Guinness Surger

Suckit wrote: »

How much did the 2 crates cost delivered?

Delivery was a flat €8 even though it mentions 8 per crate of wine(or similar).

It came to the equivalent of €130 delivered.

Better than the other options to those outside of Dublin.

Suckit

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Delivery was a flat €8 even though it mentions 8 per crate of wine(or similar).

It came to the equivalent of €130 delivered.

Better than the other options to those outside of Dublin.

Thanks.

Taking the delay into account, I think I'll make an order too. I think I have two cases coming tomorrow from a friend who collected them from bookabar yesterday.

Thundercats Ho

I haven't had one of these in a month or so, but had a couple at the weekend.
What I found works best is
Open the surger can and leave for 2-3 minutes.
Pour the can slowly, to the top of the harp.
Use a spoon the scoop off any foam and bubbles. This is just for the look of the finished pint, so it doesn't have any bubbles in the head.
My cleaner takes 7 seconds to surge the beer properly, but this varies depending on what device you're using.
When the beer has almost settled, top it up with the remainder of the can. I've found that pouring the can in one go, and surging gives a bigger head, and doing it this way, looks more like a pub pint.

If you get an ordinary draught can, chill it down - and (nb) leave the empty glass in the freezer for a while before pouring, then pour according to instructions, it's a terrific pint. I just can't believe that this "surger" pint is all that much and I've heard it's about double the price.

Where can you buy the "surger" Guinness anyway and exactly how much does it work out per can?

Suckit

Benedict wrote: »

If you get an ordinary draught can, chill it down - and (nb) leave the empty glass in the freezer for a while before pouring, then pour according to instructions, it's a terrific pint. I just can't believe that this "surger" pint is all that much and I've heard it's about double the price.

Where can you buy the "surger" Guinness anyway and exactly how much does it work out per can?

It's about €70 per case, roughly. Cheaper if you go up North.
So roughly €2.90 per can.
You can get them for €70 in book a bar.
Many other place mentioned in the last few pages with links or addresses.
It's not really much more than paying the difference between a regular can (e.g. Heineken) and a craft beer. If it is or the belief is that it is genuinely a lot different and close or the same as draught (€5), then why not.

celt262

Benedict wrote: »

If you get an ordinary draught can, chill it down - and (nb) leave the empty glass in the freezer for a while before pouring, then pour according to instructions, it's a terrific pint. I just can't believe that this "surger" pint is all that much and I've heard it's about double the price.

Where can you buy the "surger" Guinness anyway and exactly how much does it work out per can?

Have tried the surger cans and its not worth it for the money involved. At €80 which is what some are paying for a slab you can get 60 of the widget cans which are just as nice. ( 15 widget cans for €20 in supervalu last weekend)

I can get the surger cans for €60 over the border but it still isn't worth it.

Suckit wrote: »

Thanks.

Taking the delay into account, I think I'll make an order too. I think I have two cases coming tomorrow from a friend who collected them from bookabar yesterday.

Was surprised to get a phone call about the order being outside today.
Didnt expect it for a week based on the above.
Ordered mid Friday and arrived Tuesday morning.

If you're prepared to wait, then pounce and buy in bulk you can get ordinary draught Guinness in Dunnes or Tesco at Euro 1 per can (which is near enough to a pint). Fabulous value - it's hard to believe that the surge stuff could be worth the difference. I'd say we'll all try it once, then go back to the value stuff (which is the same strength @ 4.2%)

Benedict wrote: »

If you're prepared to wait, then pounce and buy in bulk you can get ordinary draught Guinness in Dunnes or Tesco at Euro 1 per can (which is near enough to a pint). Fabulous value - it's hard to believe that the surge stuff could be worth the difference. I'd say we'll all try it once, then go back to the value stuff (which is the same strength @ 4.2%)

Try it first and decide.

I will say if you're the kind of person who loved a good pint and wouldn't give cans of draught to the dog pre-pandemic you will be pleasantly surprised. If you're the kind of person who thought draught cans were 'close enough' to a pub pint for you pre-pandemic - stick to the draught cans.

BandMember

Apologies if this has already been asked, but could someone recommend a good unit to use for surging the cans, preferably one with a swift delivery, please?

By all accounts the surge seems to be a better pint but surely the high price will kill it stone dead.

BeerNut

Benedict wrote: »

By all accounts the surge seems to be a better pint but surely the high price will kill it stone dead.

Guinness drinkers have proven themselves over generations to be not very price sensitive. There's a tendency to complain about the ever-increasing price of Guinness, and then pay whatever is demanded.

At €2.70 per (pint) can it still works out at less than most craft beers and a lot less than pints in the pub. Which let's face it are more than likely going to go up in the imminent future to recoup the losses of the past year.

