CO2 Stout thru Nitro tap w/beer gas

[BabaAsheri]

Are there any benefits or detriments in serving a non-nitrogenated stout through a nitro tap using beer gas?

 

[mprowland]

As far as I know, all beer is carbonated, Nitrogen will not dissolve fully in beer. A nitro tap needs roughly 30psi to be able to push the beer out of the "small holes". If you used Co2 alone at 30psi, this will cause carbonic bite. Beer gas at a 75/25 (Nitrogen/CO2) keeps the beer from going flat and enables the beer at a higher pressure to flow through the nitro tap.

 

[dustinstriplin]

I haven't done this but it seems likely that you would pour pure foam.

 

[porterpounder]

There will be some residual CO2 in most fermented beer anyway, but without about .75-1.0 volume of CO2 in the beer, you won't get a that nice thick nitro head. So you will get nitro-pushed flat beer.

 

[zachattack]

If the beer has been carbonated to a normal (2-3 volume) range you'll get a mess of foam.

 

[BabaAsheri]

Thanks for all the replies.

I may be the ignorant one, so my apologies.

When one speaks of a 'nitro stout' that means it isn't the typically-carbonated brew, correct? It was brewed with nitro in the mix, right? Thus, the nitro stout needs to be pushed to the faucet with beer gas (nitro/CO2 mix) as I understand. But, I have encountered stouts that aren't nitrogenated (or nitrogenized... which is it?). It is this kind of latter stout that I'd like to feed through tower 1 mentioned below, if possible.

Maybe describing my entire setup will help...

I have a kegerator with 2 towers.
Tower 1: 1 x nitro faucet fed by a beer gas bottle.
Tower 2: 2 x standard faucets with both lines fed by a CO2 bottle with a splitter off the regulator.

The fridge has room for 2 x 1/2 bbl and 1 x 1/6 bbl kegs. So, if one of the 3 is the non-nitro stout, could I push it with the beer gas? I'm aware that I'd have to take the restrictor plate out of the nitro faucet.

If I did that and dropped the regulator pressure down, would that work? Or does it absolutely have to be pushed by CO2 only?

 

[zachattack]

When one speaks of a 'nitro stout' that means it isn't the typically-carbonated brew, correct? It was brewed with nitro in the mix, right?

No. Nitrogen does not dissolve in the beer. It's simply used as an inert gas to push the beer out of the keg.

A "nitro stout" would be a stout brewed as any other beer. It would be carbonated to a very low level (generally 1-1.2 vol, vs. 2-3 vol for most beer styles) and then pushed out of the keg at roughly 30 psi through a stout faucet with a restrictor plate. The restrictor plate requires the high pressure, it knocks almost all of the CO2 out of solution leading to the foamy/creamy head and smooth mouthfeel (with almost no carbonation) we associate with a nitro pour.

If the carbonation is too high (i.e. "normal" carb levels) you'll have a glass of foam. If you try to push the beer out with 30 psi of pure CO2, the beer will absorb the CO2 leading to a higher carb level. If you used pure nitrogen, the beer would go flat. The beer gas (nitrogen/CO2 blend) is to allow the high serving pressure required for the faucet while maintaining the low carbonation level in the beer.

TSo, if one of the 3 is the non-nitro stout, could I push it with the beer gas? I'm aware that I'd have to take the restrictor plate out of the nitro faucet.

If I did that and dropped the regulator pressure down, would that work? Or does it absolutely have to be pushed by CO2 only?

If you understood what I wrote above, you should know know that the "nitro" effect is a combination of low carbonation combined with high pressure serving through the restrictor plate in the faucet.

I'm still not sure what you're looking to do. Use beergas and a stout faucet (w/o restrictor plate) to serve a keg of beer at a regular carbonation level? No, that will not work. You need to use CO2 at a regular pressure or the beer will go flat.

 

[BabaAsheri]

Thank you, zachattack. I really appreciate you helping me understand this.

Things written in articles like what's below have confused me in my learning about nitro.

