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