NUKATAP Stainless Steel Beer Faucet

I replaced all my Perlick taps with Intertaps about a year ago, because I liked the interchangeable nozzles and how the tap handle is straight up, rather than tilted back. This gives me a little more clearance with the lid of my keezer. I was having a lot more problems with first-pour foam with these new taps, as they are pretty beefy. So when I saw the Nukatap was supposed to be designed to specifically address this issue, I decided to give one a try. For starters, the stainless shuttle in the Intertap has been replaced with a plastic one. This is supposed to be designed to improve laminar flow while reducing thermal mass. The tap itself has also been thinned out, also to reduce thermal mass. As an engineer, I can appreciate the thought behind these changes. However, they do not seem to have worked, at all. I decided to test the tap out by pouring a pint from my Intertap and measuring the height of the liquid compared to the height of the foam. I then replaced the Intertap with the Nukatap and let it stabilize at room temperature overnight. I poured a pint from the Nuka tap and compared the measurements. Both glasses filled a 6” English pint glass with 2” of liquid beer and 4” of foam. Now before you say “the tap must not be your problem” I have narrowed my problems down to the tap. Picnic taps pour perfectly fine from my kegs, so I know carbonation is not the issue. I use 3/16” beverage tubing and have experimented with tubing lengths from 3 feet to 12 feet, with no improvement along that range. Another thing I should mention is that the Intertap is full stainless, the Nukatap is chrome-plated stainless. The only reason I can think why they would chrome plate stainless is because it is a lower-grade stainless, but I cannot confirm that. I have concerns how long that chrome plating will last, especially after a few cleaning cycles. But with the reduction in weight of the tap and replacing the stainless shuttle with a plastic one, this has to be a lower cost assembly for them. Yet it is sold for $4 more. I won’t ask Atlantic Brew Supply for my money back, as it isn’t there fault that the information provided by Kegland (Intertap and Nukatap manufacturer) is less than accurate. But I will warn others who are thinking they have found the solution to their first-pour foaming problems that their answer lies elsewhere.