The Perfect Pour – Part Two
Whether served in a tap room or in a restaurant, the perfect pint is the result of the combination of careful brewing and well-controlled dispensing.
PART TWO – Thoughts on Gas Provisioning for the Perfect Pour
For beer products (and also for soft drinks) the primary gas, of course, is CO2. The secondary component for beer is nitrogen (N2). Depending on your rate of use, gases can be delivered in traditional gas cylinders, manifolded gas cylinders (multiple cylinders connected together), liquid cylinders, or even in bulk (i.e., delivered by truck and pumped into a large, refillable vessel installed onsite).
Gases can be delivered pre-mixed, but normally – for greater flexibility and for cost-effectiveness – separate CO2 and nitrogen supply is recommended. An onsite gas blender – with separate blending “channels” – can be used to provide the correct blend for each brew style. In addition, a gas blender will also make it easy to “dial up” different blends from the same gas sources. The separate channels enable you to send different blends to different containers for the different brew products.
You will usually find that you need a gas blend of about 65-95% of CO2 depending on the style of beer and distance between your keg and pouring faucet. Some beers require far less CO2. For instance, a Guinness gas blend is only 25% CO2. Simply put, using a Guinness blend on an American lager will deliver flat beer; conversely, 75% CO2, if used on Guinness, will deliver nothing but foam.
Brew styles are generally divided into four broad categories:
- Guinness/Nitro – 1.2 volumes of CO2
- Bass/Craft Ale – 2.0 to 2.3 volumes of CO2
- Craft Brew – 2.3 to 2.5 volumes of CO2
- Domestics – 2.5 to 2.8 volumes of CO2
A “volume” of CO2 defines how much CO2 is contained per volume of liquid. If a gas with too little CO2 is contained within a keg of liquid that contains a high volume of CO2, the liquid will “surrender” CO2 to the headspace (air-space) above the liquid, and the delivered beer will be flat.
Final note on over-pressurization. Not only can over-pressurization lead to overcarbonation, but even with high nitrogen content in the gas, too much pressure can cause the beer to flow from the tap faucet at a high flowrate that will cause excessive turbulence, which can cause excessive foaming even when overcarbonation is not the issue!
How MATHESON Can Help
Successful, effective dispensing of a variety of brew styles – alongside carbonated soft drinks and mixers – is not complicated, especially if you have the right gas partner. The Gas Professionals at MATHESON can guide you to a gas provisioning solution that makes sense, enables the best product, and saves you money, too.
Meet David, Our June Employee Spotlight
We would like to introduce you to David – our June employee spotlight. David has been with MATHESON for 4 years focusing on the Biopharmaceutical industry. In his role as Biomedical sales and marketing lead he works closely with our sister company, Taiyo Nippon Sanso (TNS) to develop gas and equipment offerings for the biotechnology market, furthering MATHESON’S biotech footprint in the United States.
David received his undergraduate degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in business. His interest in healthcare led him into the pharmaceutical industry where he gained experience in new and emerging developments in the biotechnology field. In David’s role he helps manufacturers that are facing new challenges when developing novel targeted drugs that are used for single-use purposes and not for the masses. These drugs pose different issues regarding how to manufacture effectively and efficiently in such small quantities. David is up for the challenge on how to work with companies to achieve those goals.
If you see results or conditions are not going in the direction you thought, you need to be nimble and pivot quickly.
David
Currently David is collaborating with TNS on Oxygen18 and Oxygen17. These products are used to trace movements of water through the brain with the use of an MRI. These products are truly groundbreaking and will bring MRI technology to the next level.
David’s strategic mind and problem solving skills are not only used at work but also when he is trail skiing. The challenge of navigating yourself down the hill and choosing the best course is what he enjoys most about skiing. “In skiing, my personal life, and my professional career I run them all very similarly; you can’t be afraid to change your plan. If you see results or conditions are not going in the direction you thought, you need to be nimble and pivot quickly. This has allowed me to evaluate situations and course correct to be successful.”
Thank you for all your hard work! Do you want to be a part of our team?
