Direct-keg-taps: Nukatap MINI, Nukatap Flow Control, PicnicTap2.1, and PicnicTap OG

[SanPancho]

After complaints i voiced about some of the other options for direct-from-keg beer pours around this old forum, the folks at kegland offered to ship out a new Nukatap MINI so it could be used and reviewed. So here we go. Since the Nukatap MINI hasnt been released in US yet, here’s just some quick impressions on the unit. First off, when I opened the box and took out the unit, literally the first thing out of my mouth was “Ohhhh its so cute.” Yes, a grown ass man made baby talk to a MINI tap. I’m not ashamed.

View attachment 830512
Despite its small size it feels solid and well built, the nozzle screws on with a FFL connection, so you could use duotight style adapters to do something else i guess like fill growlers or bottles/cans, etc. with a piece of tubing. As it came with a Flow Control QuickDisconnect it had the adapter pieces to get everything connected. At the back of the unit, behind the silver threaded collar, you have a black stem for push to connect, and there is a flat plastic "tail" that mates to the QD in the style of “insert Tab A into Slot B” so that the faucet stays fixed in its orientation and wont spin when you try to grab it, hit it with pint glass, etc. etc. It is adjustable 360, so you can fix the faucet in place in whatever direction you need, up, down, left right, etc. Its a nice piece of gear, looks well made, and just feels like good quality piece in your hand.



So now to the comparison of the units i have managed to collect along the way for tapping directly from kegs. These are the most prominent solutions for pouring direct from kegs im aware of to date. As this is impossible to do without restriction they all have flow control in some form or another. (Except the PicnicTap.OG )

View attachment 830513
The various options-
Nukatap MINI with flow control QD
Nukatap flow control faucet with kegland faucet adapter QD
PicnicTap 2.1
PicnicTap OG- 88” of 4mm eva tubing (not pictured)

Beer- roughly 41F with about 13-14psi for about 2.5vols
All kegs, pint glasses, tubing and hardware left in keezer overnight

View attachment 830514

 

[SanPancho]

First up-

Nukatap MINI with FC QD from kegland
As noted, unit feels nice and solid. The QD can spin a bit on the keg post, so there’s a bit of maneuverability if you need it. I poured a few test pints to try and dial in the FC restriction level and it has a very wide range, from tiny trickle to pretty much full blast/no restriction. Obviously since i’m tapping keg directly i needed to be on the lower end. Its pretty hard to estimate, but if i had to guess i’d say I was probably at around 75% restriction. Maybe a little more, or a little less. The one thing i didnt like is the fact that the pour is pretty damn slow. But that seems to be an issue with all the FC options. The faucet was easy to use, poured a very nice, if slow, pour.

NEXT UP: Nukatap FC
Had a nukatap FC from another system, and loved it there. For direct tapping, I bought the kegland faucet adapter QD for use with the FC tap. However it appears its not fully compatible with the FC faucet from what i can tell, as the FC doesnt work all the way with the kegland QD. You only get about 50% of the movement on the FC lever, so disappointment there. See pic.

And for some reason, the flow is so slow its a trickle. That’s at full flow, i.e. FC lever at horizontal. Very strange. Noticeably slower than the MINI. You can just barely see the little trickle in the photo.

The pour itself wasnt bad, just super slow. It would look alot better but I couldnt help playing with the FC control lever, so it has a bit more foam than if you just let it be.

 

[SanPancho]

Picnic Tap 2.1
Ok, so this one is a bit of a long story. For now, i’ll just show you the results it produced.

Not a bad pour in terms of foam control. However, it also poured pretty damn slow. Not as slow as the Nukatap FC, but probably about the same as the MINI. So in terms of the flow control ability, it seemed to be on par with the MINI for this particular situation.
But hold on.
The unit is NOT something i’d recommend. It leaked. Hard to tell if it was two places or one, but you can see in the photo. And no, that is not dripping from the faucet mouth, its dripping from the joint(s) and leaking down to faucet mouth. And all over my keezer.

