Mancan growler?

[virgil1]

I am new to home brewing, getting ready to bottle my first. I did an all grain kit, just a gallon. I started looking at different options for all-grain equipment, and will probably start with a kettle HLT, cooler Mashtun, and Brew Kettle. That leaves fermenting and bottling or kegging. I have been doing a lot of research, and found this:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mancanbeer/mancan-put-a-brewery-in-your-fridge-not-a-growler

Its $170 with two CO2 cartridges. My first batch is going in some Grolsch flip tops. I started looking at keg systems, and saw this thinking it would be great to just have a gallon in the fridge. Anyone seen these? Anyone have any other info on them? I did a search on the forum and didn't see any hits.

 

[Subdivisions]

I suppose that'd be fine if you're doing gallon batches. I could buy a couple 5 gallon corny kegs and a co2 tank for that price though. If you look hard enough you can find CO2 tanks for really cheap or free. I got a 20lb tank that was half full for free because the lady that had it was afraid to have it in her garage.

You're allowed to just fill a corny keg up with a gallon of beer. It'll just take more CO2 to fill the headspace up but who cares if you have a 5 or 10 pound tank. I would think those co2 cartridges for that 1 gallon unit may not carb up and push out too many batches.

 

[Natdavis777]

Ive seen them. I think they are neat. Wouldnt do me any good as I do 10gal batches and have a plethora of kegs, but I think these are ideal for smaller batches (1-2gal). You dont have to invest in a large co2 tank, regulator, a dedicated fridge/freezer, etc. If you plan to stick with smaller batches, I say go for it. If, however, you foresee yourself jumping into 5gal batches or more, and want to keg, I feel that money could be better spent elsewhere.

 

[Natdavis777]

I suppose that'd be fine if you're doing gallon batches. I could buy a couple 5 gallon corney kegs and a co2 tank for that price though. If you look hard enough you can find CO2 tanks for really cheap or free. I got a 20lb tank that was half full for free because the lady that had it was afraid to have it in her garage.

You're allowed to just fill a corney keg up with a gallon of beer. It'll just take more CO2 to fill the headspace up but who cares if you have a 5 or 10 pound tank. I would think those co2 cartridges for that 1 gallon unit may not carb up and push out too many batches.

Ha, a friend of mine (who works for a craft beer distributor) gave me a 1/6bbl and a 5# tank for free because she didnt know what to do with the keg and was afraid of the tank being in her car. I kindly obliged.

 

[Subdivisions]

Ha, a friend of mine (who works for a craft beer distributor) gave me a 1/6bbl and a 5# tank for free because she didnt know what to do with the keg and was afraid of the tank being in her car. I kindly obliged.

Nice, always good to know the uninformed. She probably shouldn't have had the tank in the car either. I've seen some stories about that.

 

[Natdavis777]

Nice, always good to know the uninformed. She probably shouldn't have had the tank in the car either. I've seen some stories about that.

I hear ya. It was empty. She had it in the car for a good while, knowing it was empty, but still made her uneasy. Either way, I now have a backup tank (10$ fill at AirGas) and another sanke. 100$ not spent in my book = have another beer!

 

[Subdivisions]

I hear ya. It was empty. She had it in the car for a good while, knowing it was empty, but still made her uneasy. Either way, I now have a backup tank (10$ fill at AirGas) and another sanke. 100$ not spent in my book = have another beer!

= make some more batches!!

 

[Natdavis777]

= make some more batches!!

Will have 30+gal on tap in 2 weeks!! Sadly its for a cornhole tourney, so most will be drank... But at least I have the potential...:rockin:

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

Only room for a gallon of beer? Doesn't seem worth it.

 

[Ski12568]

I really want one for 1 gallon test batches but if I don't get one before the starter ends I'm not going to ever buy it

 

[jpoppinmoneyunit]

The mancans are on sale 50% off on their website, as of this post (www.mancan.beer).

I got two from the kickstarter. They are nice for mini batches and pulling a gallon off of a 5 gallon batch to experiement. I'm currently using a paintball tank with regulator for mine to force carb and whatnot. Here's some pro's and con's that I have with the Mancan products:

Pro's:

Nice looking, very very durable.
Awesome to experiment by pulling a gallon off of a 5 gal batch.
Perfect for keg conditioning or force carbing.
Can fill them like a standard growler but still have keg like benefits.
Works great with wine.
Fits in the door of your fridge.

