Vintage / old looking faucets

Have I seen faucets that look older? All the time.
Are they OK for you to use?

In short, no. I'll cut to the chase here. Your faucets are going to be shiny so get used to the idea of having shiny faucets on your bar. Change your vision of the bar.

Beer is food and the faucets need to be food safe. That means if you don't see the material in your kitchen then you won't see it on a beer faucet. You can however get s/s faucets and bring them to a metal shop that can electro-plate with color, including black.

Do not use brass faucets. Chrome plated is fine, though not the best choice. Chrome is applied to brass, which is a bad idea. Once the chrome wears off, which it always does, the beer is exposed to brass which is not food safe or FDA approved. If you see brass faucets it is because the chrome wore off and the establishment is too lazy, cheap or un-informed. An alternate is PVD coated brass, which is really a gold color and has a protective food safe coating applied. Those do not tarnish and will remain shiny.

Copper is also not beer safe. Fine for water but not for beer because the pH is too low. Copper is specifically not FDA approved for beer contact by statute.

Your choices are limited to chrome, stainless steel and PVD gold. That's it, there are no more.

Cheers

 

Yes, but.
The answer to your question is still the same.

The faucet material is the same inside and out. They aren't machined from some composite material. Electro plating may be your best option.


Cheers.

 

I believe most of the brass faucets in use today are of the low or no lead alloy.

 

Hmmmm...
When I built my bar in 2007-ish, I bought all brass faucets. They developed a vintage look over a period of only a few months, after which I replaced them with SS Ventmatics - not for looks, but for the forward seal design. These may have the vibe that @Jkettler is looking for ...if they weren't brass.

 

you bought them new and they were brass? or the plating wore off?

there are brass faucets but they are PVD coated.

this is a stainless steel faucet with a tarnish free brass coating, but it is not the same as chrome plated brass where the chrome has worn away.
Cheers

 

ALL brass is an alloy of copper and other elements.

Copper is not food safe for beer. It is specifically listed by the FDA as not food safe for beer.
Lead is of course also not food safe for anything. There is no acceptable lower limit of lead ingestion.

Additionally it is probable that some of the made in China alloys that are delivered as lead free are not really lead free.

There are no food safe brass faucets. None.
There is only PVD coated brass, and it is shiny.
Cheers.

 

Here are the three I have. They developed a nice patina over the three months of use, followed by ten years in a drawer. I can't say what they're made of, only that the listing said 'Brass' and that's what they look like, inside and out. And, as I recall, they were cheap.

 

I'm wondering if you could find an old (ancient) bar that's closing and offer to buy their faucets. I've seen more than a few that sound like what you're looking for (though they were still doing a healthy business).
I'd be willing to sell you mine for, maybe $10 each + actual shipping cost (one is missing the gasket, but that's probably an easy find). PM me if you're interested.