Hands on Review: NukaTap Flow Control Faucets!
Updated: July 14, 2024
This review is by Homebrew Finds Contributor Brad Probert. Brad is an engineer, expert homebrewer and experienced reviewer. Grab a link to Brad’s website at the end of this review.
Nukatap Flow Control Keg Faucet
There are a wide variety of options for how to take your kegged homebrew with you to a party or meet up with friends. There is a big draw to kegging your homebrew because of how it simplifies the process of serving your beer after it’s finished in the fermentor. But it’s obviously less portable than individual bottles. There are mini keg/growlers you can fill from the tap, or bottle fillers that you can connect right to your tap. But these options all come with the extra step of cleaning and filling additional “stuff”. Being able to serve directly from the keg has advantages from that perspective.
Flow Control Faucet Disassembled
The most common option of serving from the keg is the picnic tap/cobra tap attached to a length of beer tubing. The downside of cobra taps is their propensity to fail, or propensity of your partygoers to not know what they’re doing and end up spilling/wasting a lot of beer. A jockey box is great for a bigger event where you’re going to be pouring a lot of beer over a longer period of time. But these are expensive, big/bulky to haul around, and makes another thing that has an involved cleaning process afterwards.
There have been ball lock keg faucets out on the market for some time. But unless you’re using these on a growler with a restrictive dip tube in it, these aren’t very practical. Putting a regular faucet on a keg gives you a cup of mostly foam unless you take special care to nearly de-carb your beer first (and who likes flat beer?). For these to work properly when directly attached to a keg, you need a flow control faucet. Kegland’s ball lock shank – Review – has the same interface as a regular keg shank like you have on your keezer, so they just mate this to their regular Nukatap. Then you can serve directly from the keg, and it’s not a big piece of gear to haul around with you or clean up later.
Check Current Pricing and Availability, Review Continues Below:
NukaTap Faucets come in three variations. Stainless, Stealth (Matte Black) and Flow Control. All feature stainless steel construction, forward seal design and all the other NukaTap innovations.
I’m also linking to Intertap faucets and accessories where applicable because all Intertap spouts work with NukaTap
- Nukatap Stainless Flow Control Faucet – at William’s Brewing
- Nukatap Flow Control Keg Faucet – at William’s Brewing
- NukaTap Faucets & Accessories – at William’s Brewing
- NukaTap Stainless Steel Beer Faucet (With Flow Control) D1584 – at MoreBeer
- Gen 2: NukaTap® Stainless Steel Beer Faucet | Flow Control Gen 2 | Forward Sealing
- KegLand Nukatap Beverage Faucet | Patented Forward Sealing Design | Flow Control | Stainless Steel | Beer Tap | Interchangeable Spouts – at Amazon
- Nukatap Flow Control Keg Faucet – at Keg Outlet
- Nuka Tap Stainless Steel Flow Control Faucet – at Keg Connection
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How Does a Flow Control Faucet Work?
Quick explanation of how a flow control faucet works. A flow control faucet has an external adjustment lever that connects to a tapered shuttle piece inside the faucet. Adjusting the lever moves the shuttle closer or further away from a seat, changing the flow area for the beer as it’s headed for the faucet tip. The smaller the flow area, the more restriction, and thus the beer flows more slowly. The key in the design of this shuttle is to provide flow restriction but avoid areas where you quickly move from high to low pressure. This leads to CO2 coming out of solution, which means beer foam. An example of this type of “flow control” is a half open faucet. It creates a small flow area, but it creates a big pressure drop as the beer pushes past the sealing ball, and you get a bunch of foam in your cup.
Flow Control Tapered Shuttle
Related Top Post:
What Does a Flow Control Faucet Do?
Hands on Review
I have previously evaluated the Nukatap faucet, so I was familiar with all the benefits it brought to the table. – Nukatap Hands on Review – The new part for me was the single-piece molded ball lock housing with the shank incorporated. This was nice versus other designs I have seen. Others have an adapter piece to go between the faucet and an MFL ball lock fitting (more parts = more potential leak spots). Having this as a single molded piece was clean, simple, and efficient.
Faucet with FC Shuttle Inside
One thing that is unique to the Nukatap Flow Control faucet is it can have a self-closing spring added. It’s different from the standard faucet self-closing spring because the geometry of the parts inside a flow control faucet are different. I did not get a chance to try this out, but since this keg faucet tap is intended for mobile usage at parties or gatherings, the $1 it costs from Williams Brewing for the self-closing spring is money well spent.
