Anyone rocking a Firkin?

[Jako]

My understanding is that serving beers on nitro originally came about to mimic the features of cask conditioned ales - it’s not exactly the same but it’s pretty close so you could definitely do that

Very interesting. Is a stout style tap required or just pushing the beer at low PSI all thats needed?

 

[Twinkeelfool]

You need a stout nozzle. I use disposable nitro bottles and a nukatap with an interchangeable stout nozzle. I can use the same tap with normal beers and then when I keg a bitter or stout, screw in the stout nozzle. I carb with cO2 as normal then switch to nitro to serve. It’s not as good as a beer engine imho but it’s a lot easier and the beer is in a keg in the fridge so it will last a lot longer

 

[oskee]

I mistakenly purchased a used firkin via eBay last year. The listing described it as a "used 10 gallon keg" and there was only one left of the 5 they had received, price was $40ish so was hard to pass up. It wasn't until I got there that I realized it was a used firkin from Karbach when I saw the bung hole. Probably will never rack any beer into it and it'll be turned into some decorative piece in the house as Karbach was a brewery I enjoyed when I was in Houston many years ago.

 

[rmr9]

Heck if you’ve got one why not give it a go? Once the world returns to normal brew a nice 10.8 gallon batch and have a nice party!

 

[Jako]

You need a stout nozzle. I use disposable nitro bottles and a nukatap with an interchangeable stout nozzle. I can use the same tap with normal beers and then when I keg a bitter or stout, screw in the stout nozzle. I carb with cO2 as normal then switch to nitro to serve. It’s not as good as a beer engine imho but it’s a lot easier and the beer is in a keg in the fridge so it will last a lot longer

do you use a nitro regulator? i had no idea disposable nitro bottles existed

 

[Jako]

I mistakenly purchased a used firkin via eBay last year. The listing described it as a "used 10 gallon keg" and there was only one left of the 5 they had received, price was $40ish so was hard to pass up. It wasn't until I got there that I realized it was a used firkin from Karbach when I saw the bung hole. Probably will never rack any beer into it and it'll be turned into some decorative piece in the house as Karbach was a brewery I enjoyed when I was in Houston many years ago.

that's a neat idea.

 

[crazyjake19]

Awesome information. Are you located in the UK?

Sorry for the delay, I'm in the US not UK.

 

[Twinkeelfool]

do you use a nitro regulator? i had no idea disposable nitro bottles existed

Yes sorry, when I bought the bottles I hit the regulator as well. It’s fairly cheap to setup. I did it to see if I liked it, planning to just rent a full sized nitrogen bottle if I liked it. But just using the disposable bottles is working fine. I do a nitro batch every 3rd batch so it lasts fine.

 

[oskee]

You can rent a nitrogen tank? I figured like CO2 you had to do a tank trade in or get it filled.

Why not just get beer gas (nitro/CO2 mix)? my understanding is that you can use a CO2 tank and CO2 regulator. Now that I have some extra tanks, I might have to try beer gas to dispense. Recall refill wasn't that much more than CO2.

 

[Twinkeelfool]

You can rent a nitrogen tank? I figured like CO2 you had to do a tank trade in or get it filled.

Why not just get beer gas (nitro/CO2 mix)? my understanding is that you can use a CO2 tank and CO2 regulator. Now that I have some extra tanks, I might have to try beer gas to dispense. Recall refill wasn't that much more than CO2.

In Australia the only size nitro/Co2 to rent it seems is a full size one. Many years worth of gas and it’s quite expensive. The way I do it is pretty cheap and easy to do. If all I drank was nitro beers, it would be worth it, but how I do it is easy for me.