Home Brew Forum

Hello,

Not sure where I should post this but here I go. Just brewed my Milestone Black Pearl and I'm going to add nitrogen to get a nice creamy head (like the dreaded John Smith's which I enjoy).

When should I add the nitogen bulb? As I've primed with 3.5oz (100g) of sugar as per usual, should I drink a few pints first as it might be quite presurised already?

Cheers all

Hi Scott,

I have been giving this matter some thought myself and I think the only purpose of the nitrogen is to dispense it at a very high pressure through the creamer in the tap.

This is because the nitrogen does not dissolve in the beer like carbon dioxide does, so if the beer is already carbonated it will not get any more carbonated by adding pressure fron a nitrogen mix cylinder. I think some dispensers have their own supply of nitrogen but this is something else I know nothing about. It may be that if your beer is already carbonated to a fair degree then it may already be too late to add a lot more pressure with mixed gas.

I would like to hear other perople ideas abot this. I'll have a better idea when I try gassing my own Black Pearl with the mixed gas bottle ...

Best regards, David.

You really need cornie kegs to get this effect as you'll need a 60:40 or 70:30 C02 / Nitrogen mix gas bottle to carbonate and dispense it and I can't see how you could replicate this effect with anything other than the above. I stand to be corrected however.