Perlick Gas Blender

[FredTheNuke]

Just got my paws on 2 Perlick Gas Blenders built into a rig coming from a set of CO2 and Nitrogen regulators. Stout Heaven here I come! 75/25, 60/40 - I'll be able to adjust to whatever the recipe is best served with!

 

[IvanTheTerribrew]

Never heard of this. Can you post some pics and describe it a bit more? How much did it cost you?


- ISM NRP

 

[FredTheNuke]

Image is below courtesy of Annapolis Homebrew. They retail for about $300 each. Snagged a pair along with all regulators and distribution for less than 300... You set the incoming Nitrogen at 30SCFM and the incoming CO2 at 15SCFM for a perfect 75/25 beer gas (with both primary regulators set at 40psi matched).

 

[IslandLizard]

Wow! Never seen these.

Wonder how that works since the N2 is under a lot more pressure than the CO2, making it hard or impossible for the latter to enter the "mixing chamber."

 

[Owly055]

Image is below courtesy of Annapolis Homebrew. They retail for about $300 each. Snagged a pair along with all regulators and distribution for less than 300... You set the incoming Nitrogen at 30SCFM and the incoming CO2 at 15SCFM for a perfect 75/25 beer gas (with both primary regulators set at 40psi matched).

Never thought of such a simple gas blending setup......... two valves, a bleed off port, and a pair of ordinary ball type flow meters.......... Mount a flow meter on each of your regulator output ports, and T the lines together Install a small valve to bleed gas until your ratio is what you want based on the flow meters, using regulator pressure adjustment, and you have it!

I want one for welding........ Most of the time I use straight CO2 as it is very much cheaper than 75/25..... A bottle of argon would go a long way for me. The same principle makes sense for blending CO2 and Nitrogen for beer........... Here's a pair of flow meters on Ebay someone could build on from pretty cheaply: http://www.ebay.com/itm/WETERN-FLOW-METERS-/231198543299?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35d481cdc3

H.W.

H.W.

 

[FredTheNuke]

the key is the INLET gas pressure coming from the two independent primary regulators has to be matched. For the Perlick you match them at 40psi.

 

[Owly055]

the key is the INLET gas pressure coming from the two independent primary regulators has to be matched. For the Perlick you match them at 40psi.

There of course has to be flow...... In a very low flow situation, the orifices are not going to be able to proportion the gas properly because the flow will not be high enough to be effected by the restriction. This is going to work for pressurizing a keg initially, but once it's pressurized and the flow drops to near zero it isn't going to proportion the gasses properly.

http://tinyurl.com/l2wz595

Here's a complete unit on Ebay with a $95 buy it now price............

H.W.

 

[FredTheNuke]

There of course has to be flow...... In a very low flow situation, the orifices are not going to be able to proportion the gas properly because the flow will not be high enough to be effected by the restriction. This is going to work for pressurizing a keg initially, but once it's pressurized and the flow drops to near zero it isn't going to proportion the gasses properly.

http://tinyurl.com/l2wz595

Here's a complete unit on Ebay with a $95 buy it now price............

H.W.

LOL - that idiot had it for $55.00 until I offered him $25.00 on that auction last night. He must have researched the item better (look at his history - he sells all kinds of little junk) and he countered me at $90. I then countered him at $25.01. He of course declined.

You are kinda correct BUT once calibrated each time you draw a single draft beer the flows will return to the ratio you set while the purge valve was open. If this were not true then bars would have to serve stouts continuously. now of course if you want to drop $10,000 you can buy an electronic system that is spot on accurate at all times. I'll settle with this one. I'll post a video of the unit metering a single pour for all to see just how accurate it is. I think these would be more popular if folks were more into draft Stouts.

Now there is a good question - what do you do to bottles stouts? Simply have no nitrogen cascade?

 

[FredTheNuke]

SWEET! OEM manual also just arrived from Perlick - damn those guys are fast and on the spot! Now to brew some tasty Nitrogen requiring Stouts!

 

[treadway81]

I know this is an older thread but here goes I was looking at one of these perlick gas blinders do you think you could put one to getter with 2 flow meters and a t fitting

 

[DominicFrisina]

You can build your own blender with about $20 worth of off-the-shelf parts. Assuming you have an N2 tank and a CO2 tank all you need is two two needle valves with a hose barb on one end and a pipe fitting on the other. Connect the pipe fitting to a tee. The third tee port is your output. Put a third hose barb there and run it to your keg. $22.72 with tax from Grainger. The flow meters are a very nice touch if you want to be sure of your mixture. Otherwise you could estimate flow rates by finding the full-open and full-closed points of your needle valve and add graduation marks between the two limits. Very rough but also cheap, and although it's not nearly as accurate as flow meters, I don't think you really need that much accuracy to get the effect you're looking for. Flow meter or no flow meter, you still need to experiment a little to get the pour you're looking for.