Is this a daft idea?

[531Man]

Wow, thanks for all the ideas guys. I hadn't thought of combining the two ideas. I'm very jealous of that set up @Hazelwood Brewery !

The bottle of gas I've got is food grade because it came from the student union at work (I work at a university) so no worries there. No idea how much is in it, it's been at the back of the shed for about 15 years! I'll dig it out and see if it fits my argon regulator. Plenty at work if it doesn't though.

The cider is bubbling away quite the thing just now but I made a massive miscalculation and it's looking like it will be around 10%abv..... Oops! For an engineer I'm terrible at maths haha.

I thought in their calculations that Engineers always 'added a bit' as a safety margin.
But I suppose that extra alcohol head-room in your cider won't have the same safety factor outcome!

 

[Agentgonzo]

or put a balloon inside the pressure barrel and pump it up with air...no oxidation, cheap, simple, quick, sterilisable..........

Would the balloon leech unpleasant baloony flavours into the beer?

 

[Dutto]

Would the balloon leech unpleasant baloony flavours into the beer?

A “definite/maybe”.

I expect it depends on make of the balloon, length of time exposed to brew, pressure etc etc.

Give it a whirl and let us know.
:hat:

 

[Tassie]

If you want something simple for dispensing beer. If your having a party get the back pack sprayer for genuine cask ale, from a garden sprayer.

 

[Buffers brewery]

Would the balloon leech unpleasant baloony flavours into the beer?

Latex balloons have a smell so potentially will taint beer. Also, latex is permeable to air/oxygen (that’s why they deflate slowly over time) so will introduce, albeit slowly, oxygen into the brew. Mylar is impermeable to air and helium (even smaller molecule) so won’t leak into the brew. The biggest unknown is the toxicity of the balloon outer coating as mylar itself (I believe) is non-toxic.