Inn Doctor

Mixed Gas Bottle 30/70

Is it possible to use the wrong gas in your cellar? No you say there are different fittings for Co2 and mixed gasses. But if you didn’t know already there are at least three different blends of mixed gas used in the cellar. So it is possible to connect the wrong blend of mixed gas.

We can start by identifying the different coloured gas pipe used across your cellar equipment.

Blue Pipe:

Air from the air compressor. Used to drive the gas pumps.

Grey Pipe:

Co2 Gas – used these days primarily for lager and Ciders, and maybe a few bitters. Some breweries insist Co2 is used so as not to change the taste of their beers.  And a electric or gas pump is then used to pump the beer to the tap.

Green Pipe:

Mixed Gas 30/70 – used for dispensing Guinness, Mild and Smooth-flow bitters. Nitrogen is now added in the brewing process to make the Smooth-flow bitters creamier.

White Pipe:

Mixed Gas 50/50, 60/40 – used for dispensing Lager and Ciders

Mixed gas is a blend of Co2 and Nitrogen, in beer dispense Co2 holds the gas in suspension by being at a slightly higher pressure than the top pressure in the container while Nitrogen unlike Co2 does not get absorbed into the beer, so is used to push it up the line to the tap.

Check colour coding as well as the label

The first digits of the bottle labelling represented Co2 followed by the nitrogen. So Mixed Gas 30/70 would be 30% Co2 / 70% Nitrogen and Mixed Gas 60/40 would be 60% Co2 / 40% Nitrogen. But I now see some gas companies marking their labels the other way around. So perhaps someone could clarify this. So to be safe, always look for the colour coding as well.

Now I come to whole point of this article, Always make sure you use the right mixed gas bottle because it is possible to connect a Mixed Gas 60/40 bottle to a Mixed Gas 30/70 system, and if you do and do not notice straight away, it will cost you some serious money because it will make all your Guinness, Mild and Bitters containers un-servable you will see fobbing on a scale you have never seen before.

This usually happens in a Pub that doesn’t use 60/40 gas. The Landlord relies on the gas company to supply the right gas, but as you know in the real world anything can happen labels drop off etc. So always check and if in any doubt ring your supplier. One of these days they may start using different bottles for the different blends but I can’t see that happening for a very long time, so be vigilant.

Green mixed gas pipe

The different coloured pipe in “Pub Cellars” relate mainly to the gas systems (the soft drink companies use black for water).

The idea is so you can quickly identify which gas goes where.

There are four main colours:

Grey (Co2),
Green (30/70 mixed gas),
White (60/40 or 50/50 mixed gas),
Blue (air from the air compressor).

e.g. Mixed gasses 30/70  relates to (  30% Co2  / 70% Nitrogen ) in that order.

There are 3 types of gas used in beer dispense, they are Air, Mixed Gas and Co2. These gases are used on separate systems and are not connected to each other. These gases are stored within or near the cellar. See Safety pages for more information. If you suspect you have a major gas leak ventilate the cellar and warn staff to keep out of the cellar. Contact your local technician immediately.

If you suspect you may have a small gas leak, try the following .If you have cellar cooling, which is very noisy, switch it off. Make sure there are no keg couplers or gas pumps switched on that are not in use. If you have been cleaning ensure the cleaning Gas pump is switched off and that any, that are connected to the cleaning main have their gases turned off.

Listen for any hissing sounds. Start at the gas cylinders. Make sure the gas bottle connections are tight. If they are tight and you can hear or feel gas escaping, it may be the seals on the connections are worn or lost. If you have been instructed by Tech Services on how to change these washers replace them. If not call out Tech Services.

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Next, make sure that the keg couplers are fitted correctly to the kegs. Once again listen out for hissing. Make sure all gas fittings on couplers are in good condition and tight .If they are and you can still feel or hear gas escaping you may have a faulty keg. If the keg is leaking gas, change to a new one and inform your Tech services.

Finally when changing a gas cylinder, make sure it is full. Quite often you can replace an empty cylinder with another empty one.

To check on gas usage, another good tip is to right in chalk on the gas bottle the day it was put on service. That way you can keep track. Finally, remember do not tamper with any equipment, if you suspect something is damaged or not working, call your local Technical Services.

Do not forget to switch the cellar cooling back on.