Stout faucet + short line= awesome?

[mitch171]

Ok here is my thinking after reading about stout/beergas. The purpose of the nitrogen is just to force the beer through the stout faucet at a high psi, because most bars have long lines. It is still the co2 doing the magic.

So in my kegorator I have 12' of line that was used for a regular faucet, I just bought a stout faucet because the regular one was broken. I have it hooked up with out the restrictor plate and it is pouring as expected.

BUT what if I cut the line short, put the restrictor in and throw regular c02 gas on at the normal psi. Would I not end up with the same result as a bar with 30'+ of line using beer gas at 30 psi?

BTW I have been testing my new faucet trying to get everything sorted out...

 

[wildwest450]

No, step away from the homebrew.

 

[mitch171]

No? Why?

So lunch was a good idea...

 

[dontman]

The nitrogen coming very quickly out of solution is largely responsible for the cascading microfoam.

 

[mitch171]

Hum well I may give it a try, it may not cascade, but it may reduce the 12' of line in my little fridge. So far without the restrictor and the 12' it is making a creamier head and more reliable pour.

 

[mitch171]

WELL!!!

My beer has finally carbonated (set it and forget it method)

I switched out my 12' 3/16" id line and added on a 2'6" 1/4" id. I put in the restrictor and the flow straightener in my stout faucet.

Result cascading Baltic porter. I have my co2 only tank set at 12 psi. This line and pressure was causing mountains of foam with the beer before with a regular tap.

Creamy head like nitro at least very close, would be interesting to try this set up against the same beer on nitro. But so far the results are almost identical to having a nitrogen blend tank as far as I can tell. It even had the cascading appearance as it settled.

If I get real ambitious I will make a video. But as I have been "testing" now is not a good time.

 

[Brooklyn-Brewtality]

i would love to see a video or some pics of the pour. this sounds great!

 

[mitch171]

No video yet but I did find out I am not the only one to think of this. Which is kinda too bad because I thought of this before I heard of anyone else doing it. Oh well another innovation I was beat too lol.

http://***********/stories/techniques/article/indices/39-kegging/1524-the-nitrogen-effect

 

[beerocd]

that was a good read - thanks.

-OCD

 

[indianaroller]

I just tried this with 12 psi and 3.5' of 1/4" line. I got a cascading effect but it did not last as long as a Murphy's poured in a bar. I initially got a tight creamy head but then after a minute the head started to turn into larger bubbles. The head is, for the most part, gone by the time I finish the beer. With a Murphys, the head is the last sip.

Here is the thing though. I naturally carbed my stout to 1.8 volumes. If it sits at 12 psi it will become over carbed for the style and you will have foam problems.

The F.G. of my stout is 1.012 which is on the high side for this stlye but i doubt that had anything to do with the apperance. the beer does taste good though.

 

[mitch171]

I carbed mine for 2.8 and it is now at 12 psi. I get the nice tight cascade and head. The head is lasting about as long as a canned Guinness, which is less than the bar poured for me at least. I also am not too sure about the head retention of this as it was not lasting all that long poured from a regular faucet. And I am not positive on the state of my beer glasses. So I am going to try to make sure the glass is absolutely clean(no detergent) and give it a go.

The article also recommended storing at 5 psi and serving at 25psi. This is a pain, but less than buying another tank right now.

 

[Ryan_PA]

Wow, I was just thinking about this very topic a few days ago. I currently have an irish red on nitro in my kegorator. I have a short line that must have been a left over from one of my longer lines. It cannot be more than 2.5 ft.

I was going to use this in place of the longer line, but chose not to for some reason. I am willing to do a test tonight with both lines just for grins. I will note, the beer is only on beer gas, so if you are using co2, you may get different results.

 

[dontman]

The article also recommended storing at 5 psi and serving at 25psi. This is a pain, but less than buying another tank right now.

It is also a lot of gas to go through. If you are purging 25 psi worth of gas everytime you pull a pint, roughly 40 pints give or take, this sounds like you could make short work of a 5# tank.

But maybe, like the op is saying, having a short hose can at least halve that amount of gas.

Still, you wouldn't want to leave it on 12 psi of gas or it will become carbed at that left and foam too much on pouring.

 

[indianaroller]

Another thing I noticed was that my stout had much more flavor and aroma than a dry stout poured with nitrogen. This the first dry stout that I have made though so I do not have a lot to compare.

 

[mitch171]

5# tank of co2 is only $10 to swap out. Beer Gas is $21 for me at least. So even if I go through my tank twice as fast I am still making out ok. I may after this tank is gone swap for a beer gas tank (they let me at my store) and natural carb in the keg first then serve on beer gas so I don't have to have a co2 and beer gas tank.