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Balancing Your Kegerator Draft System
Related Review: Hands on Review Nukatap Faucets
Before this, I had not tried a flow control faucet. On my keezer, I run a single regulated pressure, and have common line lengths for everything, so I had no need. But for a keg-mounted faucet, the flow control was mandatory since I wouldn’t have 6 feet of beer line between the keg and faucet. I was nervous about the potential for the flow control mechanism to create foaming. However, it turned out that I had nothing to be worried about. I don’t know if Kegland’s Nukatap flow control faucet has a different design from other flow control faucets, or if they all use the same basic design. But it worked exactly as you’d want it to. Before adjustment, the beer came out way too fast and made a foamy mess in the cup. I adjusted the lever on the side of the faucet until it was filling a 16 oz glass in around 12 seconds (which is the same as I target for beers poured from my keezer). Even without doing any special pre-chilling of the faucet, I was getting good pours with decent foam head on top. With a 12-second pour, I was getting about 1″ more head on top from the flow control keg faucet compared to the same beer poured through a regular Nukatap faucet on my keezer.
12-Second Pour Comparison
I had different types of kegs at home, so I checked the keg faucet with each of them. The Torpedo keg and the Corny ball lock kegs worked fine. Both of those style kegs have handles on two sides and a gap where the keg posts are. However, I also have a Coke keg that was converted from pin lock to ball lock. With that style of keg, the shank part of the fitting runs into the handle of the keg and the ball lock can’t get seated. So, it doesn’t work on that style of keg.
Torpedo Keg- Faucet Fits
I had a great opportunity for a field test with this faucet, as I was headed out of town to meet up with college friends. Of course, that meant I brewed special beer for the occasion. I had two kegs feeding through a draft box, and I hooked up the Nukatap Flow Control Keg Faucet to the third. I kept the keg cold in a Cool Brewing insulated keg cooler bag with an ice pack. The angle and the height of the faucet allowed it to poke up through the top of the bag, and you could easily get your cup under it to fill up. It worked flawlessly through an extended weekend.
Keg Faucet in Cool Brewing Bag
Conclusions
The faucet worked reliably, and I was impressed with how the flow control worked. I loved the small compact size that made for easy packing/transport, and how easy it was to clean when finished. Dispensing beer on a mobile unit with a tap interface worked so much better than watching people try to operate a picnic tap properly. A picnic tap is definitely cheaper than a keg faucet, but if you can afford the upgrade, the flow control keg faucet delivers with reliability and style.
Check Current Pricing and Availability, More Photos & Related Content Below:
NukaTap Faucets come in three variations. Stainless, Stealth (Matte Black) and Flow Control. All feature stainless steel construction, forward seal design and all the other NukaTap innovations.
- Nukatap Stainless Flow Control Faucet – at William’s Brewing
- Nukatap Flow Control Keg Faucet – at William’s Brewing
- NukaTap Faucets & Accessories – at William’s Brewing
- NukaTap Stainless Steel Beer Faucet (With Flow Control) D1584 – at MoreBeer
- Gen 2: NukaTap® Stainless Steel Beer Faucet | Flow Control Gen 2 | Forward Sealing
- KegLand Nukatap Beverage Faucet | Patented Forward Sealing Design | Flow Control | Stainless Steel | Beer Tap | Interchangeable Spouts – at Amazon
- Nukatap Flow Control Keg Faucet – at Keg Outlet
- Nuka Tap Stainless Steel Flow Control Faucet – at Keg Connection
Related: Hands on Review Nukatap Counter Pressure Bottle Filler!
Announcing: KegLand Nukatap Gen 2 Flow Control Faucets!
NukaTap® Stainless Steel Beer Faucet | Flow Control Gen 2 | Forward Sealing
More InfoFrom the product description, check product page for current description, price and availability:
- G2 model features redesigned flow control mechanism for improved shank sealing and flow control
- Make instant adjustments to beverage flow as you pour
- Switch from pouring pints to filling growlers without adjusting your CO2 regulator
- Reduced first pour foam due to low thermal mass
- Forward-sealing design prevents beer residue from gumming up the faucet
- Unique shuttle design greatly improves laminar flow, improving the pour of carbonated beverages
- Compatible with all Intertap faucet accessories and shanks
Generation 2
The NukaTap Flow Control G2 uses a completely new flow control mechanism with better sealing properties against the shank as well as improved flow control.
