Foamy stout on nitro

[nexy_sm]

Hi all guys,

Last Friday I kegged my first stout on nitro. The biggest issue was that I got a lot of foam when pouring. Pint would be full of foam and it took about few minutes to reduce the foam to a normal level.

I used gas 70% N and 30% CO2. Serving pressure was 32 psi. Pouring of one pint lasted a bit more than 10 seconds.

Another issue, was that when I connected the keg for carbonating (dont know if this is appropriate term when using beer gas) this keg I could only at first moment hear the gas going in the keg, which is quite different from the case when I was carbonating stouts only with CO2 at 1.5 volumes (in this case I was able to hear a bubbles inside the keg even half an hour into shaking).

 

[b-boy]

I think you carbonate with CO2 first. The beer gas just is for serving.

 

[Dcpcooks]

You carbonate with co2 to half of your normal levels then push with beer gas. I'm assuming you have a stout faucet?!? You can turn it down a bit. I push at 20-30psi.

 

[nexy_sm]

Hm,

I wouldn't say it is overcarbonated. This is how I did it and I would like if somebody could point out mistakes:
1. I chose 1.5 volumes
2. From the table with temperature/pressure pairs I took CO2 pressure required to carb my beer to 1.5 volumes of CO2 at given temperature.
3. Since my gas is 70% nitrogen and 30% CO2, gas gauge should be set at serving_pressure/0.3. At this pressure I expect the beer should be carbonated to 1.5 volumes very fast (this is my assumption). However, when I did this, I heard only a bit of bubbling inside the keg at the beginning.

Yes, I amusing stout faucet. Actually I have a tap from Intertap with additional stout spout.

 

[Dcpcooks]

Are you carbonating with beer gas? I'm not sure how long that would take or how effective that would be as you have a smaller amount of co2 in the mix. I've only carbonated with straight co2 then I swap out the gas line and go on nitro to push. The co2 in beer gas is just to keep your co2 in suspension and keep your carb levels close as you create head space.

Not sure I can help you with carbonating with beer gas.

 

[LLBeanJ]

It takes a couple weeks to carbonate with set and forgot using just beer gas. An initial pre-carb with CO2 can get you there much faster, but it's also very easy to overcarbonate it, which is what OP is dealing with now (regardless of how it was carbonated, you went too far). This is due to the fact that the carbonation sweet spot where you get that nice cascading head instead of flat beer or a glass of foam is extremely narrow. In the future, shoot for about 1.0 vols and you'll be closer to where you need to be; 1.5 vols is too much.

 

[schatzke]

1.5 is too much carbonation from my experience. Shoot for closer to 1.0

 

[nexy_sm]

So, my expectation was that it should carbonate faster with beer gas since the pressure is higher. Would be niceif somebody could explain why it takes a lot more time with the gas, although I was shaking the keg. WHen I carbonate my beers I set the serving pressure and just shake for about 20 minutes and it is ready. I would have ecpected at least faster with beer gas ...

 

[Dcpcooks]

So, my expectation was that it should carbonate faster with beer gas since the pressure is higher. Would be niceif somebody could explain why it takes a lot more time with the gas, although I was shaking the keg. WHen I carbonate my beers I set the serving pressure and just shake for about 20 minutes and it is ready. I would have ecpected at least faster with beer gas ...

Because only the co2 is soluble in beer. Nitrogen is relatively insoluble in beer. It's used to push the beer at high pressure. When the co2 hits the sparkler in the faucet it forces the co2 out of suspension and helps create those cascading little bubbles.