Carbonation question.

[Buzz]

I think this may be a silly question but I want to ask it anyway.

I usually carbonate my corni's with co2 but, I do have a cylinder of co2/nitrogen mix - can I carbonate with this in the usual way

The only reason I ask is that I filled the corni with beer yesterday, pressurised with the co2/nitrogen, put it in the fridge as normal around 4deg to absorb asap. Normally, I would top up at least a couple of times during the day (I use a WW set up not pub gas and regulator). Anyhow, 24hrs on and the beer doesn't appeared to have aborbed any - it's still giving the same pressure reading after 30 hrs. Any ideas?

[Buzz]

I put in 20psi of the mix to start with and it hasn't shifted. Do you think it might be better to release the pressure, carbonate with co2 and then just use the nitrogen mix to dispense with?

[Buzz]

Blimey, hadn't thought of going that high. I'll go and top up now.

[Buzz]

I'm going away tomorrow for a week or so, so there's no rush. But, as I'm not here to top it up, I've just upped it to 40psi anyway. Be interested to see where its at when I get back

[Aleman]

If you have a 50:50 mix then you need twice the pressure to carbonate as you would with pure CO2. (70:30 I think is three times)

You can't carbonate with pure CO2 and then swap to mix to dispense as the CO2 would come out of solution to equalise the partial pressures of gases in the liquid and gas phases . . . . Ok its not an instantaneous reaction but it will occur.

[Buzz]

It's 70/30. I'll ignore the co2 then and just keep it mixed. Thanks for your help guys. Much appreciated as always.