Stout vs Standard Faucet Showdown

I only have one beer on tap right now. It's a 10 gallon batch of ordinary bitter that I made with some rather old ingredients. The beer is nothing special - just something to keep the kegerator full while I juggle the ever-present projects. Since I have the same brew running through both a stout faucet (Guinness brand) and a standard faucet (Perlick forward seal), I thought I'd do a side-by-side comparison. Here are the results!



Appearance:
Obvious differences.

Aroma:
Noticeably stronger nose in the standard faucet pour.

Flavor:
Much prefer the stout faucet. Tastes richer and fuller. The flavor from the stout faucet is more pronounced; surprising, since standard faucet pour results in a stronger aroma.

Mouthfeel:
Stout faucet is a clear winner; makes a light/medium bodied beer feel decadent with lots of body and character.

Overall:
Get yourself a stout faucet and a bottle of beer gas, nitrogen, or argon (yup, argon works, too...my pours are living proof!).

D@MN you!
I'm trying NOT to spend the money on those..

I just bought two perlicks, can you delete this thread?

Is the difference due to creamer faucet geometry or the gas being used (beer gas versus carbon dioxide)?

That's it. I need to dust off my stout faucet and put it back to work on my mild, dry stout and my left nut brown.

If only I could get rid of that metallic flavor it imparts.

SWMBO says you have to stop this!
+1 to deleting this thread.

What about helium, can you use that as beer gas? It's inert and makes your voice sound funny to boot!

Helium would also work. In fact, helium is even less water soluble than nitrogen or argon, so it would probably work very well. Nitrogen is the preferred gas mostly due to its low cost.

Do you think that the stout faucet is going to give a similar effect to a beer engine? I have been planning on getting one of those hooked up to my kegerator for a long time now and just have never gotten around to it. This might be an easier solution for my english beers though.

In my experience, the pour from a stout faucet is similar to that of a beer engine. They're not the same, and they work on very different principles, but for a fresh beer, the results are pretty close. You'll never get the "real ale" effect without an open cask and a beer engine, though.

Yuri_Rage said:

In my experience, the pour from a creamer faucet is similar to that of a beer engine. They're not the same, and they work on very different principles, but for a fresh beer, the results are pretty close. You'll never get the "real ale" effect without an open cask and a beer engine, though.

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Yeah, I am mainly going for the pour. I was actually going to bypass the real ale effects by keeping about a psi of co2 on the gas line so that as the beer engine was drawing the beer out it would be replaced by co2 instead of air.

Hmmm... maybe I will have to put a stout faucet on instead of doing the BE.

Yuri...I am curious about the argon. I've been doing the typical 25/75 for my stout faucet.

I have a big bottle of argon that I use for winemaking, so would love to stop filling the "beer gas" mix to save a buck.

Do you carbonate the stout with CO2 first, and then switch over to argon for the whole corny keg? Or do you put it back on CO2 when done pouring? You said "lightly carbonated". As in say, half the typical ale carbonation of 10 psi?

Sure would appreciate the tip. I actually have my beer gas cylinder in the car, to fill up on the way home.

Scott

I force carbonate on CO2 to 1.0-1.5 volumes. Then I put it on argon and leave it there. Since it's under constant pressure, it stays carbonated - there's nowhere for the CO2 to go.

BierMuncher said:

That's it. I need to dust off my stout faucet and put it back to work on my mild, dry stout and my left nut brown.

If only I could get rid of that metallic flavor it imparts.

Click to expand...

Is it because it is brass? I just bought mine and I haven't used it yet. I meant to get chrome but I got brass and I'm thinking about sending it back for an exchange.

Thanks for the quick reply.....free beer in San Diego waiting for you.