Lukr faucet style flexibility

[rmr9]

I’m heading into a “treat yourself” opportunity in the near future and was thinking about looking into a Lukr side pull faucet for my kegerator.

I know of course they’re synonymous with Czech style lagers, but I’m curious if they work well with other beer styles. At the moment I mainly brew German lagers so I imagine I could use the Lukr for those beers but how would it handle say a porter or pale ale?

 

[jdauria]

Pretty sure a local lager brewery here in Mass, Notch, uses side pour for their German lagers too. And my brewery in my town uses one or two, for any lager they have on tap among their plethora of IPAs.

 

[Bassman2003]

I think they would work for many styles. You might need to carb a little higher since more CO2 will be knocked out of solution during the pour.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Agree with both above, I have a lukr that I mostly use for my hb Czech. I've left it on and poured other styles, but bumped carb level up just a little. I have not poured a porter with it but I don't see it being a problem.

 

[rmr9]

So for example carb to 2.75 if you want 2.5 served kind of deal? I figured it was possible to use the faucet for other styles but I wasn’t sure. I know some styles are amazing on nitro or in cask but others fall flat in those formats.

I was thinking a mlíko pour from a porter would be pretty dang tasty

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Do it!!!

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

I actually have my Czech on the lukr tap now, it's just about fully carbed, probably another day or so. But poured one last night, standard hladinka pour.

 

[rmr9]

I actually have my Czech on the lukr tap now, it's just about fully carbed, probably another day or so. But poured one last night, standard hladinka pour.
View attachment 871816

That looks great! I’d have to track down some mugs that’s for sure. Speaking of which that looks like a Tübinger mug where did you happen to pick that up? I’ve had a hard time when I’ve looked and have resorted to scanning eBay for them without much luck at all.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

I see them very often. Most styles are lagers. Even a very very small brewery in my town has a couple handles

I was just at Notch for their Starkbierfest

https://photos.app.goo.gl/i77JUYLvFfSUixdr5


Treehouse's menu even separates them as Like pours. There's probably another dozen taps behind me

https://photos.app.goo.gl/i77JUYLvFfSUixdr5

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

That looks great! I’d have to track down some mugs that’s for sure. Speaking of which that looks like a Tübinger mug where did you happen to pick that up? I’ve had a hard time when I’ve looked and have resorted to scanning eBay for them without much luck at all.

That mug is actually a troegenator mug I picked up from troegs brewery a little while back, it was the closest thing I found for what I was looking for.. what I plan to order at some point to use with the side pull is a couple of iittala krouvi 50cl mugs, ebay has them.

 

[rmr9]

I did a quick google of those mugs they’re pretty sharp. The only thing I have at this point is a mug I picked up while I was in Vienna this fall but it’s “special” so nobody else will get to use it!

I’ve never had the chance to try anything from Notch but it’s on my list of things to do. I might have to make a long weekend trip up to Mass to visit Notch and Jack’s Abby someday.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

I've got a whole shelf of treehouse dimple mugs.

I'd highly recommend Notch. Especially when they hold seasonal events. There's two locations. I'd recommend the Boston location as there's trillium very close by and others like Long Live and Vitamin Sea has pop up locations. Notch is Salem is a pita to get to from anywhere.

They also get good grades for their non alcoholic. It's been a while since I've had notch out of the can but draft is best. They do online delivery to most states

Here's a Lent event just a couple of weeks ago at Notch. Parking isn't bad there either. The one off barrels they do. Like the pine pitch doppelbock

 

[rmr9]

I've got a whole shelf of treehouse dimple mugs.

I'd highly recommend Notch. Especially when they hold seasonal events. There's two locations. I'd recommend the Boston location as there's trillium very close by and others like Long Live and Vitamin Sea has pop up locations. Notch is Salem is a pita to get to from anywhere.

They also get good grades for their non alcoholic. It's been a while since I've had notch out of the can but draft is best. They do online delivery to most states

Here's a Lent event just a couple of weeks ago at Notch. Parking isn't bad there either. The one off barrels they do. Like the pine pitch doppelbockView attachment 871823View attachment 871824View attachment 871827View attachment 871828View attachment 871830

Wow that looks awesome! It’s been so long since I’ve been to a festival like that. Beautiful sunny day with mugs of doppelbock? Sounds great to me.

 

[jdauria]

I've got a whole shelf of treehouse dimple mugs.

I'd highly recommend Notch. Especially when they hold seasonal events. There's two locations. I'd recommend the Boston location as there's trillium very close by and others like Long Live and Vitamin Sea has pop up locations. Notch is Salem is a pita to get to from anywhere.

They also get good grades for their non alcoholic. It's been a while since I've had notch out of the can but draft is best. They do online delivery to most states

Fellow Masshole...love love love Notch, just never get there enough. As a lager guy, to me, they are the best brewery in the State. I know TreeHouse is always the top of any list, but there are a ton of breweries that make fantastic IPAs too, like as you mentioned, Trillium and Vitamin Sea and have to say in my town, Widowmaker cranks out great IPAs too. But Notch is constantly pumping out lager perfection and their one or two IPAs are not bad either.

Have you ever made the long haul up to Schilling in NH? They have moved to the top of my "best lager brewery in New England" list over Notch, after I visited there last year. Just world class stuff and all from a shockingly small brew space. Distribution to Mass is not as great as it used to be, as liquor stores reduced space for beers in favor of seltzers and canned cocktails after Covid. Can find a few locally and then there is a place in Boston at Haymarket, that usually has 4-6 different ones, so when we go to North End for dinner I will grab them. Otherwise a friend and I will every few months take the hour ride to just over the NH border to a craft beer store and load up on Schilling stuff we have not had before.

As for the best lager brewery in New England list, I guess it's really not much of a list ..Schilling, Notch, Jack Abby's and East Rock in my hometown of New Haven CT, are the only 4 lager centric ones I can think of. Oh, Sacred Profane in Maine too, owned by the girl, Brienne who was the head brewer at Notch for years. But they only make 2 lagers, Czech Pale, Czech Dark, though you can get a blend as a Czech Amber. Will say though, Tree House has really stepped up their lager game the last few years and Widowmaker in Braintree too, as started focusing on using traditional lager brewing methods for theirs.

 

[Wayne1]

We have 3) LUKRs to pour our traditional lagers. We just added a fourth with the LUKR stout nozzle for our Export stout pushed with nitrogen. It pours with a beautiful, cascading effect and ends up with a tight creamy head.

 

[rmr9]

I didn’t even know Lukr faucets had stout nozzles, that’s pretty cool! It sounds like they can be used with more or less any lager type and work well for other beer types as well. Not one trick ponies.

Now I have to weigh if this is the best “treat yourself” option. In my cursory research it looks like kegworks has the lowest price on them with US shank adapters and I’m lucky in that I grew up 15 minutes from there so I can have my brother pick it up there - save the shipping!

 

[Wayne1]

GW Kent has them and other LUKR parts in stock.

LUKR Stout nozzle

 

[rmr9]

What I’m taking home from this thread is that nobody who has one has regretted it in any fashion.

How’s cleaning and maintenance on one of these faucets? I imagine more involved than my current Nuka taps, but is it complex?

 

[Wayne1]

Tear down of LUKR faucets