As much as I'm looking forward to a good day out with the lads I'll be keeping my surger after the pubs open anyway.

For me personally the machine makes a bit of an event of the whole thing, and the price being a bit dearer makes me do a bit of stock management. I keep them for my Saturday night / Sunday afternoon and enjoy them. I stocked up on a few slabs of the draught in Tescos at chrimbo and at €1 a go I just ended up skulling through them any night I took the notion cos there was always more to be had. And when there's sweet FA else to be doing... my waistline didn't thank me anyway.

That's quite a lot like the craft beer drinker mindset when I think about it.

Either the surger price will fall or the sales will never take off. Even those who might be tempted to sample some will be put off by having to invest in the special gadget which apparently costs from E20 to E30.

If you put two pints of surger on one side and five cans of standard on the other, I know which I'd chose - even apart from having to buy the gadget!

Some will buy it - but not many.

Hotblack Desiato

2ndcoming wrote: »

That's quite a lot like the craft beer drinker mindset when I think about it.

Except craft beer drinkers don't pay twice the price for a slightly different way of pouring the same liquid

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Except craft beer drinkers don't pay twice the price for a slightly different way of pouring the same liquid

No, many times they pay four times the price for a slightly different liquid with a cool label brewed in a bath by someone called Kevin. Each to their own.

What I meant was they make an event out of it in their own way, happily paying extra for the experience of the whole thing. I mean you could have a tasting session with Galahad, Cruiser and St Etienne for a lot less but the results may be less enjoyable.

NB I've often taking the notion to hit the craft section. Love the Belgians myself. It's not a competition.

s8n

2ndcoming wrote: »

No, many times they pay four times the price for a slightly different liquid with a cool label brewed in a bath by someone called Kevin. Each to their own.

What I meant was they make an event out of it in their own way, happily paying extra for the experience of the whole thing. I mean you could have a tasting session with Galahad, Cruiser and St Etienne for a lot less but the results may be less enjoyable.

NB I've often taking the notion to hit the craft section. Love the Belgians myself. It's not a competition.

serious load of b0llox in that post

s8n wrote: »

serious load of b0llox in that post

Care to elaborate my loquacious friend?

frankled

2ndcoming wrote: »

No, many times they pay four times the price for a slightly different liquid with a cool label brewed in a bath by someone called Kevin. Each to their own.

What I meant was they make an event out of it in their own way, happily paying extra for the experience of the whole thing. I mean you could have a tasting session with Galahad, Cruiser and St Etienne for a lot less but the results may be less enjoyable.

NB I've often taking the notion to hit the craft section. Love the Belgians myself. It's not a competition.

Very sensible post. I personally don't know why people have to make it about craft beer vs Guinness- each to their own as such. I drink and appreciate both for what they are. I'm also partial to a bottle of Heineken in the sun, that doesn't mean it has the complexities of a craft beer but it can still be enjoyed. Tis a bit like cyclists vs drivers arguments- some people will be perpetually on one side of things when really, it is not black and white.

I feel that setting up the surger and getting the glasses ready does make it a little bit of an experience. I will say that I've only surged normal cans (after using a screw to release the gas slowly) and can't say I think there is a massive difference to a can poured using the upside-down dunk method, but who knows. I've seen that AllThingsGuinness Instagram page pour surge the creamiest Guinness with perfect glass lacing/cling/'schtick' - something which I haven't really achieved, even with a "beer-clean" glass.

My one question is, whether there is an appreciate-able difference between a surged widget can and a surger can?

Edit: Nothing compares to a really good draught Guinness pint, in my mind, still. Soon....

frankled wrote: »

Very sensible post. I personally don't know why people have to make it about craft beer vs Guinness- each to their own as such. I drink and appreciate both for what they are. I'm also partial to a bottle of Heineken in the sun, that doesn't mean it has the complexities of a craft beer but it can still be enjoyed. Tis a bit like cyclists vs drivers arguments- some people will be perpetually on one side of things when really, it is not black and white.

I feel that setting up the surger and getting the glasses ready does make it a little bit of an experience. I will say that I've only surged normal cans (after using a screw to release the gas slowly) and can't say I think there is a massive difference to a can poured using the upside-down dunk method, but who knows. I've seen that AllThingsGuinness Instagram page pour surge the creamiest Guinness with perfect glass lacing/cling/'schtick' - something which I haven't really achieved, even with a "beer-clean" glass.

My one question is, whether there is an appreciate-able difference between a surged widget can and a surger can?

Edit: Nothing compares to a really good draught Guinness pint, in my mind, still. Soon....

