Posted by: bonzi
Beer can technology - 02/07/2005 20:32
I am sitting here feeling unhappy about travelling tomorrow to Athens instead of Amersfoort, and trying to put myself to sleep reading Iain Banks' Raw Spirit (OK, it is not that boring) and drinking canned Guinness. Does anyone know what is the plasticky sounding thingie left inside the can when one drains it and what is its purpose?
Posted by: tman
Re: Beer can technology - 02/07/2005 20:37
It's a widget and it produces the head. It's nothing actually amazing from a construction point of view. It's just an oddly shaped piece of plastic with a hole in the middle but they spent a lot of money and time coming up with that. The way it works if I remember correctly is that during canning, they inject the drink with a small charge of CO2 which pressurises the can and forces some of the drink inside the widget. When you open the can, you release the pressure and it squirts back out through the hole and produces the head.
The widget is explained
here and
here. There are other widget types as well.
Posted by: schofiel
Re: Beer can technology - 02/07/2005 21:28
Be warned that if you drink "widget" beer out of the can (surprised you didn't notice the mess on the floor) that there may be errrr.... various unexplained "side effects" later on involving copious quantities of wind.....
Moral of the story - RTFM. Sorry, RTFIOTC.
Posted by: andym
Re: Beer can technology - 02/07/2005 23:25
I'll say it again, it's a shame you can't make it to Amersfoort, but I suppose there are worse places to be than Athens.
You'll have to stick Amersfoort 2006 in your diary in pen!
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Beer can technology - 03/07/2005 02:16
I think it's the thing that makes canned Guinness taste almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Guinness.
Posted by: bonzi
Re: Beer can technology - 03/07/2005 03:03
Hm, haven't noticed any side effects...
Posted by: bonzi
Re: Beer can technology - 03/07/2005 03:06
Ah, that explains it!
(Actually, I am not much of a beer drinker, so finer points are lost on me. But I do prefer anything stronger, more complex, less usual etc to ordinary lagers, so Guinness (or some vaguelly similar local brews) is a kind of default beer.)
Posted by: boxer
Re: Beer can technology - 03/07/2005 05:43
Before they thought of the widget, they sold six packs in Ireland with a large plastic syringe and you poured the Guinness and then sucked some out with the syringe and put it back to make a head!
Posted by: andy
Re: Beer can technology - 03/07/2005 14:28
...and the widgets have changed quite a bit since they were first introduced. The first ones tended to be fairly explosive if you had bumped the can or if it wasn't very cold. It lend to much rushing rapidly to the kitchen sink, with the glass in one hand and the erupting fountain of canned Guinness in the other.
Or perhaps I am just better at chilling the can now
When I was at the
Goodwood Festival of Speed the other week, Murphys were there selling their stout. They were making a selling point about the fact that they could pour you a pint in seconds rather than minutes.
Posted by: pgrzelak
Re: Beer can technology - 03/07/2005 15:07
Why does the concept of jet propulsion (the widget) and alcohol make me a bit nervous???
Posted by: boxer
Re: Beer can technology - 03/07/2005 19:33
I understand the point that you're making, but the fact is that now draught Guinness is served, like every other beer, with no care and attention by part time and temporary staff in ersatz, theme pubs, where food is the only profit motivation, the results are, often, unacceptable.
Perhaps, it would focus on the point to say that Dublin/Irish bar staff have to have a qualification.
Posted by: ineedcolor
Re: Beer can technology - 04/07/2005 02:15
Draught Guinness is pretty accessable here in Canada...and the servers usually top it off with the classic shamrock mark on the head....