Category: Perfect Pint Blog

Nitro-Brew-Home-Kit-120z

Review in Bitter Booze

Ο κρύος καφές Nitro Brew και (σχεδόν) τα πάντα σχετικά με αυτόν – μέρος 1ο

Beans n Booze

Αυτό το άρθρο είναι διαθέσιμο επίσης στα: Αγγλικα

Ο κρύος καφές έχει αλλάξει εδώ και καιρό. Ο κόσμος τον επιλέγει συνειδητά και του αρέσει. Και ακόμα και η πολυεθνική με τη γοργόνα στον λογότυπο έχει πια ένα στον κατάλογό της από αυτό που θα παρουσιάσουμε σήμερα… Και λες και αυτά από μόνα τους δεν είναι ήδη περίεργα νέα (σ.σ. για μας στην Ελλάδα ο κρύος καφές είναι συνηθισμένος φυσικά, αλλά εντάξει) κάποιοι τύποι που βλέπουν μπροστά από την εποχή τους, σκέφτηκαν «Γιατί να μην τον βάλουμε σε βαρέλι, να τον ενισχύσουμε με άζωτο και να το σερβίρουμε σα draft; Γλιτώνουμε χρόνο, χρήμα και είναι και απίστευτα cool!». Και κάπως έτσι, γεννήθηκε ο κρύος καφές Nitro Brew …

«Γιατί να μην βάλουμε τον κρύο καφέ σε βαρέλι, να τον ενισχύσουμε με άζωτο και να το σερβίρουμε σα draft; Γλιτώνουμε χρόνο, χρήμα και είναι και απίστευτα cool!». Και κάπως έτσι, γεννήθηκε ο κρύος καφές Nitro Brew

 

Οι λεπτομέρειες του NitroBrew

Ο Nitro Brew είναι βασικά κρύος καφές φίλτρου, ο οποίος είναι τοποθετημένος σε ένα σύστημα σερβιρίσματος draft και το βαρέλι του καφέ βρίσκεται υπό πίεση χάρη στην ενίσχυση από άζωτο. Αυτό που χρειάζεται επιπλέον είναι ένα ειδικό ακροφύσιο, το οποίο περιέχει μια μικροσκοπική τρυπητή πλακέτα που δημιουργεί πολύ μικρές δίνες που έχουν σαν αποτέλεσμα ένα εξαιρετικά αφρώδες αποτέλεσμα με πολύ απαλή αίσθηση στο στόμα, κάτι σαν αυτό που ξέρουμε και λατρεύουμε από την αγαπημένη μπίρα Guiness. Το τελικό προϊόν είναι ένα φρουτώδες και φρέσκο, πλούσιο και κρεμώδες, ποτήρι καφέ! Ως τώρα όμως, έχεις πάρει μόνο μια μικρή γεύση από το άζωτο, μόνο αν είσαι ο τυχερός κάτοχος του draft συστήματος…

 

Nitro Brew

 

Μια μικρή εταιρεία από τις ΗΠΑ, με την ονομασία –μα τι έκπληξη-  “NitroBrew”, θέλησε να λύσει αυτό το πρόβλημα, δημιουργώντας παράλληλα ένα πολύ πιο χρηστικό εργαλείο. Το αποτέλεσμα ήταν ένα ξεχωριστό γκάτζετ, με το ίδιο ακριβώς όνομα, το οποίο επιτρέπει την παραγωγή κατά παραγγελία μονοδόσεων ενισχυμένου Nitro Brew, ενώ παράλληλα είναι πιο φθηνό και εξοικονομεί πολύ χώρο.

 

 

Nitro Brew

 

Μια μικρή εταιρεία από τις ΗΠΑ, με την ονομασία –μα τι έκπληξη-  “NitroBrew”, δημιούργησε ένα ξεχωριστό γκάτζετ, το οποίο επιτρέπει την παραγωγή κατά παραγγελία μονοδόσεων ενισχυμένου Nitro Brew, ενώ παράλληλα είναι λιγότερο ακριβό και εξοικονομεί πολύ χώρο.

