• Welcome to the new forum! We upgraded our forum software with a host of new boards, capabilities and features. It is also more secure.
    Jump in and join the conversation! You can learn more about the upgrade and new features here.

Keg dispensing with Beer gas

twhitaker

Grandmaster Brewer
Joined
Feb 7, 2014
Messages
247
Reaction score
0
Location
Innisfil, Ontario Canada
I have been researching this and found an interesting article from one of my suppliers, camcarb. They recertified and filled  my 10 lb luxfer aluminum co2 tank. Basically, plain old co2 just wont cut it anymore and a mix of some nitrogen with co2, called beer gas is best.
apparently industrial co2 is inferior to food grade beer gas. Might explain foam issues when getting refills from the paint shop store.
A saw a similar article on a site called perfect pint; don't have the link - google it. The gas you use is for storage and dispensing is becoming important to the finished brew quality and characteristics. A bad pour can ruin a great beer.

http://www.camcarb.com/beer-gas.html
 
I use Beer Gas a mixture of 30% CO2 and 70% Nitrogen. It's for dispensing from a nitro tap. It would be expensive to use in a normal beer tap. When using it I carbonate to about 1.5 to 2 volumes and drive the beer through at about 30 psi.
 
twhitaker said:
A bad pour can ruin a great beer.

Yes it can. There's more to it than just gas, though.

Draft systems are a huge learning experience for most brewers, amateur & pro. Lots of variables go into the design of one. This manual from the Brewer's Association gives a lot more background on the subject. It's an easy, but highly informative read. A great reference to have around.

http://www.draughtquality.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/DQM_Full_Final.pdf

Yes, there are purity grades of CO2. The welding gas is 99.92% pure. Proper beer quality CO2 is 99.995% pure. The reduction in other gasses is important for commercial beer because of oxidation. If you keep beer longer than 30 days, this might be a consideration.

As pjr28 pointed out, nitro styles need the blended gasses, too. I'm not sure that homebrewers need bevgas for everything, though. It's cool stuff, but is designed for long draft lines where dispense pressure exceeds the carbonation pressure. I use it on my keg lines because they need 22 to 26 psi to flow correctly. Heck, at events, my jockybox needs 45 psi or else it foams.

I think most homebrewers don't use enough draft line to dispense above the carbonation pressure. Because of this, I'm pretty sure most homebrewers play a game of blowing off top pressure to pour a pint, then ramping the pressure back up to keep carbonation.
 
Hello, can you carbonate using this "Beer Gaz" ? Or is CO2 the best way to go for carbonation ?

I was going to post a question about this when i found this tread.

Cheers!  :)



 
dobmaster said:
Hello, can you carbonate using this "Beer Gaz" ? Or is CO2 the best way to go for carbonation ?

Yes, you can carbonate with bevgas. But, CO2, set to the proper pressure and temperature, is faster, more economical and accurate.
 
brewfun said:
dobmaster said:
Hello, can you carbonate using this "Beer Gaz" ? Or is CO2 the best way to go for carbonation ?

Yes, you can carbonate with bevgas. But, CO2, set to the proper pressure and temperature, is faster, more economical and accurate.

Thanks for the quick reply!
Cheers!
 
Back
Top