plastic ball in Guiness and Murphy's?

So I was wondering...in the Guiness and Murphy's Stout cans, I noticed there is a clear plastic ball. This has been bothering me for a while, so I cut it out of the can for observation. I still have no idea. Anybody care to enlighten me on what it is and why it's there?

When you pop the top the drop in pressure causes the beer that is in the ball to squeeze out throught the small opening and create that characteristic nitrogen head.

It is the widget!

Beerrific said:

It is the widget!

Click to expand...

+1- what he said. I think the limeys get offended if you call it a thingy.

+1 it's a widget........


out whoring tonite




Cheers

Gawd!
Widget? Nitrogen???
It's a cat toy toy!!! It's the toy like in Cracker Jacks!
Sheesh!

Sorry to hijack, but....

has anyone seen anything about this new Guinness Surge thingy??? i work for a guinness distributor and we have the cans, but no "surge plates". From what I've found online it looks like it vibrates or something creating the head...I'm pretty sure these "surge cans" don't have the widget. Just wondering, cause I haven't seen or heard anything about it yet.

No widgets in surge cans. Where are you located because nobody around here has heard of them. I'm not sure how they do it but I've heard it works.

I just saw the "surge plate thingy" somewhere after I googled it. If it works as advertised it's pretty cool. I wonder what it wouold do to my clones and other stouts I brew. I can't keg my beer yet so I currently drink them just carbed in the bottle. I would venture to guess that the ultrasonic waves generated by the plate just cause the gas that is in solution in the beer to come out of solution, but it still looks cool. I couldn't find anywhere to buy it online. Paul

It would make all the CO2 come out of suspension just like the restrictor plate like in the tap. I want to know where I could get cans of non-widgeted Guinness.

That's what releases all those little guys in off-white leisure suits wearing goggles and shower caps. Hurling them into giant bongo drums, just like the commercial.

PaulinukeI said:

wonder what it wouold do to my clones and other stouts I brew.

Click to expand...

Probably something like this:
[YOUTUBE]oUTGru_uYIg[/YOUTUBE]

The guinness surger plate is nothing but a high-tech, controlled way of shaking your beer. It just has the advantage that it's shaking it much faster (ultrasonic frequencies) than you can, so it happens very rapidly. Seems like a tremendous gimmick, but probably one people will be more than willing to pay to see in a bar.

I'm in Northwest Indiana, my distributor distributes to the 7 counties here in the very northwest corner

Widget, eh? It's the perfect name for a thing like that. Thanks for the help.

Sauce, I've never had a can without the widget, but you can always get bottled Guinness.

Cool surge plate. I don't quite get it but it sounds cool.

Steiner said:

Sauce, I've never had a can without the widget, but you can always get bottled Guinness.

Click to expand...

I dunno about where you are, but all the bottled guinness draught around here has the "rocket" widget in it.

Funkenjäger said:

I dunno about where you are, but all the bottled guinness draught around here has the "rocket" widget in it.

Click to expand...

And here also.

Well I talked to the local distributor and they are rolling these out soon. Yes normal can of Guinness do have the widget in them. These are special "surger" cans made to be used with the surger. It is suppose to try to emulate pouring it from the tap.

that would be quite a feat to emulate a draft guinness.....I've always found the bottles and cans quite inferior to a nice draft....Aren't the bottles and cans pasturized and kegs are not???? it would seem that's a big part of the difference

KRS1 said:

Aren't the bottles and cans pasturized and kegs are not???? it would seem that's a big part of the difference

Click to expand...

No, they're all pasteurized.

Everything that comes into the US is pasteurized. Over in the UK they don't require beer to be pasteurized. If you look on the cans that come in the surger kit... they don't say pasteurized stout, thats why the surger it isn't available in the US.

Sean

the bottles have a rocket shaped widget