Draft Top can opener...what do you think?

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Works very well with an empty can, but a full can would require a flat stable surface to hold the can on. Not worth price and hassle. Solo cups.

Could have used it a couple of weeks ago though, but not for the price. Did a beer can chicken on the grill, with out the beer. Took the top off a soda can with a regular hand held opener. Left a sharp edge. Can was stuffed with lemon thyme and some chardonnay for moisture instead of beer.
 
I do this with a can opener, it pushes the top into the can. Then use the can for bacon drippings etc.

I haven't done it with a full beer tho, maybe I wil try later after the yard work.

Edit.
The can opener I used was the gear and cutting wheel with the cutting wheel positioned on top of can. Pushed the top in leaving the rolled edge. This was with pbr cans but I imagine cans are standardized.
 
unionrdr said:
Not bad, but not worth $45. More greed & avarice...
Click to expand...

wow. that's some straight up hater talk.

look at the item, its all stainless with a stained hardwood cover piece. lots of moving pieces, interlocking gears, etc. no way in hell this thing costs less than $30 to make. will price come down if they can hit mass quantities? of course. but that's not the point of kickstarter. first they have to buy the tooling to give to the factory. CRAZY expensive stuff to have made. and then buy the materials for what looks like about 1200 units and send them all out. plus the stickers, coozies, shirts, etc. and shipping. add it all up.

and as for whether its "worth" it.... well lets just say we all have our own opinions. i, for one, dont know that i think its worth $45 to be able to cut the top off my beer-- even a super hoppy "aroma" craft beer- but my wife is a cocktail drinker and i know for a fact her life (and therefore mine) would be infinitely easier if she and her friends could cut the top off the can and dump in gin/vodka/whiskey to make drinks. how simple does a plastic bottle of bourbon/vodka/gin + a case of tonic/soda/ginger ale cans sound? poolside, down at the river where they outlawed glass recently, on boats, camping, at the beach, etc.

if you dont like the idea, fine. but i think automatically hitting these guys with the "greed and avarice" slam is uncalled for, at minimum. some basic math says the price is not indicative of either.
 
I think the idea is cool and I really like how they did it. The problem is that when I'm inside I just pour the can into a glass (and I don't pour as badly as the person did in the video). When I'm outside one of the advantages is having just that small tab on the can. The beer is less likely to spill and flies or dirt are less likely to get into my beer. The advantage to having a can in one piece is that trash is easier to handle too...with this I would probably have a bunch of can tops lying around. If I want to drink from a wide open container I can always pour it into something else...I always have my jetboil when I camp and it's easy to drink beer out of that without faffing about with can tops.
 
SanPancho said:
wow. that's some straight up hater talk.

look at the item, its all stainless with a stained hardwood cover piece. lots of moving pieces, interlocking gears, etc. no way in hell this thing costs less than $30 to make. will price come down if they can hit mass quantities? of course. but that's not the point of kickstarter. first they have to buy the tooling to give to the factory. CRAZY expensive stuff to have made. and then buy the materials for what looks like about 1200 units and send them all out. plus the stickers, coozies, shirts, etc. and shipping. add it all up.

and as for whether its "worth" it.... well lets just say we all have our own opinions. i, for one, dont know that i think its worth $45 to be able to cut the top off my beer-- even a super hoppy "aroma" craft beer- but my wife is a cocktail drinker and i know for a fact her life (and therefore mine) would be infinitely easier if she and her friends could cut the top off the can and dump in gin/vodka/whiskey to make drinks. how simple does a plastic bottle of bourbon/vodka/gin + a case of tonic/soda/ginger ale cans sound? poolside, down at the river where they outlawed glass recently, on boats, camping, at the beach, etc.

if you dont like the idea, fine. but i think automatically hitting these guys with the "greed and avarice" slam is uncalled for, at minimum. some basic math says the price is not indicative of either.
Click to expand...

Not a hater at all, just realistic. I don't care what it's made out of, it's still a can opener that cuts through the bead of the can. I can get those around here for a lot less than $45. Not to mention, buying parts in mass quantities is always cheaper than retail. I'm a 2nd generation UAW, & was a foreman to boot & I can tell you those engines didn't cost anywhere near the thousands they charge you to buy one. A few hundred actually. Prototypes are one thing, true, but reality is quite another. We don't need more expensive products, we need to reign things in a bit to get back to what made this country great when I was growing up...not what it's become where everything costs too much. It's a good idea, but still just a can opener.
 
I like the idea, I just tried it with a full pbr and my can opener. It wasn't perfect but you do get a different flavor profile, I thew in a semi dried hop in it now figured I would experiment.