 

Δοκιμάζοντας το Nitro Brew

Το κιτ που προσφέρεται για οικιακή χρήση περιέχει όλα όσα χρειάζεστε για να ξεκινήσετε. Ένα βραστήρα, έναν συμπιεστή με φίλτρο αζώτου και ρυθμιστή πίεσης, ένα σταθμό φόρτισης, έναν εύκαμπτο σωλήνα και κάμποση κολλητική ταινία διπλής όψης. Μπορείς να αποκτήσεις ένα βασικό σετ με κόστος από 355 δολάρια, ενώ σου δίνεται η δυνατότητα να αποκτήσεις τα εξαρτήματα ξεχωριστά.

Τόσο ο συμπιεστής όσο και ο ανοξείδωτος μεταλλικός βραστήρας αφήνουν μια στιβαρή αίσθηση ποιότητας. Μόνο το πλαστικό χερούλι του βραστήρα δείχνει ότι μπορεί να παραδώσει το πνεύμα σε περίπτωση εκτεταμένης χρήσης. Οι οδηγίες πάντως ήδη έχουν προειδοποιήσει να μην κουνάμε το βραστήρα από το χερούλι… Ο σταθμός φόρτισης είναι επίσης κατασκευασμένος από πλαστικό, αλλά δε χρειάζεται να ανταπεξέλθει και στην ίδια πίεση, οπότε λογικά δε θα υπάρχει θέμα.

Το στήσιμο του συστήματος είναι πανεύκολο. Μπορείς να «στήσεις» τα πάντα χωρίς να χρειάζονται καν επιπλέον εργαλεία. Ο σωλήνας ενώνει τον σταθμό φόρτισης με τον συμπιεστή πολύ εύκολα. Αν επιθυμείτε μπορείτε μάλιστα να ασφαλίσετε τον σταθμό με την ταινία διπλής όψεως πάνω στον πάγκο σας, ή να τον αφήσετε ελεύθερο για να είναι πιο ευέλικτος. Μόλις ο συμπιεστής συνδεθεί με το ρεύμα, είστε έτοιμοι για χρήση!

 

Nitro Brew

 

Η μέγιστη πίεση που αντέχει ο βραστήρας είναι 45psig (ή 3.1 bar). Αν επιθυμείτε, μπορείτε να αλλάξετε την προκαθορισμένη ρύθμιση πίεσης, απλά με ένα στρίψιμο του χεριού σας. Μπορείτε ακόμα και να συνδέσετε το σύστημα με ένα δοχείο αζώτου, αλλά να ξέρετε ότι τότε σίγουρα θα χρειαστείτε κάποια έξτρα εργαλεία…

Το στήσιμο και ο συνολικός χειρισμός του Nitro Brew είναι πανεύκολα, ακόμα και για ερασιτέχνες χρήστες, αρκεί απλά να ακολουθήσεις τις οδηγίες.

Ο χειρισμός είναι το ίδιο εύκολος με το στήσιμο. Γεμίζετε τον βραστήρα με το υγρό της επιλογής σας, κλείνετε το καπάκι και «φορτώνετε» το άζωτο πιέζοντας τη βαλβίδα που βρίσκεται στη βάση. Το κουνάτε για καναδυό δευτερόλεπτά, θυμούμενοι να μην ασκήσετε πίεση στο χερούλι, και μετά από αυτό είστε έτοιμοι να ρίξετε το ενισχυμένο με άζωτο υγρό σας στο δοχείο της αρεσκείας σας.

 

Nitro Brew

 

Αν γεμίσετε τον βραστήρα με περίπου 350ml υγρού η διαδικασία αυτή θα διαρκέσει συνολικά γύρω στα 20 δευτερόλεπτα. Όσο περισσότερο υγρό έχει ο βραστήρας, τόσο ταχύτερα θα «φορτώσει», αλλά ίσως χρειαστεί να επαναλάβετε την ενίσχυση για να διατηρείτε πάντα την ίδια ποιότητα στον αποδιδόμενο αφρό.

