Switching between nitro and regular CO2 taps for a stout?

[Cider123]

Hi all,

Haven't posted in a while, but I usually find most of my answers in the archives.

I did have a question about a dry stout I have made recently. I don't use it very often, but I do have a nitro beer gas setup and would normally use it with the stout. However, I plan on sharing several growlers with some friends and have read that filling growlers with nitro leaves your friends with flat beer.

If I intially carb the beer on CO2 to 8psi @40F, can I then switch between the two taps? After the inital carbing, switch to nitro as usual for my own drinking but hook up the regular CO2 tap when filling growlers? If this won't work, what are my best options?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[day_trippr]

8 psi @40°F will equalize at 2.1 volumes of CO2. That's going to be way too high to dispense through a typical stout faucet restrictor plate without creating epic foam. In my experience 1.2 to 1.4 volumes will be ok, anything higher is troublesome. So I shoot for carbonating to 1.2 volumes before putting a keg of stout on 70/30 beer gas @35psi and get very nice pours with that formula...

Cheers!

 

[Bobby_M]

The only practical way to transport beer from a nitro keg is to drop the pressure a bit, use a picnic faucet to dispense into a pressurizable vessel like a soda bottle and put a carbonator cap on. Hit it with 20psi of pure Co2 and it will be carbonated when you get where you're going.