Guinness Surger

[JoeRags]

I've fallen in love... The perfect pint of Guinness at home, every time. Anyone ever see these things? The home version is not going to hit the market for another year or so, but I hear they have them in some bars. My cousin works for a distributor and got his hands on one.

No more widgets... They have cans that are dedicated for the surger unit. Inside these wonderful cans, they've dissolved the nitrogen into the beer. Pour your glass, place glass on surger, hit button. It gives a 3 second ultrasonic pulse and all the nitrogen is released sparking a beautiful cascade. The perfect pint. Every time...

 

[homebrewer_99]

I read about it the other day.

One question...What's the source for the nitrogen??

Isn't this surger just shaking the hell out of the brew to form foam?

OK, that was really 2...

 

[Evan!]

I heave a big "enh" at this news. Guinness is boring...nitro or not. Sounds like interesting technology, but I still wouldn't spend $$ on Guinness.

 

[JoeRags]

I heave a big "enh" at this news. Guinness is boring...nitro or not. Sounds like interesting technology, but I still wouldn't spend $$ on Guinness.

I get it for free... and if I'm at the bar, I'll have one.

Source for the nitrogen? Its dissolved into the beer. I'm assuming its the same methodology as dissolving Co2 in beer. As for "shaking the hell" out of it... its not. Ultrasonic vibrations are way too high frequency to really do any shaking. It just releases the nitrogen thats suspended in the liquid. Its pretty friggin cool to watch.

 

[JoeRags]

[ame]http://youtube.com/watch?v=h4M_-bZ9sq8[/ame]

 

[Funkenjaeger]

I get it for free... and if I'm at the bar, I'll have one.

Source for the nitrogen? Its dissolved into the beer. I'm assuming its the same methodology as dissolving Co2 in beer.

I really don't understand how they're doing it, because one of the reasons nitrogen is used at all in beer is that it does not dissolve into the liquid very much - thus they can use high-pressure beer gas (mostly nitrogen) to push beer down long lines, without highly carbonating it. So to get any significant amount of nitrogen dissolved into the beer would seem to require the can to be at a very high pressure, which doesn't seem likely. I wonder if they're even still using nitrogen - what if it's just lightly carbed with CO2 alone and the creamy head is due entirely to the ultrasonic vibrations, not nitrogen?

I suppose you could test that theory with some homebrew that is only partly finished carbonating. If it's too carbed you'd end up with the result below.

From http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/food/s/205/205459_good_for_your_guinness.html

The surger only works with Guinness Draught Surger beer which is made to the Guinness Draught recipe but with a different gas mix.

So it is at least using a different gas mix, though no mention of whether nitrogen is part of it...

As for "shaking the hell" out of it... its not. Ultrasonic vibrations are way too high frequency to really do any shaking. It just releases the nitrogen thats suspended in the liquid. Its pretty friggin cool to watch.

There isn't really that much difference, vibrations ARE "shaking" - it's a minor technicality, but still... The ultrasonic vibrations just do it in a controlled manner, in your glass where it's more fun to watch.

Now, since you've got your hands on one, go home and try the surger plate with a regular beer like this:
[YOUTUBE]oUTGru_uYIg[/YOUTUBE]

 

[JoeRags]

Now, since you've got your hands on one, go home and try the surger plate with a regular beer like this:

already did... still cleaning the cabinets.

 

[sause]

There is no nitrogen in the beer. It's just carbed like in the barrel. The bubbles you see are carbonation.

 

[mrkristofo]

Does the resulting Guinness taste any more "flat"?

 

[cheezydemon]

Kinda cool, but is it practical? How long before it is obsolete?
I can't imagine enough people getting them to make selling that kind of beer worth their while.

 

[JoeRags]

Kinda cool, but is it practical? How long before it is obsolete?
I can't imagine enough people getting them to make selling that kind of beer worth their while.

They were origially designed for bars where a Guinness keg setup is not economical... Perfect draught pint without the expensive tap system, and no keg to sit around and go bad if nobody drinks it.

 

[mr x]

Might just save a person money on a stout tap and beer gas setup.