Can Normal Taps Be Used On Nitro?

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Bribie G

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Starting a new thread because the recent "going nitrogen" thread is almost impossible to find in less than quarter of an hour due to crappy search functions. Also this question wasn't raised therein.

I have a 3 tap font kegmate. I'm going nitrogen mix on one font which will involve buying a nitro reg, separate line in, stout tap etc. It will also necessitate me hiring an additional nitro cylinder from BOC.

Now, whenever I see nitro mentioned, the next sentence is always "of course you will need to buy a stout tap as well".

Obviously the stout tap is required to give the creamy Guinness / kilkenny/ UK "smoothflow" results in the glass.

Questions:

  • What is the serving pressure in the system, about the same as CO2? e.g. 60 -80 kpa whatever?
  • If so then clearly the ordinary taps aren't going to burst asunder or leak or something
  • so what would the result be serving, say a lager or APA, on nitrogen but through an ordinary tap not a stout tap?

Pubs use pub gas mixture to push the beer to the bars and they don't seem to have a problem and only fit a stout tap for Guinness etc.

If it's ok to run your normal brews on nitro and serve on normal taps then it would be far cheaper and easier just to connect nitro to my existing system and replace one of the current taps with a stout tap for the creamy brewz. The stout tap just screws onto the font same as the "normal" ones.
 
the pubs use it to push along long lines where they need double the pressure we do in our kegorator with a few meters of line. This lets them push with a higher pressure without the beer overcarbing in the line, because the Nitrogen is just a filler gas that wont go into solution.

Thats why you can get all different amounts of Co2/Nitro mixes...... to match them to your system to ballance the carb at the tap on a long higher pressure line.

Thats the way i see it anyway.

If you want to use the 30/70 mix to push your normal Co2 beers, it will push it and hold the gas in solution just fine, you just need to set it at the required ballancing pressure to stop the gas in the beer coming out of solution in the keg and the line.

carbing with it could be another matter though.


Are you still going to carb with the full Co2 bottle?
 
Mine runs best at 240 kpa - I think Ross had his at 300 kpa. I do the keg shake for about 30 seconds to a minute, then hook it up. But it's usually left for a week before I drink it.
 
My CO2 is going to run out in a few weeks anyway and the bottle is long out of contract, so I'll probably suck it and see. If it works running the whole show on Nitro mix then the CO2 bottle gets returned.
If it doesn't work then I'll keep the CO2 and run a dual system.

Nitrogen is fairly insoluble which is why it comes out in such small bubbles as well, I expect if using the 70/30 mix to carbonate, the CO2 will go into solution in preference to the nitrogen, but just take longer to carb up. When force carbing I crank the CO2 way up to around 250 as it is and the taps don't explode or leak so I live in hopes :icon_cheers:
 
I have a Nitro set up (Haven't used it in almost three years :-O ) but all I use to do was Carb the beer up to just over 1 volume with straight CO2, then hook it up to the 70/30 nitro mix and push it at about 350KPA out of a tap with a stout restrictor, also you want your beer line to be as short as possible as pushing the beer through the restricter at high pressure is what gives you that fine head.
 
So to return to my OP, what would be the result of pushing it through a normal tap such as a font tap or perlick at that pressure, beer shampoo / refreshing face mist spray? :unsure:

Edit: and do all the stout taps enable you to rock it backwards to get:

guinness_shamrock.jpg

or is that just a proprietory Guinness thing?
 
So to return to my OP, what would be the result of pushing it through a normal tap such as a font tap or perlick at that pressure, beer shampoo / refreshing face mist spray? :unsure:

What taps you got? I can get a screw on Stout restrictor option for my Floryte taps.
 
So to return to my OP, what would be the result of pushing it through a normal tap such as a font tap or perlick at that pressure, beer shampoo / refreshing face mist spray? :unsure:

Edit: and do all the stout taps enable you to rock it backwards to get:

View attachment 54583

or is that just a proprietory Guinness thing?

I've seen patterns caused by logos being laser etched (nucleation points),

Nucleatedglass.jpg


but that looks like a hand drawn clover

see :
 
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Quick Q/confirmation re the Nitrogen:

I assume all the nitrogen does is allow the higher pressure? ie, as it doesn't enter solution and the beer is between the nitrogen and the beer out post I believe that no nitrogen would actually come through your tap until it farts?

So quite simply, the higher pressure without increasing disolved CO2 is what is causing the awesome small creamy bubbles?
 
The brumby stout restrictor is the one you want Bribie (if I remember your kegerator pics properly). I might get one for my setup, maybe see about a club hire for a gas cyclinder and rent out at a monthly rate to club members?

Edit: ta hirns
 
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