So here’s a little backstory. This Picnic Tap 2.1 is actually Unit 2.0 for me. I bought last summer via ebay. Sat on my brew table for a while, still in the box. When I finally opened it up and used it, I followed what the very limited directions told me to do. Keep it in keezer so it was cold. Here’s the deal with Picnic Tap 2.1 Unit 1.0 i purchased-
IMMEDIATELY WHEN IT SNAPPED ON THE KEG POST- it had beer shooting all over the place inside my keezer, even sprayed me in the face. I yanked it off the keg and ran for rags to clean up the beer. WTF.
Turns out my PicnicTap 2.1 Unit 1.0 was a piece of crap that leaked in two places. It shot out nothing but foam in the glass, not surprisingly. You couldn't even leave it on the keg post as it would just leak a stream of beer/suds all over the place. Ugh. Just holding it in your hand you could feel how the parts weren't a snug assembly, how it felt cheap and low quality.
So i email Trong, the guy who makes them, and told him i had a problem. This dude is condescending and basically telling me its not the gear…… so it must be my fault? After I explained to him how i followed the directions, used it straight out of the box, got it cold, etc. etc. he proceeds to tell me he’s sold thousands of them and NEVER has a problem. Oh, ok. SURE BUDDY. I replied that its statistically a certainty that if you make thousands of anything you’ll always get some rejects. He then proceeds to get very stern and says he’ll only replace it if i send back Unit 1.0…. as if i want the piece of crap that’s making a mess of my keezer. Whatever. Now, unfortunately i deleted those emails, so i cant give you actual quotes, but you get the gist. But I’m still bitter. Why? Because what you saw above is Unit 2.0 that he sent me. Straight out of the box, it also leaked. At that point i simply gave up. Somewhere on HBT you can see posts of mine from months ago when i said anybody who wants it can have the piece of crap. So that’s my adventure with picnic tap 2.1. I havent done anything to it, its been sitting in a drawer since this all happened last year (fall of 2022). Straight from “factory” on both units. YMMV.


"EXPERIMENT CONTROL"

PicnicTapOG
Yep, the old standard. 88” of 4mm eva barrier tubing, and a regular ass picnic tap. Textbook pour. About 10 seconds.

 

[SanPancho]

LONG STORY SHORT
Nukatap MINI - would definitely use MINI as a direct-tap fitting. If i can get myself to get used to the slow pours, i would definitely get another for keezer use. I dont travel with kegs, but if i did this would be a solid choice.

Nukatap FC- no-go for direct-tap of kegs. Perhaps there is a way to make it work, but i’ll have to investigate to see if you can fix the “restriction of the restriction” that i encountered. I’ll keep it around for possible use on smaller kegs, as i’d need a keezer collar for it to fit on a 5gal keg in keezer anyways.

PicnicTap 2.1- definitely would not recommend. Yes, well aware alot of folks think its great and have good experiences. But when you have them both in front of you, you can tell how cheap and low quality it seems vs the MINI. And considering you only get begrudging support in case of problems, i’d stay the hell away.

PicnicTap OG- still the reigning champ. Textbook pour. But so damn annoying with all the tubing. Even coiling the tubing is still a pain every time you have to pick it up to pour.

So, like i said before, if i can train my impatient ass to wait 20 seconds for a nice pour then the MINI is a damn fine solution to ridding your keezer of the tubing problem. (or for travel use)

	Pros	Cons
Nukatap MINI + FC QD	Feels solid, well built Wide range of restriction Small size (no collar on keezer)	Cost is unknown yet
Nukatap FC+ QD adapter	Solid, well built Smooth flow control Decent range of restriction	Doesnt appear to fully work with QD adapter (50% max) Too tall, requires keezer collar
Picnic Tap 2.1	Decent pour (must be cold!) Small size	Poor quality control Not solidly built, longevity? Restriction range is small
Picnic Tap OG	Simple, cheap, effective	Long ass tubing /clutter

 

[CascadesBrewer]

PicnicTap OG- still the reigning champ. Textbook pour. But so damn annoying with all the tubing. Even coiling the tubing is still a pain every time you have to pick it up to pour.

I have been curious how well a Picnic Tap with a short piece of EVA Barrier tubing and the Kegland Flow Control Disconnect would work.

Also, I picked up one of the $15 Pluto Guns. I am not sure if like it any better than a Picnic tap. It does look more "professional."

The Nukatap MINI does seem very tempting.

 

[SanPancho]

I have been curious how well a Picnic Tap with a short piece of EVA Barrier tubing and the Kegland Flow Control Disconnect would work.

