In the fall of 2016 I had got my third “Can” from Kulshan Brewery and decided I would like to get a 3rd tap for it. I already had the 128oz Man Can Tap system and my original “Can” from Triple Horne, which also had a Man Can tap. The idea would be to have my 1 gallon min-keg for Mac and Jacks, my Triple Horne 64oz Mini-Keg for Imperial Stouts, and my new Kulshan 64oz Mini-keg for Double and Triple IPAs. I ended up finding a knock off version of the Man Can (head only) on Amazon, which uses poppet fittings. The Amazon Man Can Knock Off cost only $45 vs $85 (Cost of the Man Can tap). So I bought it. Turns out you get what you pay for. The Amazon Man Can Knock Off tends to not hold the pressure once you charge the can with CO2. The Amazon Man Can Knock Off version also uses poppet fittings, which “pop out” when the ball lock fittings come off and are a pain in the ass to deal with while cleaning the keg and tap head. Man Can uses a bracket style fitting which do not “pop out” making them much easier to work with. Also, the hose for the Amazon Man Can Knock Off that goes into the can appears to be more cheaply made and the screw on the top of the hose makes me wonder about the quality of the tap head construction. I have tried to capture all of this detail in the pictures in this blog post.
So after 1.5 years of using the Amazon Man Can Knock Off I bought a new Man Can tap for the Kulshan Can and I am really happy with the upgrade. It should be mentioned that the Amazon Man Can Knock Off and Man Can taps only work with the mini-keg style stainless steel growlers. If you have a double insulated growler (i.e. Hydroflask) or a glass growler, these taps will not work.
Copyright © 2019 Minikegrevolution - All Rights Reserved.