Beer Gas

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Igorstien

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I was talking to a guy at the compressed gas shop today and he mentioned that they have a gas mixture that is called "beer gas". It is 30% CO2 and 70% Nitrogen. Has anyone had any experience with this mixture?

I know that people have used nitrogen for stouts, but I probobly will never make one.

IGOR
 
Igorstien said:
I was talking to a guy at the compressed gas shop today and he mentioned that they have a gas mixture that is called "beer gas". It is 30% CO2 and 70% Nitrogen. Has anyone had any experience with this mixture?

I know that people have used nitrogen for stouts, but I probobly will never make one.

IGOR
Nitrogen is primarily for use with stouts. The thing to remember with nitrogen is that it does not absorb into solution nearly as easy as CO2 will. Stouts use nitrogen for this reason: they need the higher pressure to drive the beer out through the stout tap (which has a restrictor plate that creates that creamy foam head, but requires a lot of force to push the beer through it), but the nitrogen won't dissolve (at least not much) into the solution.
 
Gee, I thought this thread was a totally different topic that it turned out to be - I thought beer gas is one of the things gets me in trouble at home.
 
I use beer gas for my nitrogen tap. It produces a much creamier head than with CO2. You could use it for pushing through normal taps, but it's handy to have straight CO2 for conditioning. The nice thing with beer gas is that the beer doesn't continue to absorb a lot of gas and get overcarbonated. Also, nitrogen bubbles are much more persistent, so the head is like smooth whipped cream.

Cheers :D
 
I agree with the use of Nitrogen. I started using it with my 2nd batch, and have not stopped! I use it with all my beers, as it makes for a VERY nice creamy head. I started it with a stout, but let me tell ya, it's great with everything!
 
Can you get nitrogen filled into a CO2 tank? Do you need a special regulator? I just bought a 2.5 ld co2 tank hoping to use it for "beer gas."
 
I'd be curious to know if beer gas is a common offering at welding supply shops, or if you usually find it elsewhere. (and if anyone knows a place around Chicago that offers it, I'll take any excuse to brew up a stout :) )
 
My local welding shop quoted me around $75 to fill my 20lb tank with beer gas. As apposed to the $19 im paying for CO2
 
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