Cons:

Expensive, especially compared to buying used 5 gal corny's.
"Perfect Pour" regulator has never ever worked right, even the beefed up version.
New company so customer service isn't quite up to par.

Hope this helps. I think they are a very cool product, especially for camping trips, but wait for the sales!

 

[GPP33]

How do you not get a cup full of foam? On my 5 gal kegs in order to get decent carbonation I need a 10' beer line. I'm not seeing how a ~1ft beer line would work with this.

The sale price of $100 is pretty tempting though, I like the prospect of draft home brew on camping trips. Draft beer in the parking lot after skiing? Heck yea!

 

[GPP33]

Looks like you can hook it up to your regular CO2 system while at home too.

 

[BBBF]

How do you not get a cup full of foam? On my 5 gal kegs in order to get decent carbonation I need a 10' beer line. I'm not seeing how a ~1ft beer line would work with this.

The sale price of $100 is pretty tempting though, I like the prospect of draft home brew on camping trips. Draft beer in the parking lot after skiing? Heck yea!

I bought a couple of them off ebay recently. I haven't used them yet, but I think the idea is you carbonate the beer with the appropriate pressure, release the head pressure and pour it with a much, much lower pressure.

 

[jpoppinmoneyunit]

Exactly. Carbonate as usual then serve at a much lower pressure. One gallon isn't enough to go flat at lower serving pressures.

I still think the "perfect pour" regulator is set too high though. Sometimes I have to turn it off and then pour to not get all foam.

 

[jmcquesten]

Exactly. Carbonate as usual then serve at a much lower pressure. One gallon isn't enough to go flat at lower serving pressures.

I still think the "perfect pour" regulator is set too high though. Sometimes I have to turn it off and then pour to not get all foam.

I don't have these, but in regards to the foaming issue, it looks like the serving line is way too short. It probably needs to be at least 6-8 ft depending on whatever pressure the regulator is putting out.

Also, it seems like these are a bit too small to be worth the hassle and to warrant the price, especially full price for the whole set-up. 8 pints isn't really that much beer. I would rather spend that money on a 2.5 gallon keg as a portable serving device.

Anyways, try a longer serving line if the foam remains an issue. I run 15 ft serving lines on my portable keg setup.

 

[mjc999]

I can tell you from direct experience that the serving line length is not an issue.
I started with a Tap-a-Draft with no serving line at all and no control over pressure. It produced foam most of the time.
I then bought a growltap which has the short length of serving line. It did not however have any control over pressure so I replaced the tire inflator with a mini regulator. The whole setup works like a champ. I've used it on a 64 oz growler and the 6L tap a draft bottle...they have the same cap thread. The growltap has a relief valve so exploding glass growlers is not an issue...plus the mini regulator only goes to 30 psi.

As to why anyone would want one of these...I don't have room for a kegerator. A 2.5 gallon keg is too big for the everyday fridge. Using a separate dorm fridge is an option for the 2.5gal, but is still an additional fridge that needs to be somewhere.

I also think the mancan dimensions are impractical for using in a typical fridge.

I'm going to move to gallon growlers or what I think might be the perfect size...the 1.5 gallon slimline torpedo keg from morebeer.

Hope my experiences are helpful.

Best,
Mark

 

[jpoppinmoneyunit]

Yeah the mancan really is designed so you can have it in your house fridge and having a longer tap line then makes it impractical.

Usually when people are using a picnic tap then they're at a party and using one of those trigger co2 dispensers. That's why I think the perfect pour regulator is set up too high. The only time I've gotten a nice pour without foam is with a perlick flow control directly on. But then you are really spending some cash haha.

I also agree, the mancan is a bit tall. It would be nice if it was a little shorter and rounder.

 

[jpoppinmoneyunit]

This is what I have set up for bringing IPA to my parents house for thanksgiving.

 

[jpoppinmoneyunit]

Sorry, uploaded sideways from my phone..

 

[mjc999]

Very high "cool" factor for that ^^^ setup.

I like the picnic tap as it allows me to bury growler/mini-keg in the back and still have easy dispense access.

 

[jpoppinmoneyunit]

Agreed! I have to do that at my house because the tap is too tall. Works really well though!