IPA on nitro...

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The local brew pub (SLO Brew) has their IPA available both regular, and on nitrogen. I've really been digging the version on nitro even though I'm not a huge fan of it served normally.

Does anybody else have a beer they only like on nitro?
 
Cascade Lakes in Bend Oregon had their Cyclops (I think it was Cyclops) IPA on both traditional and nitro. The nitro was way smoother and more drinkable. Fo rthe mostpart though I prefer stouts on nitro ans the style better lends itself to nitro. Left hand Brewing in colorado even has a milk stout on nitro in bottles. I highly recommend it.
 
I'm not a big fan of big American IPA's on nitro, or cask especially, although Pizza Port occasionally makes a delicious pale ale called Foamball that's delicious. Only served on nitro.
 
And I'm just the opposite. I really enjoy IPA on nitro. I think it tastes and feels like I'm at a pub in england, only hoppier! When I have a nitro system i will be brewing IPA and stout exclusively.
 
The interesting thing to me is how the nitro changes the taste of the bittering hops. It really gives it a mellow bitterness.

There was a beer bar I used to go to (Bittercreek Alehouse) that usually had an IPA available in cask. It had a similar feel, yet was obviously served warm. That was a nice way to serve too.
 
From what I understand nitrogen doesnt actually carb the beer, and most places serve with beergas (75/25 nitro/co2). Nitro is just a way to push beer through lines at a higher PSI without overcarbing the beer. The nitrogen doesnt actually touch 90% of the beer. Is there an explanation to why beers pushed with nitro would taste different? I've never understood this phenomenon, so if someone could shed some light on this I'd really appreciate it.

To answer the question, I enjoy stouts and porters pushed by nitro, mainly because the're coming out of a stout tap at a high psi which gives them a nice thick creamy head.
 
From what I understand nitrogen doesnt actually carb the beer, and most places serve with beergas (75/25 nitro/co2). Nitro is just a way to push beer through lines at a higher PSI without overcarbing the beer. The nitrogen doesnt actually touch 90% of the beer. Is there an explanation to why beers pushed with nitro would taste different? I've never understood this phenomenon, so if someone could shed some light on this I'd really appreciate it.

To answer the question, I enjoy stouts and porters pushed by nitro, mainly because the're coming out of a stout tap at a high psi which gives them a nice thick creamy head.

I would say (this is just my opinion) that going through a nitro tap would "aerate" the beer more giving it a smoother mouthfeel.
Normally a nitro beer is lower carb'd (1.2 volumes vs. 2..3ish - roughly), this would mean less carbonic acid bite to the beer, and a possible reasoning for chri5's "mellower bitterness".
 
From what I understand nitrogen doesnt actually carb the beer, and most places serve with beergas (75/25 nitro/co2). Nitro is just a way to push beer through lines at a higher PSI without overcarbing the beer. The nitrogen doesnt actually touch 90% of the beer. Is there an explanation to why beers pushed with nitro would taste different? I've never understood this phenomenon, so if someone could shed some light on this I'd really appreciate it.

To answer the question, I enjoy stouts and porters pushed by nitro, mainly because the're coming out of a stout tap at a high psi which gives them a nice thick creamy head.
Nitrogen can be dissolved in beer, although it's a pain in the ass and likes to break out much more easily than CO2. The bubbles that nitrogen forms when going from a dissolved gas to a free gas are much smaller and finer than those that CO2 forms, and that really changes the mouthfeel of the beer.
 
Nitrogen can be dissolved in beer, although it's a pain in the ass and likes to break out much more easily than CO2. The bubbles that nitrogen forms when going from a dissolved gas to a free gas are much smaller and finer than those that CO2 forms, and that really changes the mouthfeel of the beer.

huh? There is a difference between theoritically can and does (which you hint at in the second part of your sentence).
Really roughly and scientifically really wrong :D, N2 at atmospheric pressure is 100 time less soluable than CO2. Assuming that the partial pressure for N2 in beer gas is 3 times that of CO2 (75%-25% mix) and the beer is carbinated to the same as it would be if using regular CO2. that would "mean" that there is 33 times less N2 disolved in the beer than CO2.
Normal CO2 volumes 2.3 so N2 volumes 0.07 = not really any N2 in the beer when served on beergas.
This can be seen in action where people don't use beergas on their home setups but get the same results by just crank the CO2 pressure up when dispensing through the stout tap (and then bleeding off afterwards back to carb pressure).
 
Right so if you didn't carb a beer on co2 then pushed it with straight nitro there wouldn't be any noticeable carbonation.

I was under the impression the different mouth feel was an effect of the restrictions plate in the stout tap, not what the beer was carbed with.
 
Under extreme pressure N2 can be dissolved in liquid.

When you see a Guinness "cascading" it is N2 releasing from solution so rapidly its being pushed to the sides of the glasses and back down where it collides with more N2 forcing it back up. N2 is a larger molecule but actually has a smaller mass than o2 which is why it tends to sink, or cascade down the glass...

No beer is 100% carbed with N2, It just lends itself to a creamy mouthfeel on lower carbed beers.
 
I love IPA on nitro. Had a Hop Devil on nitro last week and it was great. Mellowed bitterness and yet TONS of hop flavor.
 
I love IPA on nitro. Had a Hop Devil on nitro last week and it was great. Mellowed bitterness and yet TONS of hop flavor.

Me too. I just had some Hop Devil on nitro last week and it was very good. I may have to key up a batch of an IPA for my Nitro tap.
 
Under extreme pressure N2 can be dissolved in liquid.

When you see a Guinness "cascading" it is N2 releasing from solution so rapidly its being pushed to the sides of the glasses and back down where it collides with more N2 forcing it back up. N2 is a larger molecule but actually has a smaller mass than o2 which is why it tends to sink, or cascade down the glass...

No beer is 100% carbed with N2, It just lends itself to a creamy mouthfeel on lower carbed beers.

Can you define extream pressure?
 
Call me old fashioned but I don't care for nitro tap unless it's on those low carbonated dark beers/porter/stout out of the UK and Ireland. PS I had a Ayinger Celebrator (dopplebock) on tap the other day and it blew my mind.. it wasn't on nitro but it might as well have been.
 
Under extreme pressure N2 can be dissolved in liquid.

When you see a Guinness "cascading" it is N2 releasing from solution so rapidly its being pushed to the sides of the glasses and back down where it collides with more N2 forcing it back up. N2 is a larger molecule but actually has a smaller mass than o2 which is why it tends to sink, or cascade down the glass...

No beer is 100% carbed with N2, It just lends itself to a creamy mouthfeel on lower carbed beers.

N2 dissolves in beer at all partial pressures of nitrogen, not just extreme pressures. That's not why those bubbles go down either. There is a convenction current set up, with bubbles rising in the centre of the glass. The current on the outside is downwards to balance the upward current in the centre.
 
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