When people talk of nitro, it’s a reference to the type of gas used in the carbonation process. It means the difference between the creamier nitrogen beers (N2) and their lively, prickly CO2 counterparts. A typical nitrogenized beer contains about 70 percent nitrogen and 30 percent carbon dioxide. (link)

So, should the article use the term "nitrogen beers (N2)" since there's no nitrogen in it? They should instead refer to those beers as low-CO2-volume beers? Also, does this mean that a "nitrogen beer" isn't actually exposed to nitrogen at all until the beer gas hits it to push it to the faucet?

Also, Deschutes makes it sound as if there is nitrogen in it before they ever keg it...

Basically we add Nitrogen instead of CO2, to the beer after it gets clarified. That addition happens through porous stones in the lines as the liquid passes by... This higher pressure aids in holding the Nitrogen in solution. Once the tank is full, we measure the amount of CO2, Nitrogen (usually 30/70 mixture) and dissolved oxygen to make sure each one is within our control specifications... Once everything on our end is right, the beer gets kegged and sold to our distributor, then to bars, and then poured from a restrictive faucet tap into your glass. Vwala! (link)

What I have been hoping to be possible is to run a normal CO2 volumed (2-3) keg through a plate-removed nitro faucet by using beer gas. That would keep me from having to get another splitter off of my CO2 tank and switching the nitro faucet coupler gas line back and forth.

 

[alexnova]

Thank you, zachattack. I really appreciate you helping me understand this.

Things written in articles like what's below have confused me in my learning about nitro.

When people talk of nitro, it’s a reference to the type of gas used in the carbonation process. It means the difference between the creamier nitrogen beers (N2) and their lively, prickly CO2 counterparts. A typical nitrogenized beer contains about 70 percent nitrogen and 30 percent carbon dioxide. (link)

So, should the article use the term "nitrogen beers (N2)" since there's no nitrogen in it? They should instead refer to those beers as low-CO2-volume beers? Also, does this mean that a "nitrogen beer" isn't actually exposed to nitrogen at all until the beer gas hits it to push it to the faucet?

Also, Deschutes makes it sound as if there is nitrogen in it before they ever keg it...

Basically we add Nitrogen instead of CO2, to the beer after it gets clarified. That addition happens through porous stones in the lines as the liquid passes by... This higher pressure aids in holding the Nitrogen in solution. Once the tank is full, we measure the amount of CO2, Nitrogen (usually 30/70 mixture) and dissolved oxygen to make sure each one is within our control specifications... Once everything on our end is right, the beer gets kegged and sold to our distributor, then to bars, and then poured from a restrictive faucet tap into your glass. Vwala! (link)

What I have been hoping to be possible is to run a normal CO2 volumed (2-3) keg through a plate-removed nitro faucet by using beer gas. That would keep me from having to get another splitter off of my CO2 tank and switching the nitro faucet coupler gas line back and forth.

Yeah, they are not being clear, but then again most people forgot whatever they learned in high-school chemistry. Heck, for a long time I thought N2 was actually dissolved in the beer.

I guess you could remove the restrictor plate form a creamer tap, but why? You'd just be making it an ordinary tap. No restrictor plate, no tiny bubbles.

 

[BabaAsheri]

I guess you could remove the restrictor plate form a creamer tap, but why? You'd just be making it an ordinary tap. No restrictor plate, no tiny bubbles.

Yes, that would be my intent... running it (although temporarily) as an ordinary tap. The only reason would be to be able to serve 3 regular brews through the 2 standard & 1 nitro faucets with the latter 1 being pushed by beer gas. This would be for those times in between nitro stouts in the kegerator. If I had 3 kegs of ale/lager and 3 taps on the kegerator, I'd like to have all 3 flowing for tasty consumption... if in anyway possible at all.

If I removed the restrictor plate and dropped the beer gas down to 8-12 psi, it still has no possibility of pouring a decent glass? I mean a hand pump tap pushing oxygen into a keg for pressure makes it flow out in a decent pour. It's not ideal, I know. I'd just like it to work for a keg ever so often.

 

[brick_haus]

I removed post content because it might have been false.