About a week ago, there was a brief, hypothetical (and OT) discussion on this topic in this thread.
I recently brewed a sweet stout that really needs a nitro-style pour to make it perfect. However, I live in a tiny town, my local gas supplier is TERRIBLE, and I don't have beer gas or nitrogen available. I do, however, have plenty of argon, since I use it for welding.
Argon is completely inert, harmless, odorless, and roughly 4 times more water soluble than nitrogen (about the same solubility as oxygen). Since I've never had a "fizzy" oxygenated beverage, it seems safe to assume that argon won't add any "fizz" to the product. So, I swapped the flow gauge on a spare argon regulator for a low pressure gauge, set the pressure at 25 psi, and hooked it up to a slightly carbonated keg of stout.
The result:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTruPbc1IfU]YouTube - Stout pour with argon[/ame]
It's going to take some time for things to normalize, so I'll update the thread after a few days and let you know if the setup is still working as well.
I recently brewed a sweet stout that really needs a nitro-style pour to make it perfect. However, I live in a tiny town, my local gas supplier is TERRIBLE, and I don't have beer gas or nitrogen available. I do, however, have plenty of argon, since I use it for welding.
Argon is completely inert, harmless, odorless, and roughly 4 times more water soluble than nitrogen (about the same solubility as oxygen). Since I've never had a "fizzy" oxygenated beverage, it seems safe to assume that argon won't add any "fizz" to the product. So, I swapped the flow gauge on a spare argon regulator for a low pressure gauge, set the pressure at 25 psi, and hooked it up to a slightly carbonated keg of stout.
The result:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTruPbc1IfU]YouTube - Stout pour with argon[/ame]
It's going to take some time for things to normalize, so I'll update the thread after a few days and let you know if the setup is still working as well.