Any way i thought I saw some where they are developing cans with removable tops already like the new soup cans. If that is the case and the price is right craft brewers will use those.
 
beernutz said:
Great idea, I hope the make their goal in spite of neanderthal objections.
Click to expand...


Did you look at the goal??? They have $101,245 for a $75,000 goal....
And 18 days to go!!

THEY HAVE ALREADY PASSED THEIR GOAL!

That said it looks nice but why would you really need one??

Pour the beer into a glass, but not the way it was done in the video!!!!!
 
That toucan one isn't bad. but the one I got at G.E. cut through the middle of the bead, thereby making a reusable cap outta the lid.
 
I don't "need" 90% of the things I own. I'm sure it cost less then $45 to make...but that's the idea, they take the risk of entrepreneurship to turn a profit. I wouldn't call that greedy. I think it would be a cool novelty for parties and gatherings. I've seen people spend a lot more for a lot less. I say good job!
 
unionrdr said:
We don't need more expensive products, we need to reign things in a bit to get back to what made this country great when I was growing up...not what it's become where everything costs too much.
Click to expand...

That's actually a really bad idea. How did you miss this as a UAW vet? We Americans have completely and totally lost the commodity wars. Anything that is cheap, low tech and produced in mass has already left this country for China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, etc. We can only produce things here if they a high-value/high tech enough to warrant the higher cost of US labor, regulation, land/rents, etc. Industrial and farm machinery, planes, autos, pharmaceuticals, etc.

We don't want to go low tech. Germany is renowned for high quality and high value manufacturing. Siemens, Bosch, Daimler, Mercedes, etc. China makes crappy toys, Vietnam makes crappy shoes, and Bangladesh makes crappy tube socks and tighty-whiteys - we buy all of it by the the dozen at Walmart. Which of the above countries would you rather the U.S. try to emulate in our economy?

I don't know that I think it's worth $45 to me for the can cutter, I agree with you there. If $45 is what it takes to make a first run of something that could possibly become a new made-in-America job-creating product, then so be it. Buy it or don't. But calling these guys greedy and full of avarice is BS. And justifying the moral attack by saying the U.S. should follow China, Vietnam, etc in a race to the bottom for cheap manufactured goods is crazy.

I won't buy one, not for $45. But I wish them luck and I hope more young folks follow their lead and try to start the next great American company. We need it.
 
At the same time... Saying that I hope more people make expensive products! But I won't buy it for that much.... Isn't exactly a help either.
 
Some people have more expendable income than other people. An innovation such as this is very attractive. As soon as the novelty wears off, it becomes a disposable item without regret.
 
SanPancho said:
That's actually a really bad idea. How did you miss this as a UAW vet? We Americans have completely and totally lost the commodity wars. Anything that is cheap, low tech and produced in mass has already left this country for China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, etc. We can only produce things here if they a high-value/high tech enough to warrant the higher cost of US labor, regulation, land/rents, etc. Industrial and farm machinery, planes, autos, pharmaceuticals, etc.

We don't want to go low tech. Germany is renowned for high quality and high value manufacturing. Siemens, Bosch, Daimler, Mercedes, etc. China makes crappy toys, Vietnam makes crappy shoes, and Bangladesh makes crappy tube socks and tighty-whiteys - we buy all of it by the the dozen at Walmart. Which of the above countries would you rather the U.S. try to emulate in our economy?

I don't know that I think it's worth $45 to me for the can cutter, I agree with you there. If $45 is what it takes to make a first run of something that could possibly become a new made-in-America job-creating product, then so be it. Buy it or don't. But calling these guys greedy and full of avarice is BS. And justifying the moral attack by saying the U.S. should follow China, Vietnam, etc in a race to the bottom for cheap manufactured goods is crazy.

I won't buy one, not for $45. But I wish them luck and I hope more young folks follow their lead and try to start the next great American company. We need it.
Click to expand...
Because, as a 2nd generation UAW member, the only way the company would lower the ridiculously high price of the cars is if WE took ALL the pay cuts to let them keep their profit margin. High price is a falsehood perpetrated on the general public as a perception of quality. Things used to be made better & last longer in even my parents day for far less money. Hell, I used to be able to buy a new car for about $2,700 & not need a laptop to tune the friggin' thing. High tech isn't always better, as you young folks mistakenly observe. High tech means less tunability/repairability versus cost.
And those foreign countries got ergonomics & QC from us here in the US. We were ordered to be nice to them & answer all there questions when some Korean or Japanese big shot came around asking questions with 3-4 guys taking notes & another with a camera! I couldn't get a pic of me on my job, but they could get pics of my job & I had to give them the details by direct order!. So, anyway, they got QC from us & ran with with it. That's another reason we wound up with " team concept". so get your knowledge right first-hand before criticizing the likes of us that have been there.
 
