Looking For Some Nitro Clarity

[tfbrews]

Hello all!

So I am going to ask some questions I should probably know the answer to, but I need to swallow the old pride and make sure I am proceeding correctly.

I have had my nitro tap for the last 10 months but only used it once and was not 100% happy with the results. May have been the brew I did it with, but either way, it didn't work as well as I had hoped.

So first question I should know the answer to: How much carb do I add?
I have read and watched videos on nitro kegging and they just usually say lightly carb - so what does that mean? I force carb so does that mean do it for 2 mins, 3 mins, 1 min?

Second question is how do I calibrate or read my carb pressure? Am I missing a gauge here? Is it a time thing?

Third question - Do I need to extend my tubing? Right now I have about 3 ft of tubing, but I have read that you need longer tubing for nitro.


Any help here is greatly appreciated.

TIA

 

[LLBeanJ]

Serving with nitro can be a challenge. It's not difficult once you figure out the nuances, but it's not as simple as serving with straight CO2.

You want a very low carb level, about 1.0-1.2 vols. There is no gauge for this. You just have to learn by trial and error. At this carb level, the beer will still seem rather flat. My process is to start with a warm keg, put it in the fridge and give it about 24 hours @ 20 PSI of straight CO2. After that, I'll vent the keg and attach the beer gas set around 32 PSI. That will generally get me close. It may take another 3-5 days before the carb level comes up a little more to give that signature nitro pour. If you end up with all foam, you've carbed too much.

Tubing length is not as critical on a beer gas/stout tap setup. You can get away with 4-6 feet, whereas that is generally too short for a straight CO2 setup. Your 3 ft line might be a bit on the short side. I have 6' lines on all of my taps, but I have flow control faucets for my straight CO2 taps and that length seems to work well for serving with beer gas through a stout faucet.

 

[tfbrews]

Awesome - thanks for the info! This helps!

 

[MikeSkril]

I use a 75/25 Nitro/C02 blend (beergas) to push thru the nitro faucet. I usually carb up with 100% CO2 @ 8 psi. When ready to serve, I hook it up to beergas @ 25 psi. Line length is not too important, at least if its not very short, or very long. I have 9' up to the kitchen.