← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Kevin_O'Keeffe
Thread ID: 17391 | Posts: 10 | Started: 2005-03-19
2005-03-19 00:26 | User Profile
I just found something very similar to a ping-pong ball in my Guiness can. Is this some new thing they've started in order to keep the beer mixed, or whatnot, or did someone at the brewery play a little joke on me?
2005-03-19 01:32 | User Profile
Kevin,
It's put there by the brewer.
I've encounter those things before and even knew what they were for at one time, but damn if I can remember.
2005-03-19 01:39 | User Profile
Found this on the net:
A ping-pong ball-like ââ¬Årocket widgetââ¬Â is added to the product during the canning phase at the brewery. The widget ball contains nitrogen (N2). When the can is opened, the valve inside the widget is broken and nitrogen gas is released into the beer, forming a finely-bubbled, beautiful head. The widget ball is found in Kilkenny and Guinness beer cans.
[url]http://www.koff.fi/en/consumer_service/frequently_asked.html#9[/url]
[url]http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=rocket%20widget[/url]
2005-03-19 02:09 | User Profile
As well as Boddington's.
2005-03-20 01:32 | User Profile
Now if we could just figure out what that little white cube in Campbell's Pork 'n Beans is.
2005-03-20 02:09 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Kevin_O'Keeffe]I just found something very similar to a ping-pong ball in my Guiness can. Is this some new thing they've started in order to keep the beer mixed, or whatnot, or did someone at the brewery play a little joke on me?[/QUOTE] Dude, you didn't know?
2005-03-20 03:09 | User Profile
There is a an explanation of it on the can. It won some sort of science/technology the year it was introduced.
2005-03-20 04:43 | User Profile
Crack it open, there might be a message inside... "Leprachaun held prisoner in a Guiness brewery after it was outsourced to Sri Lanka, sold into slavery by unscrupulous brewery owner... forced to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week... please send help now... will trade pot of gold for freedom..."
2005-03-20 15:22 | User Profile
To repeat, It's called a widget.
Proper Brit beer, as served in most/some pubs is not carbonated, and has a mild fizz caused by the live yeast in the barrell. Trouble is, live yeast means it tends to be inconsistent and has to be stored properly (at 12-14 degrees so not warm as myth has it).
Sadly, tasteless fizzy lagers (what Americans call "beer") account for most of the "beer" market in the UK. "Keg Bitter" was also sold, bland, pasturised and also carbonated as their was no life yeast to add natural fizz. The draught Bass and microbrews I found in America were similar products.
About fifteen years ago the brewers started adding N2 rather than CO2 to keg bitters, as this approximated the natural fizz better. Along with the usual marketing excesses 'smoothpour' type bitter became popular for the home consumption market, hence the 'widget'.
In the absence of proper beer (esp at home), nitrokegs (and Guinness/Murphy's etc.) are better than the old fizzy keg stuff, although they are a last resort when trapped in a social situation, I wouldn't voluntary go out to a pub/bar where I was forced to drink them.
2005-03-21 06:21 | User Profile
My family used to joke about that when I was a kid! That is the "PORK" !
[QUOTE=Hugh Lincoln]Now if we could just figure out what that little white cube in Campbell's Pork 'n Beans is.[/QUOTE]