co2

[ihuntbear]

Hi guys

do u guys use co2 or beer gas in your kegs????reason is the beer i make is sometimes to gasy or not enough...I use co2 and wondering if i switch to beer gas would it have a better flavour and more regulated. I asked the pub people down the road and they use beer gas never co2 so they couldn't give me any answers..so i figured i'd ask here

 

[tmendick]

Virtually no one uses beer gas but Guinness, Murphys and other beers that come out of a nitro faucet

 

[m1k3]

I use CO2. From a 15# tank in a tiny keezer. I'd like a stout faucet but it's not gonna happen.

 

[doug293cz]

Because of the complexity of mixed gas/liquid equilibria, using beer gas properly is more difficult than using plain CO2. Until you can get consistent results with pure CO2, it is very unlikely that you would be able to get acceptable results with mixed CO2/N2.

Brew on

 

[Murph2002]

Yep, just CO2 here, too.

Would love to get a stout faucet and add it to the keezer one of these days.

 

[day_trippr]

Hi guys

do u guys use co2 or beer gas in your kegs????reason is the beer i make is sometimes to gasy or not enough...I use co2 and wondering if i switch to beer gas would it have a better flavour and more regulated. I asked the pub people down the road and they use beer gas never co2 so they couldn't give me any answers..so i figured i'd ask here

The reason the "pub people" use beergas is most likely due to their using a long-line distribution system. It's pretty common in pubs, the pressure needed to dispense the beer over a long haul would result in excessive carbonation if it was straight CO2.

Home brewers are rarely faced with similar configuration issues. Beergas is thus relegated to driving beer through stout faucets (which have restrictor plates that need pressure in the 30-40 psi range to function properly). Otherwise, nearly everyone uses straight CO2.

Assuming your CO2 regulator is functioning properly, the key to a properly carbonated beer is to use the appropriate CO2 pressure vs beer temperature and giving the beer time to reach equilibrium. Referencing our favorite carbonation table one can set the gas pressure so the beer will eventually reach equilibrium at whatever level of carbonation one desires (expressed as "volumes of CO2", where 2.4-2.5 volumes is pretty much the sweet spot for most ales).

Beyond that, one should note the quality of the pour. If your pint is half beer and half foam, you're losing a lot of CO2 to excessive head, which could point to a deficiency in the dispensing system (insufficient restriction provided by the beer tubing). To examine that possibility, refer to the only beer line length calculator worth using...

Cheers!

 

[ihuntbear]

thanks guys...i think i have a few things to work out

 

[BigFloyd]

It takes a bit of doing, but a "balanced system" is not that hard to achieve for most homebrewers using a basic keezer or kegerator setup (non-tower).

Balanced means that the same pressure/temp that gives good, consistent carbonation is also the same which produces a good pour where the amount of foam can be determined by the tilt of the glass.

Most systems come with lines (5ft) that are much too short. A good starting point is 12ft 3/16" lines, 12psi and 38*F. You can easily tweak it from there as you wish.