Dying Kegged Beer Green

So I'm trying to figure out how to dye my beer green for St. Patrick's Day this year. I know this is a homebrew forum, but I'll be using my buddy's favorite commercial lager and I hope you guys can offer some advice. Because I don't have the necessary tools to add it... here's my plan of attack...

I plan on knocking back a few beers initially to get ready and to drain about 10% of the keg. Then I'm going to turn the keg upside down, and release the pressure from the keg with the coupler. Then, with the pressure gone, I'm going to add the dye through the coupler, shake up the keg to mix the dye, and repressurize the keg with CO2.

Now keep in mind I know very little about keg design, and I don't want to ruin the beer either. This process makes sense in my head, but I was hoping to get your advice before I tried. Does anyone see any red flags or have additional advice? If so PLEASE let me know. Thanks...

If you're going to drink 12 beers beforehand step one might be: Go to a bar and order the BMC they will be ordering for ST Pattys day. It'll already be green

I could be wrong, but something tells me that you can buy cups with the greey dye in them. That way, the beer turns green when it hits the cup. I'm not positive that they exist or if it is an urban myth, but if they do exist, it may be worth it rather than taking apart a keg.

Chris

Transfer the beer from keg to corny. Add the dye in the corny and serve from the corny.


Oh yeah. Red Flags in your process.

If your drinking a very light colored beer (BMC type crap) add blue curacao. dont taste bad and gives it a little extra kick

I've been doing Irish blow outs for years with my 100% Irish inlaws.

You want a true Irish tradition? Have your friend order a keg of stout.

That said...your plan sounds plausible (thank you mythbusters). I'm not sure how good the brew will taste having been shaken flat, and re pressurized. I tend to think along the lines of ahsndpro. If you simply want a store bought beer to turn green, buy a couple of clear pitchers, add green food coloring and fill those for serving. Walk around with those and you'll have the green effect going on. Plus, if everyone else is getting normal "yellow" beer off the tap, you'll be the mystery of the evening.

BierMuncher said:

That said...your plan sounds plausible

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Really?
I think when he flips the keg upside down beer will come spewing out of the gas vent.

olllllo said:

Really?
I think when he flips the keg upside down beer will come spewing out of the gas vent.

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There should be a check valve (little rubbery type thing) in the gas-in part of the tap to prevent that, but you never know...

olllllo said:

Really?
I think when he flips the keg upside down beer will come spewing out of the gas vent.

Click to expand...

Keep your eyes out for new reports about a party gone awry with drunken participants showered with green beer.

Make mine a stout please...

I say get a couple of things of green food coloring and have someone either put a drop or two in the cup while filling from the keg or walk around putting drops in cups of beer (although in today's environment, people might think you're slipping them rohypnol so be careful).

You don't want to mess with depressurizing/pressurizing a keg. You're simply setting the stage for a messy, flat beer, got to go get another keg before people leave our party, sort of evening.

Fill a CO2 hose with dye, and blow it into the keg. Or use a hand pump- you may have to disassemble the pump to pour the dye in.

Other than putting a couple drops of green food coloring in the bottom of a glass before pouring the beer in, it looks like a PIA potential.

Another alternative is to pass out green sunglasses.

Green sunglassses would be fun. Just tell everyone to get an imagination, or green party cups. Once they partake in mass quantities of adult beverages they wont care if it is green or purple! Just have fun!