Nitro vs Non-Nitro

Fair enough, Odell was the first brewery in MN I've seen that did a nitro tap for something other than a stout/porter etc. So I wasn't really sure what to expect, I was just pleasantly surprised at the change in the body.

Cheers!

 

Orval is nitrogenated, which is something that seldom comes up in nitro discussions. It's also highly carbonated, unlike most beers with nitrogen added. As with any ingredient, nitrogen can be used in various ways.

 

Why do you have Chris Jenner as your avatar?...lol...

I have had nitro left hand and didn't really like it.Kinda watery to me.if that makes sense.

 

Guinness was still bottle conditioned in the early 90s.It caused a mighty fuss when it was changed; I recall the tasters on the BBC Food and Drink show really savaging Guinness for doing it.

 

Really? Never seen this or any reference to it. Please cite your source of your information

 

I remember culturing the yeast in the bottle for a homebrew stout

 

Yes, and very good yeast it was too. It's the one Dave Line recommended in "Brewing Beers like those you buy" in the days when homebrewing yeast was Munton's or Boot's.

 

Was told this by the brewmaster while touring the brewery several years ago.

 

Had an Odell Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout on nitro the other day. Haven't had the bottled version, but I can bet the nitro improved the mouthfeel on it a lot.

 

It's what I mostly used, other than occasionally yeast harvested from c ask beer.

 

Exactly how do they nitrogenate it? It makes no sense to do that to a bottle-conditioned beer.

 

Probably dealing with a translation or language confusion issue here. The brewery uses Sierra Instruments Flow Meters which are designed in general to allow for filling empty space in a tank or container with an inert gas. I'd bet money on the idea that beer itself is not nitrogenated but rather nitrogen is the intert gas used in the final step to evaculate any remaining air/oxygen after filling.

 

That makes sense.

 

But this would have no foam effect. Sounds more like they are injecting a precise amount of nitrogen into the beer as it is filled into bottles. The nitrogen will then aid in foam formation when the beer is poured. This is different from Guinness but is absolutely a nitrogenated beer technique.

 

Even in a bottle conditioned beer, the nitrogen will aid in foam formation and retention, on top of the high level of CO2. He was pretty clear that is was for aiding in foam.

 

Thanks for the additional information.

 

So a few questions for you. (Still feels like there's something I don't quite understand here.)

Since Nitrogen does not go into solution as does CO2, wouldn't injecting nitrogen into the beer simply result in the head space in the bottle soon being filled with Nitrogen and producing the same result as simply doing a final evacuation using Nitrogen just before capping? (Many consider the prime age for Orval to be 6 mos. and it is said to have a shelf life of up to 5 years. Seems like any Nitrogen injected into the beer itself at bottling time would simply collect in the head space of the bottle long before the bottle is opened.)

Seems like in either case the head space being full of Nitrogen would reduce oxidation and keep the CO2 produced during bottle conditioning in solution. Would that be how the Nitrogen is thought has an effect on the foam?