wowsa! take it easy there Pops. you've officially become the stereotype of a crabby old fart, crying about how everything was better in the old days. i'm getting a mental picture somewhere between Abe Simpson and Archie Bunker.

so... tell us how old school you really are--

do you fire your brew kettle with wood logs?
keep all your beer in wooden barrels?
when you crush grain is the stone wheel powered by the river or a mule?
do you BIAB with a burlap sack?


can we both agree on a bit of irony here......you're bitching about progress and technology ON THE INTERWEBS!!!!! :smack:

Look, Pops, its a free country, you have every right to be an ornery ol' goat. but my original point still stands. these guys are trying to launch a new business. dont be a hater. just say you think its overpriced and you wont buy it until the price comes down. no harm in that at all. hell, i'll even agree with you. but dont be a dick and put your personal issues and problems with america onto these guys calling them greedy and avaricious, blaming them for the all the troubles in the world. not cool. that's all i'm going to say.

and please post pics of the wood fired kettle with the burlap brew bag.
 
'Artisan' is the word hipsters use nowadays. This is a nicely built trinket, well within my discretionary spending. Will I buy it? Meh. I buy lots of things that aren't justifiable for their price (Jeep Wrangler!)

It's not for everyone. Clearly. I disagree about automotive quality though. US Build quality from the 70's through the 2000's was atrocious compared to imports (in general). It's turned around now, but romanticizing US auto quality during 'the dark years' is a bit of a stretch...

I've always bought domestic, so this comes from experience dealing with disintegrating interior trim and sketchy electrical systems. 'Murica!
 
I like how having standards, and sticking by them, gets you insulted.

"pops"
"do you fire your brew kettle with wood logs?
keep all your beer in wooden barrels?
when you crush grain is the stone wheel powered by the river or a mule?
do you BIAB with a burlap sack?"
"pops" (again)"

And then, the kicker:

"dont be a dick" - all the while, being a total dick to the person being responded to.

;)
 
Yup. Pot calling the kettle black. And yeah, i do have standards & try to stick to them. Not everyone does, apparently. Another reason things are the way they turned out. I now digress, as dissenting opinions aren't all that welcome anymore...let's all drink to the death of a clown...
 
There are a few craft breweries that use cans where the entire top comes off. I thought it was pretty cool, but not entirely necessary. One point made in the comments above is that this would be nice for people who drink cocktails and want to pour a shot of rum in their coke, for example. I really like that idea for tailgating, the lake, etc etc. Can I carefully pour liquor into a can? Yes. But it doesn't exactly mix well. This allows for a quick mix.

Either way, the product doesn't appeal to me past the novelty of it. I look around and see a house full of items that appealed to me until the novelty wore off. I'm trying to live life without knee jerk buying these days. So while I wouldn't mind owning one of these and I think the price point is about what I would consider reasonable for a kickstarter product, it is not a purchase I'll be making. I will try my can opener on my soda can later though, for science.
 
Draft Top can opener...what do you think?

The price is too much (for me). I 'might' pay $10 for a limited-use item such as this.
It looks nice with the contrast between wood and metal.
I don't like that the lid ends up in the liquid and has to be fished out.

I've drank thousands of cans of beer and never really wished the top had a bigger opening. So, it's a pass for me. Good luck to them.
 
unionrdr said:
Because, as a 2nd generation UAW member, the only way the company would lower the ridiculously high price of the cars is if WE took ALL the pay cuts to let them keep their profit margin. High price is a falsehood perpetrated on the general public as a perception of quality. Things used to be made better & last longer in even my parents day for far less money. Hell, I used to be able to buy a new car for about $2,700 & not need a laptop to tune the friggin' thing. High tech isn't always better, as you young folks mistakenly observe. High tech means less tunability/repairability versus cost.
And those foreign countries got ergonomics & QC from us here in the US. We were ordered to be nice to them & answer all there questions when some Korean or Japanese big shot came around asking questions with 3-4 guys taking notes & another with a camera! I couldn't get a pic of me on my job, but they could get pics of my job & I had to give them the details by direct order!. So, anyway, they got QC from us & ran with with it. That's another reason we wound up with " team concept". so get your knowledge right first-hand before criticizing the likes of us that have been there.
Click to expand...
Modern direct fuel injection and computer control is the biggest advance in new car design. Yes, you "need a laptop tontune the friggin thing" but that tradeoff is more than worth it. This high tech produces higher specific output and much higher efficiency (mpg)
Things get better every year. Nostalgia is fun, but be realistic
 

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