First time using Beer Gas

So… I’ve got an Oatmeal Stout that I’d like to put on BG.

I have BG, regulator, stout faucet and all of the other appropriate hardware amassed.

Luckily, just about all of it was FREE TO ME! :lol:

I am only using the BG for one beer at a time and leaving the rest of the system isolated from this. No distributor. BG in liquid out.

I would like to “set & forget” this beer just as I do with my normal tap beers on CO2.

I was planning on using a carbonation stone suspended off of tubing and leaving it in the keg for the duration of the beer. As per this link.

I have referenced this: http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=48144 & a BYO article for most of my information.

My main questions are;

  1. Can I just carbonate with the BG at 25~30 psi to an appropriate volume or will this get over carbonated?

  2. Do I need to shut the BG OFF when I’m not pouring? Doesn’t seem like bars/taverns do this.

  3. Leaving the stone in and on OK?

I really don’t mind wasting some BG to get it carbonated and I don’t want to screw with the rest of the system to carbonated with CO2.

All input is greatly appreciated!

You can carbonnate with beer gas if you like. I just find it a little less efficient and a bit wastefull. Otherwise works fine.

Stone left in should be fine. I have 2 keg lids with stones just so I can leave them in and carb with the other.

I do find working with beer gas a little trickier. You are working at higher preasures but need to keep the beer at low carbonation levels.

Make sure you purge the keg well before serving your first pint. I have read that others keep the high preasure on all the time with no problems. This has not been my experience so far. If the beer is slightly under carbed the high preasure works well to get it up. When it is pouring perfect pints I try my best to keep it that way. Might pull down the preasure just a tad (15-20psi). I always turn it off after last pour of the night. If I am at my perfect carb level, I might vent just a tad of that gas. If I am fairly flat I might actually leave gas on over night and purge next day.

Later in the keg if I am a little overcarbed I might serve on its own preasure to flatten it a little etc.

Basically it does take a little more getting used to than straight CO2 dispensing. Just considder it an advanced course in draft beer.

My experience:

  1. Carb with CO2 at lower than normal PSI…for me around half what I would normally carb (usually carb with CO2 at 12 psi, so carb at 6 psi)
  2. Use 5-foot of beer line.
  3. Vent CO2 in keg prior to attaching Nitro gas line.
  4. Nitro PSI set at 20-25 psi.
  5. Pour pint 3/4 full with forward pull on the Nitro tap.
  6. Finish pour with a backward push on the Nitro tap.
  7. Watch the show in the pint glass.
  8. Consume.

I’ve never turned my Nitro cylinder off when not pouring beer. Seems to work just fine.

Cheers.

[quote=“irod”]My experience:

  1. Carb with CO2 at lower than normal PSI…for me around half what I would normally carb (usually carb with CO2 at 12 psi, so carb at 6 psi)
  2. Use 5-foot of beer line.
  3. Vent CO2 in keg prior to attaching Nitro gas line.
  4. Nitro PSI set at 20-25 psi.
  5. Pour pint 3/4 full with forward pull on the Nitro tap.
  6. Finish pour with a backward push on the Nitro tap.
  7. Watch the show in the pint glass.
  8. Consume.

I’ve never turned my Nitro cylinder off when not pouring beer. Seems to work just fine.

Cheers.[/quote]

Why specifically 5’ beer line? Is that a min or max or an exact measurement?

By Nitro do you mean Beer Gas or 100% Nitrogen?

Thanks for the input all. :slight_smile:

Sound like everyone has a bit different way of doing things. I guess I’ll have to try it and go with what happens and adapt from there!

I’m giving the BG a try to carbonate. Wasting some gas isn’t a big deal to me at this point. 8) Just want a nice drinking beer.

Thanks

Set to 30psi and forget about it till keg is empty. If you’re not carbing with co2, no need to purge keg before first pint.

I manage bars and use 75/25 mix at home usually 3-4 times a year.

[quote]Set to 30psi and forget about it till keg is empty. If you’re not carbing with co2, no need to purge keg before first pint.

I manage bars and use 75/25 mix at home usually 3-4 times a year.[/quote]

This is home brew, correct?

How long until you start pouring? Days? weeks?

How long does a keg last you?

I like ALL of the info I’ve heard. THANKS!

Still trying to figure out a reason not to just hook it up with the BG and let it do what it’s going to do. 8)

The stone will be releasing CO2 in a smaller volume “trickled” through the beer from the bottom up so that it does have direct contact and should help with the lower/desired carbonation levels. Aside from being a little wasteful of the BG, I can’t come up with another reason to go to the trouble to mess up the rest of my system.

Once the keg reaches equilibrium with a solid blanket of nitrogen on top of the beer, it shouldn’t over carbonate the beer. Correct?

I’ll hook it up tomorrow and report back with the results in a few days or so.

Thanks! 8)

Correct. Beer gas will work fine.

Though because the Nitrogen is in gas form and not liquid like CO2 there is much less beer gas in a tank. You will be filling up your tank much more than your CO2 tank.

Since you seem completely fine with this, there is no issue.

Good luck and let us know how you get along.

Will do!

Off to the LHBS for some tubing and a barb to hook up the stone.

Thanks all!

This may help

http://www.northernbrewer.com/documenta ... System.pdf

Thanks Chuck. That does help!

I have some tubing BUT it does have some “printing / labeling” on the outside of it.

Bev-Lex. Yellow lettering I believe. I also have some plain old tubing without labeling but not as thick walled.

Should I be worried about submersing this, the labeled tubing, in the beer or attempt to get it off?

Sorry to be a pain with the many, many questions! :shock:

Thanks again.

I’ve always used this tubing if you have an extra picnic tap cut a piece off of that.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brew ... ubing.html

GREAT! I have a roll of that on hand for my kegerator.

Thanks again!

All hooked up and so far so good. Getting the stone/tube hooked to the bottom of the gas post was probably the worst part of the whole deal.

Now see how it pours! :shock:

Thanks everyone!

[quote=“Duder”]All hooked up and so far so good. Getting the stone/tube hooked to the bottom of the gas post was probably the worst part of the whole deal.

Now see how it pours! :shock:

Thanks everyone![/quote]

Was it a lovely pour at first sight??

Yes, it was very pretty! :lol:

Taste is fantastic! Much different than the same Oatmeal Stout I have put on CO2 in the past.

It is a bit “undercarbed” probably due to my desire to use BG mix instead of CO2 to a lower volume for initial carbonation. It’s only been hooked up for 1 week. 15psi for an hour and then up to 35 psi since then. BG left on and I’ve been pouring a small glas once a day to see what’s happening.

Overall, I’m very happy with this experiment.

Thanks to all for the help.