Control the Flow
The flow control model is a great option for users that often switch between beer styles with different carbonation levels. No need to rebalance your lines or play with your regulator settings. Instantly make adjustments as you pour to dial in the flow rate. This is also a super convenient feature for when you want to grab a quick growler on your way out. By dialing back the flow rate, you can gently fill your growler so CO2 stays in solution and your beer doesn’t pour flat when it comes time to share. The NukaTap Flow Control faucet is also the first FC model to be fully compatible with the optional self-closing spring.
First Pour Foam Reduction
Every kegerator owner knows the letdown of pouring your first pint of the day and getting too much foam. Even with perfectly balanced draft lines, first pour foam is sometimes unavoidable simply due to the temperature of the faucet itself. Running beer through the faucet will drop the temperature, and the foaming will subside, but not without a bit of wasted beer from pouring off excess head. The NukaTap beer faucet drops to beer serving temperature much faster thanks to its lower thermal mass. Simply put, the bulkier the faucet is, the more beer is needed to flow through and chill the tap. The NukaTap is over 20% lighter than its Intertap predecessor, and even lighter still compared to other brands of faucets.
Improved Laminar Flow
The inspiration for the NukaTap name comes from its uniquely designed “nuke-shaped” shuttle that resides on the inside of the faucet. The NukaShuttle went through numerous rounds of redesigns and countless hours of testing to find a shape that provides superior laminar flow. This means that liquid passes by the shuttle with very little resistance, allowing highly carbonated beers or hard seltzers to pour like a dream.
Sanitary Design
The NukaShuttle is the world’s first seamless single-piece design. Traditional taps feature an o-ring seated on a stainless steel shuttle, which can cause a couple of issues. After many pours, the stainless shuttle rubbing against the internal body of the faucet will create small fissures that become potential infection sites, and the seated o-ring can be difficult to clean in place, making your draft cleaning and sanitizing process less effective than you realize. The NukaShuttle is an advanced TPV rubber matrix that has been seamlessly formed over a durable PP skeleton. This single-piece design eliminates the pitfalls of older manufacturing methods, making it one of the most sanitary faucets on the market.
Forward Sealing vs. Rear Sealing
From tap rooms to home bars, forward-sealing faucets are the ideal choice for any draft setup. In traditional rear-sealing taps, beer will drain out of the entire faucet when it’s in the closed position. This means the internal mechanism is coated in beer, which then dries and becomes a sticky residue. Forward-sealing faucets, on the other hand, keep the tap full of beer so it never has a chance to dry and gunk up the internal parts. This makes the faucet much easier to clean and also reduces the chance of off flavors transferring to your beer while you pour.
- Made from stainless steel
- Shuttle made from TPV
- O-rings made from EPDM
Kegland Part Number: KL15523
Flow control faucets feature a built in flow compensator that allows you to adjust the resistance your faucet is exerting. That means less tubing and potentially less foaming and wasted beer. The compensation feature also makes it easier to serve higher carbonation beers as you can set the faucet to provide resistance to offset the increased pressure needed to store and serve these beers at higher pressures. Instead of replacing your beer line with ever increasing lengths of tubing, you simply turn a knob to increase resistance.
- Related: What Does a Flow Control Faucet Do?
- Reviews: Nukatap Hands on Review & Hands on Review: NukaTap FLOW CONTROL Faucets
NukaTap® Stainless Steel Beer Faucet | Flow Control Gen 2 | Forward Sealing
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Field Test in Action
What About Intertap Flow Control Faucets?
Great Question… What Happened to Intertap (and Nukatap) Flow Control Faucets?
Works with Tapcooler!
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Hands on Review Nukatap Faucets
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greatdealsSpecial Thanks to William’s Brewing for providing the unit used for evaluation in this review.
By Brad Probert. Check out Brad’s website – beersnobby.com
Price, promotions and availability can change quickly. Check the product page for current price, description and availability.
Make sure the components you use are compatible and rated for your intended application. Contact manufacturer with questions about suitability or a specific application. Always read and follow manufacturer directions. tag:lnksfxd review:fcnukatap tag:tpr