Stout on Nitro only, not beergas. No cascade or cream?

So the local welding shop only had nitrogen tanks, they don't do the 75/25 mix. I figured I could just carb with CO2 and then use nitrogen to serve.

I think I was wrong. I'm not getting any cascading and the head isn't near as creamy as a guiness.

So 2 questions:
Will straight nitrogen not work?
Do I need to be patient and let the nitrogen work its way into the beer?

Thanks for the help!

nitro alone wont dissolve into the beer. Thats why beer gas has 25% co2.

bucfanmike said:

nitro alone wont dissolve into the beer. Thats why beer gas has 25% co2.

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My understanding was that the tiny bubbles came from the nitrogen coming out of the beer. If nitrogen doesn't dissolve into beer, that would seem not to be the case.

shlap said:

My understanding was that the tiny bubbles came from the nitrogen coming out of the beer. If nitrogen doesn't dissolve into beer, that would seem not to be the case.

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Don't the tiny bubbles come from the restrictor plate in the stout faucet?

the restrictor plate is knocking the co2 out of the beer. That is what is causing the cascade effect and creamy head. The nitrogen is only there to push the beer at the higher pressure needed for the faucet.

bucfanmike said:

the restrictor plate is knocking the co2 out of the beer. That is what is causing the cascade effect and creamy head. The nitrogen is only there to push the beer at the higher pressure needed for the faucet.

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What PSI would that be?

shlap said:

What PSI would that be?

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depending on your setup 30-35 PSI

zazbnf said:

depending on your setup 30-35 PSI

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Cool. I've force carbonated my stout using only CO2 by chilling to 32 then shaking the shiitake out of it. Going to hook the nitrogen back up tonight and crank up the PSI to 30. I'll post the results tonight. Thank you!

First off, do you have a stout faucet you are using? Nitrogen is pointless with a normal faucet. Secondly, don't carbonate to normal volumes. It should be somewhere around 1.4 volumes, pretty low. If you carbonate normally, you will get a glass of foam. On a balanced system, around 30psi at 38*F, with 1.4 volume CO2, and a Stout faucet, you should get a perfect pour. As for the gas, the 25% CO2 is needed to keep carbonation in the beer while the nitrogen is there to allow for a high pressure to push it through the restricter plate in the nozzle without overcarbonating the beer. So with 10% nitrogen, over time your beer will become less carbonated.

Yep, got a stout faucet from homebrewstuff. No idea what CO2 volume I'm at since I was a bit impatient. It tasted lightly carbonated yesterday through the Perlick but once I ran it through the stout faucet on nitrogen, i got no head whatsoever. That's when i decided to hook the CO2 back up and shake it to get more CO2 into it.

put it on C02 at 6psi for at least a week if not 2. let it sit. dont shake it. ask me how i know. I ran into the same thing and got it right the 2nd time.