The ManCan Review
Let’s get straight to the point! The ManCan taps and their regulator are some of the best taps for mini-kegs on the market. I have come to love my 64oz (2 middle) and my 128oz (tall can on right) ManCan setups. The tap itself looks like anything you might find on Amazon, but the ball lock fittings (which ManCan uses) use bracket fittings instead of poppet fittings, which make cleaning and filling of your mini-keg painless. The ball lock fittings allow for a conventional CO2 tank hook-up, chargers, and any threaded gas regulator that can connect to a gas-in ball lock fitting. ManCan makes their own “black-box” regulator that pressurizes a 128oz can perfectly, but tends to over pressurize a 64oz can. I call the ManCan regulator a “black-box” as you cannot control the pressure. The ManCan regulator is best for someone that is not familiar with suggested serving pressures for specific beers. When it comes to 64oz cans, I use CO2 chargers (EXTREAME CAUTION MUST BE EXCERSIED ON THESE). CO2 chargers allow a custom pressure when pouring beer with just a little finesse of the trigger. However, as I mentioned, these chargers must be used with EXTREAME CAUTION. Always follow the safety measures on the packaging when ordering a charger from online. The beer supply stores are good at giving someone the safety lecture on these CO2 chargers. I have found a mini-nitrogen regulator that does a great job with the 64oz can pouring a high 10% ABV Imperial (Nitro) Stout for a week.
In summary, the high quality of the ball lock fittings and the unique regulator that ManCan invented is top notch. In another post I will review the knock-off version of the ManCan tap that one can buy, but the quality is nowhere near that of the ManCan tap. Feel free to go to the ManCan website and see if they currently have any holiday specials going on. They tend to always have some deal going on that can make getting one of their systems just as cheap, if not cheaper, than their competition. You can also follow ManCan on Facebook and Instagram.
I recently got a request to explain the pros and cons of mini-kegs, which will be the focus in next weeks post.
#minikegrevolution
