Von-Wolfhausen1

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Anyone know anything about carbonating homebrew with nitrogen?
- can it be done?
- if so, any tips, such as pressure, etc...
- is it expensive?
- and how is it?

Thanks, I'd be interested to find more out about this and give it a shot.

- Ryan

sudsmcgee

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You can't carbonate with nitrogen. That would be called nitrogenation I think.

audger

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carbonating without carbon dioxide....

its like trying to slake your thirst without drinking anything

DamageCT

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If you are talking about beergas, it can be done but it isn't recommended to use beer gas other then to push the beer out of lines (since beer gas has less CO2 so it wont over carbonate the beer).

Coldies

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Force carb with co2 (To a lower level) and then put it on beer gas.

TokyoRoad

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Clearly you've never had to forgo water prior to surgery and then received an IV drip upon admittance.

sudsmcgee

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I once tried to dehydrate something with water but it never worked. I still can't figure out why.

Von-Wolfhausen1

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well, now that english 101 is over, any advice from the smarties? you knew what I meant.

and for those who actually helped - thank you

Jersh

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I have a nitro/stout faucet and use beer gas with it... Setup is easy, you'll need a beer-gas regulator (different fittings than a standard CO2 regulator) and obviously you'll need to get a tank (most welding shops should have them, just ask for Guinness gas). The ratio of nitrogen to CO2 is usually 70/30 or 75/25.

I recommend attaching a carbonation stone to your 'in' dip-tube on your keg. It's kinda hard to do but I was able to use some food safe tubing and slip it over the short dip-tube. Unfortunately I don't remember what the ID of the tubing was that I used. Adjust the length so that the stone is just resting on the bottom of the keg. This will cause the CO2 that comes through to be tiny bubbles, which will dissolve quicker and I think it increases the effect of a nitro tap... Make sure to use hose-clamps on the end of the stone as well to make sure it doesn't blow off. This also speeds up the carbonation process... If you didn't do this it would take much longer for the keg to get carbed. By bubbling the gas up through the beer it gets carbed pretty quickly.

The main reason to use beer gas is to prevent crazy amounts of foaming. The nitro faucet has a restrictor plate with tiny holes in it, and when the beer is forced through these holes it causes the dissolved CO2 to come out of solution and create that amazing creamy head. You have to use a higher pressure than normal to get this effect, so if you used 100% CO2 you'd get nothing but foam.

I set my regulator to ~28-30 PSI and get what I estimate to be about 2 volumes of CO2 carbonation. I do not precarbonate with 100% CO2 like one of the other poster suggested, but that's just a personal preference mainly due to laziness.

To properly pour a pint with a nitro/stout faucet, you first pull the tap handle all the way forward, it should stop a 90 degree angle to the faucet. Fill the glass about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Allow the beer to sit for a minute or two, you will see the tiny bubbles slowly raise to the top, as they do so the creamy head will get thicker and thicker. Once the beer has returned to one uniform color (the bubbles have all floated up and became head), Push the tap handle back to bypass the plate with holes and fill the glass.

Jersh

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Oh, and to answer your questions about expenses, the initial setup can pretty expensive.

The nitro/stout faucet is about $100 and then by the time you get the shank and all the fittings you're looking at another $20-$30 or more. The welding shop I use had beer gas in 5 lbs and 15 lbs tanks. I wanted the big one, so I went on Craigslist and found a 20 lbs CO2 tank for $50 and used that as an exchange for the beergas tank, which cost another $30 or so... So I would plan on around $200 at least, maybe more depending on how much a tank cost you, to get up and running if starting from scratch.