Perlick 525SS vs 545PC Faucets - I can not decide

[Fordzilla]

I am assembling my keezer currently. So far I have purchased the freezer and 5 cornies. (I still have to hunt down a sixth somewhere.) I know I want stainless shanks, and I did want stainless 525SS faucets.

However, my cousin almost has me sold on the 545PC faucets. He says they save from having to add a bunch of beer line and try to figure out how much beer line you need to "balance" the foam. Sounds great, because I have never kegged before but that sounds like a pain. I would jump on them if they were stainless.

I'm having a hard time justifying paying $45 for chrome plated flow control when the stainless non-flow control are $35, and will last forever. I really wanted to go all stainless, buy it once and have it forever.

I know there have been threads on this before, but I am really torn. Help!

 

[strumke]

I'd go stainless. I've picked up some chrome faucets when people were getting rid of gear, and seeing the insides all discolored turned me off from ever using chrome.

 

[zachattack]

It's not a pain to properly balance the lines. Just get more beer line than you think you'll need (say 12 feet of 3/16" ID vinyl tubing per tap) and enjoy foam free pours. If it's pouring too slow for you, trim the line down a little bit. The line is cheap and it's worth it to get the stainless faucets.

 

[Fordzilla]

Is it necessary to vary the line length by beer style, or do you just put on a bunch of line and that takes care of it? If adjustments need to be made as frequently as every beer style, I do like the idea of being able to adjust on the fly without messing with adding and removing line.

 

[zachattack]

No, it's not necessary. Just get lines that are longer than you think you'll need. It's been said many times, but the only downside of longer lines is a slow pour. Since you aren't running a bar, your profit margin doesn't depend on serving X beers per hour. So you want a nice slow foam free pour. You can always trim the lines a little, but 10-12 feet of standard tubing should be fine for 3 volumes of CO2.