I haven't noticed a HUGE difference in surging either two cans.

I've had two surger cans malfunction on me, the first which was only chilled an hour in the freezer and the second was fridge chilled for 2 hours and put into a fridge that was only sustaining the temperature.

So the conclusion is, you cant surge the cans properly unless they've been fridge chilled for a 5/6 hours.

I've surged some of the widget/non widget Guinness/Left Hand cans and they've dudded for some reason.

What the surger cans provide is convenience that you're not piercing cans and secondly possibly having dud cans as a result.

If you're price conscious, surging the regular cans is more than sufficient.
Personally im used to paying €3 for a beer in the off license so I dont mind running a mix of Surger/Widget cans together.

It goes without saying that the glass is crucial, but that's also relevant to hand pouring.

I've found the best non surger pints I've had were the 470ml Guinness and OHaras I put in the 500ml Gravity Glass(as opposed to the widget cans into a 530ml tulip glass).

A tip that the AllThingsGuinness only mentioned in relation surging the widget cans(well as far as I saw) is also relevant to the Surger.

You need to scoop out the head that forms after pouring, otherwise itll sit on top of the new head and form an island in it.

I keep a glass of water and spoon there and just dump and rise.
Theres no need to get every bit of the head but youd want to clear the main bulk of it.

frankled

gilberto_eire wrote: »

I haven't noticed a HUGE difference in surging either two cans.

I've had two surger cans malfunction on me, the first which was only chilled an hour in the freezer and the second was fridge chilled for 2 hours and put into a fridge that was only sustaining the temperature.

So the conclusion is, you cant surge the cans properly unless they've been fridge chilled for a 5/6 hours.

I've surged some of the widget/non widget Guinness/Left Hand cans and they've dudded for some reason.

What the surger cans provide is convenience that you're not piercing cans and secondly possibly having dud cans as a result.

If you're price conscious, surging the regular cans is more than sufficient.
Personally im used to paying €3 for a beer in the off license so I dont mind running a mix of Surger/Widget cans together.

It goes without saying that the glass is crucial, but that's also relevant to hand pouring.

I've found the best non surger pints I've had were the 470ml Guinness and OHaras I put in the 500ml Gravity Glass(as opposed to the widget cans into a 530ml tulip glass).

A tip that the AllThingsGuinness only mentioned in relation surging the widget cans(well as far as I saw) is also relevant to the Surger.

You need to scoop out the head that forms after pouring, otherwise itll sit on top of the new head and form an island in it.

I keep a glass of water and spoon there and just dump and rise.
Theres no need to get every bit of the head but youd want to clear the main bulk of it.

So you'd say taste-wise, surged widget vs surger are the same? Excluding convenience etc. I don't care too much about the cost, if the quality is a step up on the widget can. And I am not sure if I believe that it can be that much of a step-up.

As for scooping out the little head that appears, I saw that and do it also sometimes, but I think that's only for aesthetics. Which is important with a Guinness pint I suppose!

I find it tastes noticeably nicer and closer to the real thing with the surger cans. Agree with the widget ones - they look prettier surged but I don't notice any taste difference from just dunking them.

Only way you'll find out is try a few yourself, it seems to be very subjective.

listermint

The amount of hours chilling going on as suggested here means the Guinness will have f all taste. Is there many on here who liked that extra cold Guinness? I just don't get it. It's such a poor Guinness experience. By my reckoning an hour in the fridge is enough to get the right temperature.

POBox19

listermint wrote: »

The amount of hours chilling going on as suggested here means the Guinness will have f all taste. Is there many on here who liked that extra cold Guinness? I just don't get it. It's such a poor Guinness experience. By my reckoning an hour in the fridge is enough to get the right temperature.

I would keep Surger cans in the fridge for a few days, overnight at least and let them acclimatise for up to an hour before opening them. I found that forcing the chill did not produce a great pint.

Pin it!
https://www.q102.ie/news/buzz/watch-guinness-surger-can-hack-goes-viral-with-millions-of-views1/

From next January, the standard draught can of G must cost a min of E1.66 - but so will the bog-standard Polish lager which now costs around 75p in Aldi.

But what if G hikes its price so that it remains pricier than the Polish? We'd be talking about G at maybe E2.50 (possibly more).

Hell of a difference from the current G at x24 cans for E24!

POBox19

BandMember

Would this be suitable for a surger unit??

https://www.amazon.co.uk/PROBEEALLYU-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Jewelry-Dentures/dp/B08LGCLG6D/ref=sr_1_30?crid=GLRXRO0YHC7O&dchild=1&keywords=jewellery+cleaner&qid=1621979682&sprefix=jew%2Caps%2C301&sr=8-30