Perfectly Poured Beer: Student Designs & 3D Prints This Beer Pouring Device

College life: it’s filled with books, homework, examinations and, of course, the parties. It’s supposed to be a time when teenagers become adults, learning the ins and outs of living away from home, and ultimately finding out who they really are. You can’t forget the beer though, as just about every college and university student drinks at least a few of these cold, carbonated beverages before they graduate.

For one University of Waterloo student, named Andy Cao, beer drinking didn’t simply mean kicking back and relaxing with some friends after a hard day of studies. It meant bringing out his creative side and coming up with a design that could actually enhance the experience from a “taste” standpoint.

“I am a university student who enjoys having beer with friends,” Cao tells 3DPrint.com. “A lot of times jokes were being made when someone could not pour beer properly. I thought, ‘why not design a [device] that can open a beer cap and help pour the beer in to a cup with the least amount of head’.”

So this is exactly what Cao ended up doing. Just finishing up his third year as a Mechatronics Engineering student at the university, he came up with an intuitive idea for a design, while taking a class called Fluid Mechanics, and decided to use 3D printing to bring that idea to life.

“There is not really a mathematics element to my design,” Cao explains. “The goal was to have no head at all after the beer was poured; but due to the natural characteristics of beer, it was close to impossible to achieve that. “

The device comes pretty close though. It features two channels; one which allows air to go into the bottle, and another which allows the beer to come out. The beer never comes in contact with the air entering the bottle, like it normally does with a typical pour. This means that the CO₂ in the beer is never agitated on its way to the bottom of a glass, thus leaving very little head atop the poured drink.

To design the device, Cao used Solidworks, and then printed it out on a Fortus 360mc 3D printer. While the design came out quite nicely, Cao still has plans to iterate upon it further to make its performance even better. As of now, he has no plans on commercializing his creation, but undoubtedly if he did, he would have many beer drinkers interested.

What do you think about this unique design? Would you consider purchasing a device like this if it meant less head on your beer? Discuss in the 3D Printed Beer Spout forum thread on 3DPB.com. Check out the video of the device in action below.