Guinness what is in the can

Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Log out. US Markets Loading H M S In the news. Science Contributors. The CO 2 that is dissolved in the beer is what makes it fizzy.

When the can is closed the pressure inside is higher than the pressure outside, so that when you open the can the sudden drop in pressure and the agitation of pouring causes some of the CO 2 to bubble out of solution, forming a head on your beer.

A stout like Guinness has a creamier, longer lasting head than a canned lager beer. In addition, Guinness is less fizzy than a regular lager beer.

Guinness is canned with a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Nitrogen is not absorbed into the beer nearly as well as carbon dioxide, so even though a can of Guinness may be at the same pressure as a can of lager, it contains less CO and is therefore less fizzy because the nitrogen makes up some of the pressure.

Because a beer like Guinness contains less dissolved CO 2 , if you poured it from a can with no widget, the head not be very thick because most of the CO 2 would stay dissolved.

The purpose of the widget is to release the CO 2 from some of the beer in the can to create the head. The widget is a plastic, nitrogen-filled sphere with a tiny hole in it. The sphere is added to the can before the can is sealed.

It floats in the beer, with the hole just slightly below the surface of the beer. False advertising? As good as Guinness on tap? Depends on whom you ask. Impressive piece of technology? But the pressure inside the widget remains higher than the pressure in the beer around it — due to the tiny hole which allows gas to escape.

This process makes the nitrogen inside the widget squirt into the beer, creating a burst of tiny nitrogen bubbles that rise to the top of the beer. All of this being said, there's a very important fact that goes into drinking canned beer: You are not supposed to shake the can. Guinness bottles or cans can be chilled the day before, but no shaking is required.

Just open, sip, and go! The nice part about green beer is that no special bartending skills are required to make it! Here's a fun recipe courtesy of TheSpruceEats.