Carbonating and Serving Nitro keg

[shadowpaige64507]

I haven't kegged a beer I plan on serving on nitro for a few years. I know that I want to carb it around 2.0 volumes of CO2 before I hook up the Nitro/CO2 mix. My question is:

If I hook up the Nitro/CO2 mix at 30 psi, won't the co2 that's in the mix eventually over carbonate the keg at that high pressure?

 

[day_trippr]

Are you sure you want to carb to 2 volumes?
I aim for 1.2-1.4 to dispense at 35 psi using 70/30 beer gas. Much above 1.5 and things start going downhill, foam wise.

The CO2 component in beer gas makes up a small partial pressure of the whole - running your beer gas at 30 psi does not mean the CO2 pressure is 30 psi...

Cheers!

 

[shadowpaige64507]

Thanks for reply, I'm not set on the 2.0 just throwing out a number. I'll try the 1.2 to 1.4.

If you apply 30 psi to the nitro/co2 tank, wouldn't it apply that to everything in the tank that would in turn mean you are getting 30 psi of CO2 also?

 

[Dcpcooks]

Thanks for reply, I'm not set on the 2.0 just throwing out a number. I'll try the 1.2 to 1.4.

If you apply 30 psi to the nitro/co2 tank, wouldn't it apply that to everything in the tank that would in turn mean you are getting 30 psi of CO2 also?

No it's mostly nitrogen which isn't very soluble in beer. You just need that level of pressure to push the co2 out of suspension and get those nice little cascading bubbles.

 

[Nemanach]

Thanks for reply, I'm not set on the 2.0 just throwing out a number. I'll try the 1.2 to 1.4.

If you apply 30 psi to the nitro/co2 tank, wouldn't it apply that to everything in the tank that would in turn mean you are getting 30 psi of CO2 also?

I believe diffusion in gasses relates to the partial pressure of the individual gasses. You would need to know the mole fraction of the co2 and multiply it by the pressure to get the pressure of the co2 component. I don't know the mole fraction of beer gas but let's call it 25% co2. .25*30 psi = 7.5 psi of co2 being applied to the beer.

I am relatively certain that what I said is correct. If a chemist comes by and says I am dead wrong I will back down on any statements made.

 

[shadowpaige64507]

Thanks everyone for the response.