Also, I picked up one of the $15 Pluto Guns. I am not sure if like it any better than a Picnic tap. It does look more "professional."

The Nukatap MINI does seem very tempting.

recently i heard that apparently someone (kegland?) now makes the picnic tap with a non-barbed solid stem so that it will fit into push to connect fittings. didnt occur to me to use it in that way, but why not? so if i had to guess i'd say you could skip the tubing and just push the PTC picnic tap into one of the FC connects and it should work. the flow control adjustment on the QD takes probably 4 rotations of the knob to go from min to max, so there's much finer level of adjustment than what you get on a FC faucet. my guess is that would probably work pretty well for direct keg tapping.

the drawback is that the picnic taps are going to be "looser" at the handle than something like the MINI. while you could definitely knock the MINI handle by accident, i feel the picnic tap handle requires less force to open. and the shape of it seems like it's easier to snag something on it. maybe thats nitpicky. dunno. MINI also has a locking mechanism so you cant spin it accidentally, which should also help avoid leaks.

if kegland can put these out at a reasonable price i'd probably just pick up a MINI to be honest. just seems "safer" than a picnic tap.
and if you're bling-inclined (i'm def not) they definitely look ALOT cooler than picnic tap.

 

[mac_1103]

The Nukatap MINI does seem very tempting.

But if the 4L Oxebar Keg is any indication, we'll be waiting at least two years.

 

[tracer bullet]

I am totally sold on the Picnic Tap 2.1's service. I'm still iffy on the tap itself. I've done all the recommended things, all cold including the glass, valve full open when using, 12psi and so on, but get unacceptable foam. 1/3 to maybe even 1/2 the glass, and the remaining beer is flat. Some stuff I've been wondering:

* The spiral thing inside is of course the flow restrictor, not unlike a long length of hose to the OG tap. I like the concept.
* The length of it is a factor, there may be a case where changing its orientation or its length is beneficial (shorter might actually be better?)
* I think that it's the first few seconds of a pour that are the worst, after that it seems to actually flow pretty nicely. Judging by the beer that comes out it's all white for a few seconds and then turns and stays golden (not foam, that is). I'm not sure what to make of that or how to prevent it.
* I wonder if different beers will pour differently? Will a lager and a high OG stout behave differently? Perhaps.

Just thoughts and questions. I don't have the answers.

 

[SanPancho]

I am totally sold on the Picnic Tap 2.1's service.

i cannot begin to explain how big of a difference there is in our respective experiences with their service. perhaps you can forward these questions to them and see how they respond.

or you can make your own and experiment. if i recall it was mac1103 who recently found a 10+ year old thread where you could buy the white spiral piece yourself from mcmaster. the way i figured it you just need to find correct diameter piece of eva tubing, and use dutight fittings on each end and a new push to connect picnic tap. you'll essentially have the same thing.

 

[micraftbeer]

I've used the Nukatap FC on ball lock (from Williams Brewing here). I did not have those issues of a slow trickle. Since Kegland makes that, too, it would be worthwhile reaching out to them to see what's going on with it.

 

[mac_1103]

i cannot begin to explain how big of a difference there is in our respective experiences with their service

This is the part I just don't get. For what I assume is a pretty small operation, big differences in manufacturing and/or quality control don't really surprise me that much, but the night and day differences in customer support experiences kinda do. Maybe it has something to do with how you order or contact? Ebay vs Amazon vs direct from Homebrewer Lab?

if i recall it was mac1103 who recently found a 10+ year old thread where you could buy the white spiral piece yourself from mcmaster

The cure for your short hose troubles. You can get them for about a buck each at lots of places, including BezoMart.

 

[tracer bullet]

Dang I just finally found that thread mentioned after some searching.

It's definitely a different part in the adhesive mixer nozzles. But, it could perform in a similar way.

