Nitrogen

Kegging
1

So,
I geared up for a smooth Nitrogen infused beer smoothy (Oatmeal Stout) and didn’t get the results I was after. I brewed the beer and kegged it in a corny and went about my usual force gassing the beer. 30 psi tip and roll. Did not achieve the frothy smooth head. Seemed undernitrogenized. I need to modify my technique, but not sure where to start. Any ideas?

M

2

You only carb it to 1.5-1.9 volumes you over carb it.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/documenta ... System.pdf
3

It is actually a little difficult to understand exactly what you mean. From reading the post, it sounds like you tried force carbing this beer with nitrogen. Was it a blend with CO2?

4

Carb first with co2 to 1.5-1.9 vol lets say your beer is at 40 deg set your regulator at 5 psi this could take a week or more then hook it up to nitro 75-25 blend and set your regulator at 25-30 psi and drink.

5

+1 This is the basic process (Though it is possible it could take longer than a week for the CO2 carbonnation with a straight set and forget approach).

Keep in mind, there really is no “nitrogenization” of the beer. The nitrogen simply shoots through the beer and churs up the co2 that is in there. If very little happens in that regard, it usually means there was not enough CO2 to churn up.

6

Your right thanks for the update and I changed my info on that.

7

OK OK,
I did not first force the CO2, started out with straight up nitrogen.
Not a blend. First carbonate as usual, then run the keg with Nitrogen at 30 psi? Will straight Nitrogen b OK or should I try to get a blend? With your help, I will get this right.

8

[quote=“chuck”]You only carb it to 1.5-1.9 volumes you over carb it.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/documenta ... System.pdf[/quote]

Ah,

The directions, very useful.

Thanks

9

[quote=“msauls”]OK OK,
I did not first force the CO2, started out with straight up nitrogen.
Not a blend. First carbonate as usual, then run the keg with Nitrogen at 30 psi? Will straight Nitrogen b OK or should I try to get a blend? With your help, I will get this right.[/quote]

You need to get the blend also do you have a nitro faucet ?

Not that you would want to but you can carb it using the nitro blend but the cost is not worth doing it that way very expensive. Nitrogen does not stay in suspension that’s is why you need the CO2 when you pour you can see the nitro coming out of it

10

Chuck is correct. Nitrogen is an inert gas and will not dissolve in liquid beer/water.

There must be CO2 in the beer for the high pressured nitrogen to froth up.

You do not “need” a blended gas to serve the beer. You would need CO2 to carbonate the beer slightly for the nitro to serve up a proper pint. However, if you only serve with nitrogen, the beer will go flat over time as the empty space in the keg expands.

For this you could either just “top up” your keg with CO2 periodically to make sure it stays relatively carbonated - or you can serve on beer gas (usually 70-75% N2 and 25-30% CO2) in order to have enough CO2 available to keep the beer carbed.

I actually tend to go for a higher concentration on N2 to make sure I don’t overcarb.