I've never brewed before so bear with me if something I say is way off....I'm looking at starting with a corny keg setup (using CO2/N2O to carbonate). I want to have a tap for guinness style beer, and one for Bavarian Helles (light in color, but not flavor). I realize it is common to use 70% N2O/30% CO2 for guiness, and N20 for the other type. I don't want to shell out the money for 2 tanks.... Has anyone ever tried carbonating (term used loosely) lager with N2O mixture? I was wondering if that can be done or if it turns out badly...
CO2 vs. N2O
- Thread starter vwmanxter
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vwmanxter said:
There is a certain amount of "flavor" (or perhaps mouthfeel) associated with carbonation that is not imparted by the Guinness N2/CO2 mixed gas (not N2O, which is laughing gas, though having beer with laughing gas in it might be a blast
). Think of the difference between carbonated and flat pop. The small nitrogen bubbles give Guinness that creamy head, but Guinness definitely has a different mouthfeel than a highly carbonated beer. In general, if I drink Guinness by the pitcher that last pint is going to taste watery to me, due to the lower solubility of N2 in water than CO2. The N2 leaves solution faster than carbon dioxide.
abracadabra
Well-Known Member
You can also expect the price of compressed gas to double if you want nitrogen mixed with C02.
blefferd
Well-Known Member
guinness tastes flat to me compared to other beers.
I'm not sure N2 absorbs like CO2. That's why pubs that run beer lines a long way use N2 to push the beer. The high pressure required to push beer long distances would cause the beer to overcabonate. Nitrogen solves that probelms because it is not absorbed (as easliy?).
I'd suggest you naturally carbonate by priming with 1/2 cup of corn sugar and using the N2/Co2 mix to push the beer.
I'd suggest you naturally carbonate by priming with 1/2 cup of corn sugar and using the N2/Co2 mix to push the beer.
^^^^ Ita ^^^^
HarvInSTL
Well-Known Member
blefferd said:
It tastes flat to me here in the states. In Ireland it tasted perfect!
Is it safe to assume that most bars/pubs/etc here in the US use only CO2 when they serve Guinness?
Don't you have to use a stone to get nitrogen to dissolve in beer?
They reason for the creamy flatness of Guinness is the diffuser faucet.
Beer-gas is commonly used to push beer had higher pressures along long beer lines and is used because very little is absorbed in the beer, whereas co2 would dissolve quickly thus over carbing your beer.
They reason for the creamy flatness of Guinness is the diffuser faucet.
Beer-gas is commonly used to push beer had higher pressures along long beer lines and is used because very little is absorbed in the beer, whereas co2 would dissolve quickly thus over carbing your beer.
Kayos
Well-Known Member
HarvInSTL said:
No way. You can tell immediately if they are serving Guinness on Nitro. I send it back if a bar served it on CO2.
Most, if not all, bars serve everything with beergas. There's no issues of overcarbing beer that way.
blefferd
Well-Known Member
well ive drank Guiness in Ireland and it did taste better than what you get in the US but i still thought it tasted flat maybe it was the jet lag
By the way, N2O is nitrous oxide. It might be funny to serve your beer with it, but probably not advisable.
N2 is nitrogen.
N2 is nitrogen.
my friends and i have been playing with the idea of making a nitrogenated coffee porter. the coffee porter (my angry red-headed friends recipe) is already VERY good, but would be perfect with that nice foamy guiness-like head.
blefferd
Well-Known Member
Yuri_Rage said:
lol it prolly wouldnt be a good idea to smoke around your beer glass either
westerville
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I lloked into using Nitrogen to push and carbonate my stout and found that most bars use a mix of nitrogen and co2 not sure the ratio but I chose not to mess with it after I was told the only way to do it with one Gas tank was to mix the Nitro and c02 in the same tank. The gasses have to be put under so much pressure to get them to mix that the tanks are dangerous. I'm sure if handled properly they would be fine but getting it to pour just right is tricky. If you have two gas tanks and a dual regulator your set up just like a bar that serves guiness. I dont have the equipment for that and I found that the stout tastes great using only c02.
Nitrous Oxide (N2O) is not flammable by itself. However it is used as a combustion accelerant because under heat the N2O easily converts to N2 and O2 which provides more oxygen for combustion. This is the same reason I don't think it would make a good beer gas as it would likely lead to oxidized beer.blefferd said:
Craig
i believe that the better establishments use gas blenders. similar to what westerville was saying, but the tanks go into this machine that blends the gas as it goes to the kegs. i believe you can see some on the micromatic website. this allows the bar to have a specific blend for the particular length of line, desired line pressure, and proper carbonation.
"Beergas" is 80% Nitrogen gas and 20% CO2. Call a gas place and ask what the bars all use. It will be "beergas".
You can probably easily buy a tank with CO2 and a tank with N2, and adjust pressures to suit your needs with separate regulators. You'd need two regulators and two tanks, but it'd give you the most control.
it sounds easy, but i doubt it is that simple. if it were, micromatic wouldn't be able to sell their cheapest blending system (http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/gas-equipment-pid-MM100.html) for 550 dollars.
the more i think about it, since you would have to keep the nitrogen at a higher pressure, it would back up in to the co2 line, and prevent any co2 from coming out. even if you put check valves, i think the nitrogen would 'beat out' the co2 to the product. i don't know though, i'm no fluid dynamics engineer.
the more i think about it, since you would have to keep the nitrogen at a higher pressure, it would back up in to the co2 line, and prevent any co2 from coming out. even if you put check valves, i think the nitrogen would 'beat out' the co2 to the product. i don't know though, i'm no fluid dynamics engineer.
udt89
Well-Known Member
i am actually picking up a kegerator tonight from a craigslist find for $300. He was telling me he uses nitrous in his system b/c the kegs last forever with nitrous as opposed to co2.
thoughts? im getting the kegerator with a half tank of nitrous. he said one tank lasts 3 kegs or so.
thoughts? im getting the kegerator with a half tank of nitrous. he said one tank lasts 3 kegs or so.
Beer gas is fine for commercial kegs b/c they come to you carbonated.
Not the best fit for homebrewing b/c you generally want to use the CO2 to force carbonate. Beer gas mix is more expensive as well.
Not the best fit for homebrewing b/c you generally want to use the CO2 to force carbonate. Beer gas mix is more expensive as well.
Biermuncher is correct. N2 doesn't get absorbed in to beer. It's there so you can pump up the pressure. This is required to use a newish stout faucet. You will not see a difference if you just use beer gas to push your beer as opposed to co2 in most home bars using a normal tap. But you would need to wait probably over a month for the beer the carb to desired levels if you used beergas. And using straight n2 you would not have any carbonation. And with beer gas you would have to use a N2 tank which is different than a co2 tank. Which will require you to have a different regulator also.
