Beer Gas

[Pappy]

No, I'm not talking about what you get after a night of hefeweizen and brauts. I'm thinking about filling one of my CO2 bottles with CO2 for force carbonation and putting beer gas in another bottle for serving. My thought is that the beer gas, having less CO2, will allow me to drive the beer into the glass at a higher PSI, thus higher rate without an overcarbonation and foaming situation to develop. Any thoughts, experiences?

[Stodbrew]

What do you mean by beer gas? Generally it is CO2.

[Pappy]

Some of these gas suppliers have what they call "beer gas". I'm told it's a mixture of CO2 diluted with Nitrogen. I tried to do a search on this site, but apparently three-letter words are too short to be key words in a search here.

[Stodbrew]

Yeah, I agree, the four word minimum for a search is kind of annoying. Generally a blend of Nitrogen and CO2 is 75% - 25%. How long is your draw. If it is relatively short, around 2 to 5 feet, CO2 would really be all you need. Your PSI would be around 12-15 lbs., so overcarbonation isn't really a concern, IMO.

[Pappy]

My draw is only a couple of feet. Seems every time I keep the pressure up above 10 psi, I get foam and overpressurization. I do keep the temp a little low, so that could contribute to the problem. Usually, If I'm on top of it, I can control the situation, but I'm wondering what everyone else does. Thanks.

[Jughead]

What size beer line are you using. Smaller diameter beer line, or a longer line will drop the pressure at the tap and reduce foaming.

[Pappy]

My beer line is 3/8" ID. Perhaps a longer, 1/4" line would be the ticket?

[brewmonkey]

No need to change the whole line though, you can add restriction to an all ready existing line. If you are using regular style taps you can add insta-draft restrictors behind the faucet head in front of the shank. I have some lying around here, I will see if I can find the box and the model #'s. They like miniature bazooka screens with a small key ring on one end.

[Jughead]

I run about 5 feet of 3/16" ID. I think this is a fairly common setup.

[brewmonkey]

Foudn them. They are called insta-balance and they are manufactured by Banner Companies out of Franklin Park, IL. They come in 1#-4#, 4-8, 8-12 and 12+ for restriction.