Μέχρι τώρα δεν συναντήσαμε κανένα πρόβλημα στη χρήση του συστήματος. Το μόνο πράγμα με το οποίο ίσως χρειαστείτε κάποια στιγμή βοήθεια είναι το καπάκι το οποίο αν δεν κλείσει εφαρμόζοντας με ακρίβεια, θα χρειαστεί να επανέλθετε πιέζοντάς το για να κλείσει ερμητικά. Το καθάρισμα επίσης δεν είναι πρόβλημα, αφού μπορείτε απλά να χρησιμοποιήσετε το άζωτο για να ενισχύσετε λίγο νερό και να καθαρίσετε έτσι τη βαλβίδα ή ακόμα και να το βάλετε στο πλυντήριο πιάτων.

Ακολουθεί το δεύτερο μέρος τις επόμενες ημέρες…

 

Μετάφραση: Αχιλλέας Αναστασόπουλος

ΤΟ ΚΕΙΜΕΝΟ ΑΥΤΟ ΕΓΡΑΨΕ

Timon Kaufmann

After my Economic High School, where I could learn the basics of business management, I collected first experiences as a Bartender by visiting a bartender school near Munich. To expand…
ΔΙΑΒΑΣΕ ΠΕΡΙΣΣΟΤΕΡΑ

ΑΦΗΣΤΕ ΤΟ ΣΧΟΛΙΟ ΣΑΣ
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Three NitroBrew Hacks for Home Brewers

NitroBrew is designed to infuse nitrogen into any drink. That said, it is indeed a system originally designed for beer. It lets you take your favorite beer from a can, a bottle or a growler and pour it as a classic nitro style beer in less than a minute.

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Home brewed nut-brown ale. Nitro-style (left), carbonated (right)
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Fine nitro bubbles front and standard CO2 bubbles back

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Typical consumer uses 12 oz of commercial, carbonated beer with the NitroBrew system. NitroBrew of course infuses a substantial amount of nitrogen (in fact, a LOT more than your typical nitro style beer dispensed in a tap system). Moreover, NitroBrew also reduces carbonation to that perfect 1.25 – 1.4 volumes to give you the classic nitro pour and the smooth, creamy goodness.

With NitroBrew system, infuse nitrogen, carbonate or whatever!

Many NitroBrew customers are also passionate home brewers. For these creative souls, here are a few ideas to get out even more from the NitroBrew system.

Home brewed beer, may come carbonated perfectly like a commercial beer, or may be not. May be the beer is taken straight out of fermentation and never carbonated to begin with. Either way, you can pour a nitro style beer from whatever you have.

With many possible beer styles and carbonation levels you can work with, NitroBrew system gives you a range of options. Let us start with the simplest hacks first and then drill this down:

1. Make a nitro version of your homebrew in a minute, right after fermentation and/aging. No need to carbonate the beer first. Fill your kettle with about 12 oz of your chilled homebrew. If the beer is still warm, let sit on ice for a minute while you arrange the charging system. Connect beer gas (~70% nitrogen, ~30% CO2- you can also use somewhat different gas composition as well with adjustments on total pressure) to the charger. Adjust gas supply pressure to about 35-45 psi pressure. Now charge the kettle like you normally would, shake and pour through the dispense valve for that classic nitro beer.

You can use more beer than 12 oz, if you can make adjustments on supply pressure. Experiment to figure out what suits your taste.

2. Don’t have beer gas mixture? No problem. After you poured your homebrew and chilled it in the kettle, add a shot of 100% CO2 first (use a gas supply pressure of about 12-25 psi) and shake the kettle. Then NitroBrew with 100% , nitrogen (or even compressed air) at a pressure setting of 45 psi. usual pressures). Serve like you normally dispense from the NitroBrew system.

