Hey guys, been a while since I've been on here sadly due to work and study and the lack of available time for brewing . However working in cocktail bars I have recently gotten involved in kegged cocktails which have been a hit with punters and staff (who have an understandable aversion to mojito's). And It has been a great excuse to dust off the old kegging and brewing equipment, yay!
To make my Mojito's I have been using the 'rapid infusion' technique with an iSi creamer siphon to force the alcohol under pressure into the pores of the mint leaves then quickly releasing the pressure after a few mins to allow nucleation to extract the menthol from the leaves without the chlorophyl, in order to avoid bitterness and greening (there's a great article here: http://www.cookingissues.com/2010/08/11/infusion-profusion-game-changing-fast-%E2%80%98n-cheap-technique/ ). It worked a treat! So much so that the full keg was finished in 4 hours ~ 120 mojito's. Problem is that the siphon only has a capacity of 500ml and so I need to go through the whole process 36 times which takes hours. To save time I was thinking about adding all the ingredients to the keg and charging the entire keg in one go then quickly releasing the pressure. CO2 bubbles are too large to nucleate and form on the inside of the pores and NO is expensive and difficult to acquire in bulk (understandably). Firstly, would I be right in assuming that I can probably get the same effect with straight Nitrogen?
From a bit of math I calculated the pressure inside the foamer to be roughly 6 atm (or ~ 609 Kpa, 88 PSI), Does anyone know or have an idea if this sounds correct? I've read that Corny kegs are rated to 120 PSI so it should be safe and doable yes? after the whole keg explosion incident in NSW I'm a little dubious about the whole process so I'll probably bury the keg in sand while attempting this just to be on the safe side.
Finally, To quick release the pressure I plan on removing the bleed valve at the top and fitting a ball valve. I wanted to get your opinions before I undertake this as it could be a rather costly failure and I've noticed that my kegs have much thinner walls than the siphon. Any advice or confirmation would be appreciated.
To make my Mojito's I have been using the 'rapid infusion' technique with an iSi creamer siphon to force the alcohol under pressure into the pores of the mint leaves then quickly releasing the pressure after a few mins to allow nucleation to extract the menthol from the leaves without the chlorophyl, in order to avoid bitterness and greening (there's a great article here: http://www.cookingissues.com/2010/08/11/infusion-profusion-game-changing-fast-%E2%80%98n-cheap-technique/ ). It worked a treat! So much so that the full keg was finished in 4 hours ~ 120 mojito's. Problem is that the siphon only has a capacity of 500ml and so I need to go through the whole process 36 times which takes hours. To save time I was thinking about adding all the ingredients to the keg and charging the entire keg in one go then quickly releasing the pressure. CO2 bubbles are too large to nucleate and form on the inside of the pores and NO is expensive and difficult to acquire in bulk (understandably). Firstly, would I be right in assuming that I can probably get the same effect with straight Nitrogen?
From a bit of math I calculated the pressure inside the foamer to be roughly 6 atm (or ~ 609 Kpa, 88 PSI), Does anyone know or have an idea if this sounds correct? I've read that Corny kegs are rated to 120 PSI so it should be safe and doable yes? after the whole keg explosion incident in NSW I'm a little dubious about the whole process so I'll probably bury the keg in sand while attempting this just to be on the safe side.
Finally, To quick release the pressure I plan on removing the bleed valve at the top and fitting a ball valve. I wanted to get your opinions before I undertake this as it could be a rather costly failure and I've noticed that my kegs have much thinner walls than the siphon. Any advice or confirmation would be appreciated.