"Beer Gas" vs Straight Co2

[Firebaall]

Given a choice from the gas vendor, I assume beer gas (nitrogen + Co2 blend) is a better option that just straight Co2?

Everything else being equal, including price.

[Hophead]

Unless you were pouring a beer that required the Nitro or had a remote tap system with a lot of resistance, I don't see any advantage of the beer gas blend over the straight CO2.

[Firebaall]

But no detriment either, correct?

Price being the same...

[cubby_swans]

If you are pouring in a direct draw system that has 5-10 feet of beer line, there absolutely is a detriment. If you used beer gas on such a system, your beer would go flat quickly.

Beer gas (guinness mix - 75/25) would be used for a nitrogenated product. Then there is also a 60/40 mix which would be used for a remote draw system.

[Firebaall]

Thanks for the quick response. I changed the gas order just now.

[Tyman]

I'm studying forums with the intention of building my own keezer. This gas question is interesting. While at the A/B brewery in St Louis during September I tried a Budweiser that I'm almost positive they said was using nitrogen to produce a different head on the draft. It was different, creamer looking. So if Bud is doing this with their draft would this be a case where you would use beer gas in stead of CO2?

By the way having a great time reading the forum.

[KillianBoy]

Tyman,
Welcome to forum, beer gas have several different mixes, I asked an installer where they would use the lower nitrogen mix (not the high mix which is normally referred to as "Guinness Gas"):

"My rule of thumb is if I can install lines and keep my pressure at about 14lbs,with proper flow rate, using restriction values of hose, I will use straight CO2. There are some other variables involved. Usually anything over about 15-20ft would be a mix.
Some say that any remote system should use a mix. "

And another installer said if there were an elevation difference, the low nitrogen would be used.

The brewery probably used a low mix to dispense their beer, but I have always felt that draft beers even on CO2 had a really good and creamy head, more so than bottle beer, but never like Guinness.

Honestly, it's your system, if you like it flatter tasting, so be it, but remember applying a higher than normal nitrogen mix to a straight CO2 beer will slowly flatten beer over time, bars that use beer gas have high turnover and don't worry about flat beer but if you drink a little and keg has a life of over 45 days beer will be really flat near end of keg.
KB

[rickk1000]

CO2 is way cheaper that beer gas.

While the fill costs are not all that different, when you fill a tank with "beer gas", you are filling it with a gas. When you fill a CO2 tank with CO2, you are filling it with liquid CO2. There is way more volume of CO2 in it's liquid form than there is volume of beer gas in it's compressed state.

Like KillianBoy says, save beer gas for dispenser systems that have unusually high head loss in the lines. For instance, a bar that is local to me keeps it's kegs in the basement cooler. The bar is built in an old factory building. The walk in basement has a 20 foot ceiling and the cooler is not directly under the bar. The beer lines are something like 40 feet long, so they are running big lines and also around 70 PSI to get decent pour rates. I remember the Friday night that they ran out of gas and the supply house was closed. The owner borrowed a straight CO2 tank from a friend to get hi through the night. By closing time his beer was pure foam and he had to resort to constantly pouring foam into pitchers and letting it settle before he could serve the beer.