Pouring Guinness

[atxf4i]

Does any one know how Guinness makes the waterfall or melts when you pour it in a glass? Is it the widget? I cooked up a pretty tasty stout, and when I pour mine, I get a brown head. Good to drink, but not fun to watch (before you drink).

Any thoughts?

[sallad]

they pressurize guiness with the widget with nitrogen, that gives it that creamy, waterfall head. i say its not very practical for the homebrewer, but someone reminded me that everything is practical if you have the $$ :)

[michaewa]

Guiness you get in a pub is nitrogenated. It has a mixture of nitrogen and CO2, and the nitrogen makes for those small little bubbles.

I'm pretty sure you can re-create this yourself if you keg your beer (unless you have the technology to slip one of those little widgets into the bottom of your bottle) by having a tank that is part nitrogen and part CO2.

[sallad]

nitorgenated beers also require a special tap to get that head coming from the keg, i believe.

[kevin]

What is this widget you're talking about. I've never brought Guiness before, only had it once in a bar in the bay area, served warm.

[michaewa]

It is a small piece of plastic in the bottom of the can that releases nitrogen.

Here (http://www.howstuffworks.com/question446.htm) is a description.

[mcarlson74]

Another thing you can get is the Tap-A-Draft system. The tap requires 2 of the small disposable CO2 cartridges but you can use 1 CO2 and 1 nitrogen. This was one of the main reasons I picked one up. I tried it last Sunday, for football, and you get the cool waterfall effect but the head was still a little brown. Also I don't think that there is quite enough nitrogen in those disposable cartridges because I also wasn't able to get that real creamy head that Guiness has on tap. Also from talking with bar owners I guess that the whole nitrogen set up is pretty expensive which is why most bars do not carry Guiness on draft.

[atxf4i]

That's what i was thinking. Thanks for the answers.
Maybe I'll just add a few nitrogen pellets left over from fertilizing the lawn in the next bottling session....just kidding.

[fuji6100]

I also have the tap-a-draft system, and the nitrogen cartridges that you can get work WONDERFULLY for that. The color of the head i still brown (I think that has more to do with what's IN the brew itself) but it has that creamy smooth "guiness" style mouthfeel.

Also, MCarlson, did what order did you put in your cartridges in the tap-a-draft? I get best results from putting in a co2 first, then after that, adding the nitrogen. What this does is allow the co2 to fill the headspace and dissolve into the beer. Then, the nitrogen container won't fully dissapate into the bottle, because there is too much pressure from the Co2 already in there. AS you dispense beer, you can watch bubbles from the Nitrogen re-charging the headspace, thus a more pure Nitrogen content in the head.

[mcarlson74]

I put the CO2 in first also. I did get that wonderful cascading effect from the nitrogen but I didn't get that wonderful silky head that it is suppose to provide. I wonder if all of my nitrogen dispenced right away. The reason I say this is because in about 5 hours my CO2 cartridge was done.

[Beerconnoisseur]

The cascading micro-bubble effect is from a mixture of 70% Nitrogen, 30% Carbon Dioxide. Since Nitrogen is insoluble in beer, it quickly bubbles out. You will need a Nitrogen tank and regulator, and possibly a Stout faucet as well to get the full effect.

If I remember right, as a cheaper alternative, you can simply turn up the CO2 for 5-15 minutes if you have a kegging setup. This "hypercarbonation" will deliver about 70% of the effect of the nitrogen effect, but at a much lower cost.

[shaken]

i've used Aligal (70% Nitrogen, 30% Co2) for pushing my stouts, but then again I was using a Guinness faucet. the faucets work the best if you want the cascading effect.
Inside the faucet there is a restrictor disc than kind of turns your beer into foam, and then back into beer again when it gets into your glass. (just be sure there isn't sediment in the bottom of the keg or it will plug the restrictor disc. Also, the beer needs to flow at about 34 psi. to get the beer through the faucet, (as opposed to the 5 or 6 psi you use for your other brews). that can be adjusted to where you like it. The faucets run about $75 new, but I saw an adjustable faucet on e-bay just now, going for $20. The company is fazing out the ancient adjustable faucet for a fixed faucet. The adjustables are a pain to work with and you always have to mess with them. the fixed faucets are good and you can remove the restrictor disc and use it for your other beers, just as long as you turn the pressure down to your 5 or 6 psi. I've used the Aligal, which can be purchased at your local "Gas" place. It is a little more expensive than Co2 but only a few dollars. If it's that important to get the cascading,I would say to invest in the tanks, regulators, and faucets. Because that is probably the only way I've ever had luck with the "upside-down waterfall"