winemaker has a question about stout and N2O

I am a winemaker and have only made 10 gallons of beer in my life. I would like to try a Guiness clone, but do not want to spend the money for a Nitrous tank or a TAD system. I am wondering if I can bottle my stout without priming it and then when it is time to serve, if I can just pour the bottle in a seltzer maker with a N2O canister? Will that work? Thanks

lol.. I have no freaking idea. It might.

Pour out a real Guinness and stir it up until it is completely flat and, if you already have the seltzer thing, you could test it pretty easily. If you do, let us know how it works.

Interesting............Or why dont you just prime them like normal. I have made I think 6 stouts and any stout that I have made so far has been with regular dextrose bottle conditioned or has been kegged at lower VO2 and they tasted great. In my opinion they were outstanding. Try that seltzer bottle thing, you might be onto something as long as you can control the carbonation or the beer before it goes into the seltzer bottle.

Thanks, I will pick up the seltzer bottle this weekend! Good idea on letting the Guiness go flat, I should have thought of that.

You might not want it to go flat first. Guiness is carbed with a combo of CO2 and N2O. I would try just pouring the beer in as is to start.

I will advise not to buy those Guiness bottles with the nitrogen thingy (that is the technical term) inside the bottle as it might skew your tasting.

My suspicion is that the beer will come out of the seltzer bottle as all foam and taste kind of flat when the foam subsides enough to drink the beer that is left.

dontman said:

I will advise not to buy those Guiness bottles with the nitrogen thingy (that is the technical term) inside the bottle as it might skew your tasting.

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The technical term is widget. And yes, I had to be that guy!

The main reason to use beer gas, is to allow the use of high-restriction faucets to create the typical stout-head. Seltzer bottles have very low restriction nozzles, so I doubt your approach would help.

I have found that champagne yeast when bottling or kegging can do a fairly good job in creating a stout-like head.

If I do use champagne yeast when bottling I would just add it in when I add the corn sugar right?

If you don't want to get into kegging, the only Nitrogen system that I know if is using Tap-a-draft. It has its own valve system for dispensing C02 or nitrogen from setzer canisters. I tried it for a little while. The manufacturer recommended having one canister CO2 and the other nitrogen if you were going for a stout mixture.

The main disadvantage with this system, I found, was that you go through a lot of canisters. It winds up being more expensive to maintain then a keg system (which a keg system admittedly has a more expensive set-up cost).

NORTHERN BREWER: Mini Kegs

Box of 24 NO2 (Nitrogen) Cartridges :: Midwest Supplies Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies

Allisvain said:

I am a winemaker and have only made 10 gallons of beer in my life. I would like to try a Guiness clone, but do not want to spend the money for a Nitrous tank or a TAD system. I am wondering if I can bottle my stout without priming it and then when it is time to serve, if I can just pour the bottle in a seltzer maker with a N2O canister? Will that work? Thanks

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As has been posted previously Guinness is served with a mixture of straight nitrogen (N2) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Nitrogen does not stay in solution at lower pressures so it excapes quickly making the head of very tiny bubbles. That's what makes those "widget" cans from the UK work and what gives deep sea divers the bends. The N2O used for whipped cream cannisters is not the same stuff although it might do something. I do think the beer should at least be lightly carbonated first with CO2.

Nitrous oxide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia is not NO2.

Bottle your stout and follow along with this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/another-stout-recipe-question-7465/#post69625

olllllo said:

Nitrous oxide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia is not NO2.

Bottle your stout and follow along with this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/another-stout-recipe-question-7465/#post69625

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Yes, but if N2O doesn't work you can dispense it into balloons.

I've wondered if N2O would impart a sweetness to the beer the way it does to whipping cream, and (from what I have heard only, mind you) whippets.