How to Pour the Perfect Pour
For many craft beer consumers and new business owners, beer’s journey from keg to pint glass is somewhat of a mystery. Why do some beers pour super foamy, while others have no head at all? How do beers on nitro come out thick as cream and soft as velvet?
The answer is, gas blending.
Gas Blending is Trending
As explained in this report by draft/keg beer dispensing equipment company, Micro Matic, dispensing draft beer with a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen has become increasingly trendy over the past decade, thanks, in part, to best-served-smooth stouts like Guinness, Boddingtons and Murphy’s. The practice has slowly seeped its way into craft beer, where anything from a Left Hand Milk Stout to a Founders Rubaeus can be found “on nitro”.
Being aware of your beer’s gas blend is important because two things can go wrong very easily: Too little CO2, and your beer will pour flat. Too much CO2, and it’ll all be foam. In both cases, the cost of pouring—and the customer experience—will suffer. That’s why getting it right the first time, every time is essential.
Micro Matic Gas Blender
The good news is, Micro Matic offers a selection of gas blenders that will do all of that, so you and your customers don’t have to worry about flat or foamy pours. iPourIt recommends the Micro Matic CO2/N2 triple blender, which offers on-site, accurate glass blending in three distinct blends of gas for craft ales and lagers, domestic premium beers, and nitro beers:
- 75% Carbon Dioxide, 25% Nitrogen
- 60% Carbon Dioxide, 40% Nitrogen
- 25% Carbon Dioxide, 75% Nitrogen (Nitro)
This triple-winning tool allows iPourIt customers to pour a perfect pour every time, and to top it all off, if either gas runs out, the blender will automatically shut off, ensuring the ideal blend is delivered every time (no more sudden foam explosion when the keg is low!).
Micro Matic’s gas blending technology is also accurate within +/- 2 percent of the stated ratio for the life of the unit (and is tamper-proof), so no adjustment is required, ever. That being said, different beers do best with different gas blends, so be sure to check with the brewer before introducing a beer gas blend to your system.