The Perfect Pour – Part One
Whether served in a tap room or in a restaurant, the perfect pour is the result of the combination of careful brewing and well-controlled dispensing. Brewmasters focus tenaciously on the reproduction of their recipes and their brewing conditions in order to produce consistent products. MATHESON works with breweries – large and small – from coast-to-coast – providing gases and gas control equipment for use in the brewing process.
PART ONE – Successful beer delivery at the pouring faucet
For today’s topic, we’ll look at some of the beer dispensing variables that contribute to draught beer quality where the beer meets the consumer: at the pour.
Dissolved gas (CO2) is a normal ingredient in beer and is the result of the brewing process. Gas pressure is added to propel the beer into the glass and to maintain carbonation. Inside the container (keg), on a continuous basis, gas molecules go into, and out of, solution in the beer. This is called equilibrium. If too little or too much gas pressure changes the balance of dissolved gas levels in the beer, we’ve changed the beer!
Importantly, all beers should not be handled the same way. As any beer aficionado will tell you, no two beers are the same. Looking at carbonation alone, CO2 content might be as low as 2g/L (English cask ale) or in excess of 7g/L (hefeweizen, among others). Different brew types (Stouts, Ales, IPAs, Craft Brews, Domestic Lagers, etc.) will be easier to handle if CO2 pressure is delivered in a CO2/N2 blend that is compatible with the CO2 content of the brew type itself.
Equilibrium in the system is affected by temperature (temperature of the beer) and pressure inside the container. The liquid level inside the container is also a factor; and elevation above (or below!) sea level is also a consideration.
As a starting point, draught beer stored at 38 degrees F should be set up at 12psi. If you serve your beer colder, less applied pressure is needed; if served above 38 degrees F, then more pressure will be needed to keep the gas where it belongs: in the beer. If serving at a high elevation about sea level, this also may require more pressure.
The obvious risk is that too much pressure will lead to overcarbonation and cause the beer to foam when dispensed. Too little pressure leads to the opposite.
If a new keg produces normal foam at first, but begins to foam problematically after a few days, you probably have too much CO2 pressure in the keg, which dissolves more CO2 into the beer (overcarbonation). As the keg empties, you will have less beer and more CO2 in the container. Unmitigated, this is another condition that will lead to overcarbonation (foam). Overcarbonation is easier to prevent (by reducing pressure or CO2 percentage) than it is to remedy. Once overcarbonated, the most successful remedy may well be to check system pressure and start a new keg.
How MATHESON Can Help
Successful, effective dispensing of a variety of brew styles – alongside carbonated soft drinks and mixers – is not complicated, especially if you have the right gas partner. The Gas Professionals at MATHESON can guide you to a gas provisioning solution that makes sense, enables the best product, and saves you money, too.
Watch this space for The Perfect Pour: Part Two, where we will discuss mixtures and blends of gases for different types of beer.
MATHESON Leverages Renewable Solar Energy in Arizona
MATHESON is now receiving renewable energy from the newly operational 100-megawatt (MW) Central Line Solar plant located in Eloy and Coolidge, AZ.
Central Line Solar is owned and operated by The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES) and is the second project developed by AES to serve SRP’s Sustainable Energy Offering. SRP is a community-based, not-for-profit public power utility and the largest electricity provider in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.
Other customers receiving energy from the Central Line Solar facility are: Apple, Inc., Arizona State University, Boeing, Chandler Unified School District, Circle K Stores Inc., City of Tempe, Cox Communications, Dignity Health, General Dynamics Missions Systems, Gilbert Public Schools, Lumen Technologies, Macerich Company, PepsiCo, Resolution Copper Mining, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Target Corporation, Town of Gilbert, United Dairymen of Arizona, Verizon Communications Inc., and Wells Fargo Bank.
According to Bill Tolen, Director of Bulk Production at MATHESON, “MATHESON is pleased to participate in the SRP Sustainable Energy Offering. It has provided MATHESON with the opportunity to map out a future of stable energy costs while also reducing our indirect carbon emissions dramatically. The SEO program is a smart initiative that benefits SRP, SRP’s customers, and the community at large.” Tolen continued, “It is truly a win-win-win situation.” Hermann Miskelly, Senior Vice President of Quality for MATHESON, also stated, “We are proud to participate in the SRP Energy Offering, both leveraging and expanding our ongoing sustainability effort to reduce MATHESON’s CO2 footprint.”