3. NitroBrew as a simple, on-demand carbonation system. You made that nice beer, and you can’t wait another week or more to fully carbonate by “bottle conditioning” with yeast and added sugar. NitroBrew can double as a simple carbonation system, and get your your beer to drink in just a few minutes. You can take your beer right out of fermentation (and aging, as well, you purists out there!). Depending on the fermentation temperature, it is likely that your beer is carbonated at about 1 volume.

Pour 12 oz of beer- into your kettle and close the lid. Since NitroBrew system is all stainless-steel, you can quickly chill your beer by placing the kettle on ice. Connect the charger to a CO2 supply. Set the CO2 regulator to between 25-35 psi and NitroBrew like you normally would. Shake the kettle and let sit for a few minutes upright on ice. By the way, NitroBrew recommends shaking the kettle by holding the kettle itself, not by the kettle-handle. With the kettle still being upright, slowly vent the kettle pressure by gently pushing on the valve push button. When the pressure is safely vented, the pressure safety lock will disengage and you will be able to open the lid. Just pour out your beer into a serving glass directly from the open kettle. As an aside, you can fill more than 12 oz of beer- even 16 oz, but you may need to use higher pressure for charging. Experiment and see what works. Note however that we recommend that you do not exceed about 45 psi gas pressure.

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Connect any gas supply to the NitroBrew charger, e.g. air, nitrogen, CO2, beer gas
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Connect the gas to the charger

 

While we are on the subject of beer carbonation, did we mention that you can use the same process to carbonate numerous other drinks, like sodas, juices, etc ?

 

 

 

 

NitroBrew is all about unleashing your creative side! Feel free to experiment! Share your experience!

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Nitrobrew

10 Minutes with NitroBrew Inventor Dr. Murthy Tata

10 Minutes with NitroBrew Inventor Dr. Murthy Tata

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Inventor and engineer Murthy Tata talks about the invention that made him an unlikely coffee leader, the NitroBrew.

You probably don’t see a lot of coverage of engineers here, but at Barista Magazine we want to expand the coffee community and share stories from a wide variety of its members. We’ve covered the NitroBrew, the device that allows you infuse nitrogen into any drink one cup at a time, on this blog before. Now, we sit down with the inventor, Dr. Murthy Tata, to talk about the intersection of coffee, science, and the how his passion for food and drink led him to invent the NitroBrew. 

Ashley Rodriguez: What was your first experience with coffee?

Murthy Tata: I was probably 8 or 9 years old when my grandma filled milk in a glass that had a little coffee in it and gave it to me. I remember initially complaining about having to drink ‘contaminated’ milk. But to my surprise, it tasted better than usual milk. Over the years coffee replaced more and more of the milk.

AR: Have you always had a knack for inventing things?

MT: I am always tinkering. Thankfully, I was able to follow through on some of my projects, including NitroBrew and put them out in the marketplace as mature products. I usually take an unconventional approach to familiar problems. We are known for our innovative and novel solutions at QuantiPerm (a company I started in 2003 with products in food and beverage, biotechnology and brewing industries).

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Murthy is the founder of QuantiPerm, and has since opened a separate branch to respond to the popularity of NitroBrew.

AR: What inspired you to invent the NitroBrew?

MT: Inspiration for the NitroBrew idea comes from my career in the brewing industry. Nitro-style beers, in my opinion offer an amazing drinking experience with a silky-smooth texture, and a very different way of presenting flavors.

I developed a process to infuse nitrogen for Leinenkugel Brewing during the early 1990s. It turned out to be an amazing beer called Creamy Draft. People just loved it. But after the initial excitement, we learned that the customer experience didn’t work out the way we had imagined. We learned quickly that no matter how great your nitro style beer is, maintaining a consistent quality throughout the distribution system and at the bars was going to be a very difficult proposition. With these beers, unlike the normally carbonated beer styles, any changes in temperature, beer gas composition or pressure changes at retail adversely affect the quality. How many times have you had a nitro beer at a bar that had no head of foam? That was disappointing.

