Help with Serving on Nitro

[Here4TheBeers]

Hey all,

Hoping someone out there can provide a little bit of insight for me with serving on Nitro. I've attempted this twice before with mixed results, so I'm trying to refine the process. I don't have a traditional tap set up for Nitro, I have one of those ball lock nitro dispensers that attaches directly to the keg like this -> https://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/draft-brewer-nitro-snap-tap-ball-lock

This works OK, but I think I need to dial in my process for carbonating my nitro beers and the serving pressure since there's no long beer line to run through.

First attempt was direct carbonating with beer gas (75 N / 25 CO2), I set to like 30-40psi for 10ish days (can't remember), with the thought that if nitrogen does not dissolve into the beer, then to get to my target, I'd need almost 4x the PSI as I normally would. The result was just over carbonated and not the smooth, slow pour you'd expect from a nitro tap, even after pulling the PRV and lowering the PSI on the tank. It got close, but not exactly what I was shooting for.

Second attempt, I tried to carbonate with CO2 first as I normally would on about 10-12 PSI and then switching over to the beer gas for serving at about 25PSI. Similar result to the first time around.

So now, for my third attempt, I'm taking the following approach:
- Carbonate with CO2 only, but only at about 5-7 PSI for 1-2 weeks
- Day of serving, switch over to beer gas and attach the ball lock dispenser
- Set beer gas PSI to.... ??

Using the method in this third attempt, what PSI should the beer gas regulator be set to? Since there is no length of line to run through I'm leaning on the lower side, maybe 10-15psi? Lower? Just not sure.

Hope this all made sense and looking forward to any input anyone has!

Thanks!

 

[Minbari]

Her is how I do it, much cheaper than buying beer gas too.

Charge your beer with co2 to whatever vol of gas you want. Then switch to pure n2. It's the same connector and regulator as beergas, so nothing to buy. Biggest difference is n2 costs less than 1/2.

Only thing I see that you are doing wrong is beergas pressure. You want 35-40psi to serve. Line length make zero difference with nitro since it is such high pressure. With out the pressure you won't get the foam head you want from disturbing the co2 out of suspension. The restrictor plate in the stout faucet simply won't work right without that pressure

 

[Here4TheBeers]

Thanks for the response!

I'll look into pure N2. I'm sure my LHBS can acquire that. If not, I'll proceed as I noted. I think the main change this time around will be to set the beer to a lower initial carbonation on CO2 and then couple that with the 40psi of the beer gas for serving. I had used that high PSI the first time I tried this, but I think the beer was originally over carbonated to begin with. Guinness isn't the most carbonated stout if you think about it (pretty sure that uses pure N2 though)

It is interesting that you mention that the line length makes no difference. That seems to be contrary to what I've been reading. Seems like longer line would be needed because of the higher pressure, so the fact that my line length is essentially 0ft would seem like the need for some sort of adjustment, even if a minor drop in PSI.

 

[Minbari]

My line length is 3ft.

The stout faucet has a restrictor plate in it to restrict flow

 

[Bigbre04]

Nitro is a pain (imo).

you need to lightly carbonate the beer 1.2-1.5 vols seems to be the general consensus online. if you try to serve a fully carbonated beer it will be all foam and no liquid.

im not sure what pressure to push at(it has been a long time and setups vary greatly). but it has to be nitrogen not beer gas as was said above.

google says 30-35psi on the nitrogen tank should be the range. i dont know what you need as far as line length.

Draft line balancing is a very complicated thing. the best answer i can give you is using adjustable faucets. We have a long draw system with 3/8 lines pushing 80ft. We push beer gas at 20psi. Our tower necks down the 3/8 line to 1/4 for 3-4 feet and there are inserted.