Nitro system without special regulator ?

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Duster

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My friend mentioned he does a Guiness clone using nitro without a special regulator but with the nitro faucet....

Is this possible ? He does not even have a kegerator - he just refrigerates his keg in his refrigerator.

I have a small kegerator and would like to try the Guiness clone on tap but I dont want to switch over my single kegerator system to nitro...

What is all needed ?

Thanks in advance...
 
Yes, you can do this. Carbonate your stout with CO2 pressure just enough to move the needle on the pressure gauge off the pin. This is part A - very low (about 1 volume carbonation). When you are ready to serve run the pressure up to about 30 psig. This is part B - a pushing pressure high enough to force the beer through the sparkler plate (you do need a stout faucet) with enough vigour to bring the low level carbonation out so that the tiny bubbles of the creamy head form. After serving bleed the keg back to just a wee bit above atmospheric again. It won't hurt to leave it on high for an hour or so but as long as you do leave it at high pressure CO2 will continue to dissolve.
 
One question though - what is the best way to condition an (oatmeal) stout for this (kegging) method ? Add sugar ? or ?
 
Fill it into the keg preferably against counter pressure CO2 (that's to exclude oxygen - all beers should be kegged against counter pressure) and then bleed down to just above 1 atmosphere. Apply the minimum CO2 pressure that causes the gauge needle to move perceptibly. This is about 0.5 - 1 psig. Over time (a week or so) the beer will take up about 1 volume of CO2 (depending on temperature). You are then ready to push it thru the sparkle plate with high pressure CO2 or nitrogen. The high pressure gas is just a propellant at this point.
 
Fill it into the keg preferably against counter pressure CO2 (that's to exclude oxygen - all beers should be kegged against counter pressure) ....

And I assume with no sugar...

Sounds great - Ill be kegging soon !
 
You could, of course, get the 1 volume from priming sugar if you think you can control that precisely or you can make up or bleed down with CO2 but there seems little point in doing that given that you have CO2 from a bottle available.
 
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