Infusing coffee with nitrogen is a more recent phenomenon. Initially, I was skeptical. I reached out to some specialty coffee folks around here to learn about how to do nitro coffee and experimented with a few of their coffees. It was a learning experience. We learnt that the coffee variety and the roasting style may either go very well or not so well with the typical beer gas infusion. The carbon dioxide levels in the gas can impart really astringent taste for certain styles, although the effect can be mostly overcome for certain styles when you use sweeteners, flavorings, or cream.

 

Murthy is an avid outdoorsman, and enjoys rock climbing, sailing, and running.

Murthy is an avid outdoorsman, and enjoys rock climbing, sailing, and running.

AR: What type of coffees do you enjoy on the NitroBrew?

MT: I like all varieties. That said, low-acid, medium roast varieties are my favorites. While almost all of these styles work amazingly well with NitroBrew, many of them don’t even need to be cold-brewed. Often at home, I just collect my drip coffee onto ice and NitroBrew it right away.

AR: What other jobs have you had? How did you get to this point?

MT: I am a chemical engineer. I had a brief stint in the petroleum industry. After graduate studies in biochemical engineering, I went to work in the brewing industry R&D for several years. I worked in all areas: fermentation, brewery processes, and also a little in chemistry of beer. Later I also worked in beer packaging and had the technical responsibility for putting beer in plastic bottles for the first time in North America. I accepted an invitation to work in Motorola’s Biochip development business in Arizona where we were developing chips to study gene expression profiles in biological samples.

I founded QuantiPerm in 2003 producing R&D instruments on a technology I patented (for rapid, nondestructive testing of packaging materials). QuantiPerm diversified its product offerings over the years to include carbonation systems, dissolved gas analyzers, bioprocess monitors, water treatment systems, etc. NitroBrew happens to be one of the recent QuantiPerm products, and since it caters to a different market, it was spun off as a separate company in 2014.

Murthy cites being outdoors as his way to relax.

Murthy cites being outdoors as his way to relax.

AR: Are you working on any other projects? Any other ways to improve coffee?

MT: We are eager to finish up some projects relating to fermentation monitoring and control systems for both commercial breweries as well as the home brewer market. In general, we don’t like to launch into a product line unless we feel like we can make a strong contribution.

In the coffee realm, we had been asked about kegerator-style in-line nitrogenation systems and we are looking into the possibilities and are working with larger commercial partners.

AR: What do you want people to know about you?

MT: As a consumer, I am very demanding of what I buy. So as an entrepreneur, I strive to offer the finest products that our customers are thrilled about. This is something the entire crew here strives to provide to our customers. Today, more than ever, it is our customers that come up with amazing and creative drinks. It is an entirely new level of satisfaction whenever our customers share their creations that include NitroBrew.

I draw inspiration from my family, friends, colleagues, and also our customers. I feel awed by the fact that all these amazing people share a part, however small, of their lives with me. While money can be important, I derive most pleasure from doing the little things everyday that make a difference.

Murthy and his wife, Sabitha.

Murthy and his wife, Sabitha.

My wife Sabitha, is a source of stability and inspiration. She and both my kids let me be a kid myself in my interactions with them and for that, I am forever thankful.

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NitroBrew featured in Barista Magazine

Make Nitro Cold Brew, One Cup at a Time

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Café owners rejoice! There’s now a way to do nitro without breaking the bank

BY ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ
SPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE

Nitro cold brew is big—like, really big. “Nitro” refers to coffee that has been infused with nitrogen. Unlike regular carbonation, nitrogen creates small air bubbles that keep their shape longer and give the coffee a heavy, silky texture. Think of the difference between any ol’ beer and a Guinness. When you infuse coffee with nitrogen, the coffee takes on a very similar texture and mouthfeel.

However, unlike Guinness, which is delivered to your favorite bar ready to pull from a keg tap, most coffee shops make their cold-brew coffee on-site, and having a nitrogen keg can be incredibly cost-prohibitive and wasteful. You have to ask yourself, how many of these am I going to sell in order to justify the cost of not just a keg, but the dedicated tap space? If only you could make nitro cold-brew to order, right?

