6 replies to this topic

[Thirsty]

A few months back I scored a bunch of tanks, some 20# CO2, and some slightly bigger (I think 30-40#) of what I thought was Nitrogen, because of the high pressure regulator and the fact the side says N.O.S. on it. Where I got them from served guinness, so it makes sense. But they had this hooked up to their main line, so it just donned on me that this may be beer mix. After more investigation, there is a sticker on the side that says CO2 124-38-9 NOS 7727-38-9 Anyone know what that means?So now I am thinking this may in fact be a full cylinder of beer mix, not nitro. So as far as I know, beermix is actually preferred as a serving gas, and gives the tighter bubbles, but I have never used it before.So has anyone used this actual mix?What I am trying to find out from others experiences are:1. Can I use it to carb and dispense at the same balanced pressure as I am used to for CO2?2. Can I use this for all styles?3. How does beergunning affect the fill? Is it harder or easier to fill a bottle without foaming?4. How do beergunned bottles age when carbed by the mix- any difference good or bad? I have 4 kegs poring now that have all been carbed by regular CO2, so switching over now is not going to give me the full effect, I will however try carbing my next keg with this, just need to figure out these questions first.

[ChefLamont]

Wow lots of questions. All with simple and not so simple answers. Let me take a first whack. Yes, I use beergas. The numbers you posted dont mean much to me. Usually beergas is about 75% N2 and 25% CO2. It can vary, but it its usually in the ballpark of that.1. Beergas is really a dispensing gas. Yes you can carb with it, but it works best to carb with CO2 and then push with beergas. If you use the same balanced pressure with beergas on your regular lines and faucet, the beer will get flatter (less carbed) as the keg goes down. It is designed to be at equilibrium with your beer at approximately your pure CO2 balance pressure times 4 (related to the 25% CO2 concentration). Therefore, with beers like guiness that are actually low in carbonation, you keep them ~25-30psi of beergas and can leave them. They will neither gain nor lose any appreciable amount of carbonation. With this pressure you can push it effectively through the stout faucet that has a restrictor plate with small holes. This is what creates the small bubbles and the dense foam. It has little to do with the gas other than the pressure. People think the nitrogen is the magic. It is only magical in that it has a low solubility in water, so you can put high(er) pressures on it without getting a lot dissolved in there.* as a note bars will use beergas to push beers over long distances (high line resistance). That way the beer wont become over carbonated quickly and wont lose that much in the time that the keg will be "online". This is a specialized application though.2. Well, any style you want to push through a stout faucet and have that kind of head with.3. Is this a question about the beergas still? Again the magic of beergas comes from the faucet. Most beer that is pushed through the stout faucet is low carbed (~1 volume) and would seem pretty flat in the bottle. We cannot recreate than effect with a bottle (that is why guiness spent a gajillion dollars working on that widget that goes in the cans and bottles.)4. Kinda same answer as three.Hope this helps.If you want a tread, make Quiet Storm Stout. Age it 2-3 months. Put it on beergas/stout faucet. It is awesome!

[Thirsty]

If you want a tread, make Quiet Storm Stout. Age it 2-3 months. Put it on beergas/stout faucet. It is awesome!

I have actually done this a few times, QSS rocks on the nitro. I do have my stout faucet, and can hook up to it, and use this application for a traditional high pressure stout creamer pour. That is not really what I am looking to do. I am really just looking for this to be a dispensing tank the same as regular CO2, just different gas. I now have all my tanks on SS QDs, so what I may try doing is Carbing traditionally with CO2, but then hook up to beermix for the serve. Now as the keg empties, the beermix will be getting absorbed some in the beer, so I am wondering how this will affect things? A friend of a friend who lives out in Chicago owns a beer draft installation and cleaning company- Summit Beer (?) He once told me that bars prefer to use beermix as there dispensing gas for everything, I am now looking to find out what to expect.

[gnef]

How big was the bar that was using the tanks you now have?Also, do you know the type of valve that is on the tank? That will give us a better idea of what kind of tank it is (we can start with male or female threads before we get to cga numbers)The reason I ask the first question is because some bars use gas mixers rather than beergas tanks for their specific line length (see cheflamont's response), so they would have separat CO2 and N2 tanks, with the device mixing them according to the blend they needed at their bar. The second question goes along with the first, in that if it is a male thread, it is most likely just a CO2 tank with a cga320 valve, but if it has female threads, then it is possible it is a cga580, which could either be just an N2 tank, or beergas.Honestly though, if you don't know what is in the tank, bring it to airgas and hopefully they will know exactly what is in it, otherwise trade it for something that you know what is in the tank.And yes, I do use beergas, only for my stout faucets though, and only for pushing the stouts (I've also done an ordinary bitter on nitro, and plan on doing an irish red on nitro). I use pure CO2 for everything else through my forward sealing faucets.

[Winkydowbrewing]

Are the tanks your referring to the same as the one I bought from you? If so, then yes...they are beer gas. I've been using that tank for pushing through my creamer faucet. I haven't run it direct to my manifold because i need more pressure for the creamer line. I personally don't think you are going to find any real advantage to using the beergas mix as your primary serving gas. I assume you are going to be hooking this up the keggerator you scored at the same time? If so, the length of hose you have really doesn't demand high pressure to push the beer and with the CO2 as the dispensing gas you can carb the beer and get your reg. set to equalize so you won't lose or gain carbonation, its cheaper than beer gas, and is serving 2 functions rather than 1. the only reasons I would go to using beer gas for all my dispensing is 1) i have all creamer faucets which need the high pressure, or 2) I am running a really long amount of hose and need to push +12psi to get the beer out of the faucet where CO2 is going to over carb the beer. Otherwise, save some money and stick with the CO2.

[Thirsty]

Are the tanks your referring to the same as the one I bought from you? If so, then yes...they are beer gas. I've been using that tank for pushing through my creamer faucet. I assume you are going to be hooking this up the keggerator you scored at the same time?

Yes, it is the same as that tank you got. And I saw the setup as it was at the bar, and it was the keg cooler I scored, and the beer mix tank was literally 2 feet next to it, with 6 feet of gas line connecting that to the manifold inside, so they were not using it to push long distances or stouts, they had 1 guinness faucet, and the rest conventional, but to remove it the hose I cut was this tank connected to that system. I guess I am not really looking so much for effective advantages so much here as I am looking for being able to use a huge amount of gas supply seeing I have it. I could use it for the occasional stout, but that would last me 10 years. My main goal here is determining if there is a difference between the beermix ratio and just nitro only. I am assuming there has to be some advantage, otherwise our choices would only be CO2 or N2, the mix must serve some purpose, what can I use this commodity for?To answer gnef, yes it is the same type regulator as a nitro regulator with the high pressure guages and thread difference compared to a CO2 reg. So this tank could effectively be filled or exchanged for a N2 tank or a mix either way.

[Winkydowbrewing]

from what i understand you have the beer gas mix so that the beer wont go flat on you. You will need some form of CO2 pressure applied on the beer otherwise over time (as the keg gets emptied) the CO2 is going to come out of solution and the beer will go flat....someone slap around if I am wrong, its been a long day.