 

[SanPancho]

I've used the Nukatap FC on ball lock (from Williams Brewing here). I did not have those issues of a slow trickle. Since Kegland makes that, too, it would be worthwhile reaching out to them to see what's going on with it.

did you have to do anything to it in terms of breaking it down, swapping pieces, etc.? its been so long i honestly dont remember, but i dont think i really messed with it at all. but since the FC doesnt move all the way, im guessing maybe something is out of place, or got swapped/turned around or something like that? maybe i need to break it down and rebuild to make sure everything is in right place, etc

 

[micraftbeer]

Also, here's a link to my review I did on the Nukatap FC keg faucet.

https://www.homebrewfinds.com/hands-on-review-nukatap-flow-control-faucets/

 

[micraftbeer]

did you have to do anything to it in terms of breaking it down, swapping pieces, etc.? its been so long i honestly dont remember, but i dont think i really messed with it at all. but since the FC doesnt move all the way, im guessing maybe something is out of place, or got swapped/turned around or something like that? maybe i need to break it down and rebuild to make sure everything is in right place, etc

I didn't do anything other than disassemble for picture before I used it, and then put back together. There is just one slider piece in there that can come out loose. Maybe it's possible to put it in backwards (I should've tried)?

The FC lever on mine rotates around full 360 degrees. So much so that it feels confusing as to which position is "max flow" and which is "min flow".

 

[micraftbeer]

Well now I've gone and done it... I took the shuttle out of the main body and tried flipping it around. Confirmed you can't do that, it's too long and won't let you re-attach to the ball lock.

I then unscrewed the adjustment lever and looked inside. There's a subby rod on the adjustment lever that's supposed to fit into a hole in this inner plastic sleeve inside the body of the faucet. I played around with that, and looks like you might be able to manipulate it such that you could get that hole out of position and then the rod wouldn't line up.

After playing with it to see if I could get the condition you mentioned of adjustment only going halfway, I found I had changed it. Now my adjustment lever only rotates about 270-degrees (whereas before I monkeyed with it, it rotated 360-degrees with no stop. So I don't know if I now "broke it", or if maybe it wasn't lined up properly before and now it is.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

recently i heard that apparently someone (kegland?) now makes the picnic tap with a non-barbed solid stem so that it will fit into push to connect fittings.

I do feel like there is an opening for a better made picnic tap that directly connects to Eva Barrier lines. I have some of these: Duotight Compatible | Hand Held Beer Faucet | Cobra Tap | Picnic Tap | Black Plastic | MoreBeer. Between the Picnic Tap and Push Fit Adaptor, the cost is over $10 and it is a bit bulky. Torpedo sells a $20 Stainless picnic tap with MFL threads, but you need the $4 adaptor and I am not a fan of mixing metal threads with plastic.

I was excited about the 4L Oxebar kegs but have been waiting for about a year. Maybe both of these will show up in the US around the same time...I can hope.

 

[SanPancho]

well ****, i didnt even realize those were at morebeer. i would've bought some before they closed their shop down the road.

i think i'd rather go with the duotight picnic tap right into the FC connect. seems like it'd be simpler and better connection. the idea of relying on threads to keep 15psi contained seems sketchy to me.

EDIT: crap. just realized that isnt 8mm, but needs an adapter. i didnt catch that part of your post. ugh. i that case i guess you could just go ghetto style and rig it with a very short piece of 8mm eva onto the old school barb end. i have those on all my regular picnic taps, works fine, no leaks. not the end of the world i guess, but you'd need to be a bit more careful about hitting it in that scenario.

 

[tracer bullet]

I do feel like there is an opening for a better made picnic tap that directly connects to Eva Barrier lines.

I'm actually trying to move past that. I've ordered everything for my CO2 line to become stainless, and am hoping for a tap like one from this thread to get rid of the serving lines too.

I've tasted how the beer in the serving line changes flavor, likely due to oxidation, just overnight. So I've gotten to where I don't even think the EVA barrier's all that great. It is better than the vinyl in the past, I'll give it that.

If I can get one of these taps to work I'll be pretty happy. I'm trying really hard with the Picnic Tap 2.1, and have one of the flow controls mentioned as well. First shot with it was so-so but I need to try it again.

 

[tracer bullet]

There are a few threads on the Picnic Tap 2.1's, but I've replied here in the past so I'll add to this one.

I did get one to work, with an asterisk. It might be beer dependent?

My first tap of this type didn't work, I tried it a number of times on an ESB and got perhaps 50% foam. I ended up selling it here to Mac. A few months later I decided to try again, and was initially met with the same problems, this time on an attempted cold IPA. I did all the recommended stuff - orientation of the spiral gizmo (the more tightly wound spirals on one end or the other when reassembling), the length of it (it can be cut if you have a few extras), of course the keg psi was solid and the beer carbed but not overly, the tap cold, the glass cold but not frozen, you name it.