You can see the cold brew beginning to cascade, just like a Guinness.

You can see the cold brew beginning to cascade, just like a Guinness.

Mark Kim, owner of Amis Creperie and Café in South San Francisco, asked himself that very question, and then one day, he found the solution. He was researching different beer-dispensing technologies when he discovered NitroBrew, a handheld device that nitrogenates anything you put into it.

The NitroBrew looks like sort of like a hot glue gun fused with a moka pot—you open up the bottom portion that has a container for liquid, put whatever you’d like into it (coffee, of course, would be our choice), close it up, and place a nozzle into a charging station, and then pour your drink out of the nozzle.

The NitroBrew has an interior chamber for liquid—coffee, beer, tea, etc. After a quick charge, the NitroBrew dispenses smooth, nitro-infused beverages.

The NitroBrew has an interior chamber for liquid—coffee, beer, tea, etc. After a quick charge, the NitroBrew dispenses smooth, nitro-infused beverages.

Along with preventing waste since it allows you to make one cup at a time, the NitroBrew is also an inexpensive way to introduce nitro coffee to your customers. “Since the cost of the system was so low—especially in comparison to a fully kegged system, which was turning out to be prohibitively expensive—I thought it was worth a try, and if it didn’t work as advertised, I could just call it a loss,” Mark says.

For Mark and Amis Creperie and Café, it proved its value almost immediately. “People have responded well to us using the NitroBrew,” he says. “Most are surprised at the method we use [when they order a nitro] as they typically expect us to dispense from a beer faucet.”

You can see the cold brew beginning to cascade, just like a Guinness.

You can see the cold brew beginning to cascade, just like a Guinness.

Aesthetically, the NitroBrew is completely different than a keg system. “First of all, there is definitely a presence associated with having a chrome tower and dispensing a nitro-coffee from a beer faucet,” says Mark. “Second, no matter how you spin it, it takes longer to put the coffee into the [NitroBrew] kettle, fill the kettle with the nitrogen, shake to incorporate the gases, and dispense, than to just dispense straight from a faucet.”

You can loosely compare the NitroBrew-vs.-keg argument to the pourover-vs.-batch brew. The benefits of the first ones—NitroBrew and pourover—include allowing you to customize and offer a wider, fresher selection. And challenges? A little extra time to prepare, and some explanation for customers who might ask about this new preparation method. Not too big a deal, when you think about it.

Sonja Zweidick, who graced the cover of the June+July 2016 issue of Barista Magazine, was an early adopter of the NitroBrew.

Sonja Zweidick, who graced the cover of the June+July 2016 issue of Barista Magazine, was an early adopter of the NitroBrew.

Regardless, the NitroBrew allows for experimentation and play, and it delivers a solid nitro coffee that might have been unavailable to many coffee shop owners previously, and it’s a fun way to add a new drink to your menu and be creative with how coffee can be served.

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The Birth of a Beer Sommelier

Water, barley, and hops – beer basics that are as true and steady now as they were when the Bavarians laid down Reinheitsgebot more than five centuries ago. In the right master brewers’ hands, those ingredients morph into that wonderful refreshment that still help monks meditate, and make modern connoisseurs salivate.

And indeed, it’s that kind of alchemy that’s making the craft world so amazing right now. Brewers are turning out beers that taste like breakfast in bottle. Feeling like dessert – maybe chocolate truffle, Key Lime pie, or strawberry shortcake? Yes – there’s a beer for that.

(more…)

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What Turns a Good Beer Bad?

Why does beer taste bad?

What turns a good beer bad? Theories are legion. Taking a bottle in and out of the cold, some say, is the fast track to a skunky pour. Others suspect beer spoils by leaving it out of the fridge altogether. Some drinkers are even still wary of canned beers (they shouldn’t be, by the way).

(more…)

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