Nitrogen Root Beer?

Has anyone tried carbing root beer with nitrogen?

I was talking about my beer brewing at work and mentioned to one of the guys that he could easily make his own root beer (he loves root beer).
I mentioned the different options for carbonating it, as well as how beer gets carbonated (including Guinness) and he said he already has a nitrogen tank and regulator.

Sound like it could be neat...

No, you cannot carbonate with nitrogen as it doesn't dissolve in water/alcohol. You could use beer gas on root beer and pour it with a stout faucet.

huh, I wonder how a stout tapped rootbeer would taste.....

The whole point of nitrogen is to add additional gas pressure to push your beer to your faucet without adding any more carbonation. The only time you really need this is if you are trying to add very little carbonation to your beer. Since rootbeer is normally carbed at like 35 psi, you could get the same sensation as nitrogen by just carbing it at normal beer pressures (10-14 psi). If you try to carb it with pure nitrogen, you'll just get absolutely flat rootbeer.

Old thread but my $.02...

I have a dedicated nitro setup on my kegerator for rootbeer (well, one stout tap for the stout, and another for root beer, in addition to the beer). I carb my rootbeer at 15 PSI and nitro dispense at 35 PSI. Pours like a Guinness, gorgeous cascade and creamy head.

http://www.energyfiend.com/2009/08/nitrous-monster-truth-behind-the-name

i wonder how they nitrogenate the water in this then. i've had em and it gives the drink a creamy mouth feel. i like it. it'd be cool if it were possible to do that to root beer.

widget in the can like guinness?

Mack25-what type of faucet do you dispense your root beer from? I putting together a parts list now and was thinking of a creamer, but I'm not sure on how it would work with a beer gas line set up for Guiness.

ShootEm said:

Mack25-what type of faucet do you dispense your root beer from? I putting together a parts list now and was thinking of a creamer, but I'm not sure on how it would work with a beer gas line set up for Guiness.

Click to expand...

A normal stout faucet. The only thing I would worry about with a creamer faucet is how much you carbonate the root beer - would whipping a highly carbed soda be like shaking the bottle before unscrewing the cap?

david_42 said:

No, you cannot carbonate with nitrogen as it doesn't dissolve in water/alcohol. You could use beer gas on root beer and pour it with a stout faucet.

Click to expand...

The following link about nitro beer makes it sound that nitrogenation of liquids is indeed possible and desirable. Read the q and a towards the end... why not with soda?
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/blogs/99bottles/2012/02/left_hand_brewing_co_is.html

This link suggests that water can dissolve about 10 times as much CO2 than N2 at a given temperature http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/gases-solubility-water-d_1148.html

Note the extreme improvement to both cases as the water temp approaches freezing... this suggests you might get the incredible mouth feel of nitro bubbles if you inject N gas to near freezing water, then open to drink somewhat warm. Some rootbeers appear to have tiny longlasting nitro-like bubbles, like a+w.

You're doing some great research, but you're forgetting one important thing. When CO2 dissolves into water, it creates carbonic acid, which is the reason for the tingling mouthfeel and the bite rather than just feeling bubbles in water.

Nitrogen dissolved in water will not combine with the water and as such doesn't have much staying power once the temperature begins to climb.

You'd probably have the same result if you put a thickener in for head retention and then just shook the dickens out of it to get a nice foam on top before you drank it. Probably the same thing since the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen anyway.

MrFood... nitrogenization is a tasty, wonderful, proven process enjoyed by millions! Do you not know about UK beers that use it? I'm not saying that it can be done by amateurs, but that's kind of my question due to the disturbing possibility that I can't refill my sodastream co2 cartridges within 2000 miles and may have to up my equipment anyway. But I take it from the pushback that this isn't easily accomplished.

I was reminded of those nitro beers by http://www.learnoutloud.com/Audio-Books/Science/-/The-Brewmasters-Art/34208 lecture series which explains the process and why nitro is used: The Brewmasters Art, which you can hear a long excerpt on that page. I believe it also explains how the bubble sensation comes from tickling pain sensors (like peppers do) rather than from acid chemistry. I have a web source on that somewhere too. Acid can be added seperately.

Since I have tasted and enjoyed nitro drinks, I believe the sources I posted that explain water holds n2 in solution exactly like co2, just less of it. But when it warms up, it will release them in a long lasting foam due to the effects they explain (also why some n2 bubbles go down rather than up). Sure, in cans they require a widget device to aid bubble nucleation, but not in bottles or glasses.

Ok, this writeup explains how drinks are nitrogenized, but its too much trouble and expense for me http://byo.com/component/k2/item/1492-the-nitrogen-effect