I almost gave up, but waited until I kegged a 7% stout, and - success, the thing works perfectly. Nothing else changed but the beer - same keg, same posts, same tap, same glass, same temperatures... but the beer did change. I am only guessing it's related to gravity and / or the ingredients, it's not exactly a head forming thing to start with.

So, long story short, it might be beer dependent? I'm a bit disappointed it doesn't work on all beers, but if it works on at least some of them, it's worth it.

 

[day_trippr]

I expect most folks dial down the carbonation level of their stouts compared to their pales and IPAs and the like.
That would make the stout commensurately "tamer" wrt dispensing...

Cheers!

 

[tracer bullet]

Perhaps, and overall I'm sure that would help. My CO2 regulator lives all day every day at 12 psi.

 

[day_trippr]

Ok, perhaps the stout hasn't fully carb'd up to equilibrium yet? Before I switched to a true stout faucet with beer gas I carbonated my stouts with straight CO2 to roughly 2.1 volumes which still took twice as long to fully carbonate vs the 2.5 volume pales and IPAs...

Cheers!

 

[quantumguy]

There are a few threads on the Picnic Tap 2.1's, but I've replied here in the past so I'll add to this one.

I did get one to work, with an asterisk. It might be beer dependent?

My first tap of this type didn't work, I tried it a number of times on an ESB and got perhaps 50% foam. I ended up selling it here to Mac. A few months later I decided to try again, and was initially met with the same problems, this time on an attempted cold IPA. I did all the recommended stuff - orientation of the spiral gizmo (the more tightly wound spirals on one end or the other when reassembling), the length of it (it can be cut if you have a few extras), of course the keg psi was solid and the beer carbed but not overly, the tap cold, the glass cold but not frozen, you name it.

I almost gave up, but waited until I kegged a 7% stout, and - success, the thing works perfectly. Nothing else changed but the beer - same keg, same posts, same tap, same glass, same temperatures... but the beer did change. I am only guessing it's related to gravity and / or the ingredients, it's not exactly a head forming thing to start with.

So, long story short, it might be beer dependent? I'm a bit disappointed it doesn't work on all beers, but if it works on at least some of them, it's worth it.

very strange. I've used my Picnic Tap 2.1 with lots of different beers, including highly carbonated hefeweizens and never had this problem (I dispense at the same pressure the beer is carb'd at) and I've even snipped the last thread off the spiral in order to increase the flow a bit (I have two of these). I generally have to work hard to get even 2 fingers of head on my pours. When you twist it on, do you do it quickly until it's wide open?

 

[tracer bullet]

very strange. I've used my Picnic Tap 2.1 with lots of different beers, including highly carbonated hefeweizens and never had this problem (I dispense at the same pressure the beer is carb'd at) and I've even snipped the last thread off the spiral in order to increase the flow a bit (I have two of these). I generally have to work hard to get even 2 fingers of head on my pours. When you twist it on, do you do it quickly until it's wide open?

Yep, quickly and wide open. Pretty sure that's not it. I've done all the things, read all the forum posts, had about 2 dozen emails with Trong, it's just hit and miss it seems. I think it simply works for some beers / recipes and not others. Some are more prone to foaming (perhaps the ones that would normally have good head and head retention, but that's just a guess).

 

[mac_1103]

FWIW, these are the beers I have poured with a Picnic Tap 2.1 so far:

Belgian Golden Ale - FG 1.013, 8.2% ABV
Belgian Tripel - FG 1.023, 8.3% ABV
Brut IPA - FG 0.998, 7.7% ABV

All were served at 12-15 PSI (cheap mini-regulators so take that with a grain of salt). If anything, I would have liked a bit more head on all of them.

I also bottled a keg-conditioned chocolate milk stout with the bottle filler version - FG 1.036, 8.3% ABV. Carbed to a little over 2 volumes, but bottled at <5 PSI. Last few bottles were a bit too foamy; I assume because the tap was warming up by then.

 

[mac_1103]

Public Service Announcement:
Nukatap Mini is now listed on the Williams Brewing website; expected availability 12/28/2023.