About Our Nitro Cold Brew
Our journey to cold brew began over a decade ago when we started brewing in our cafés using Kyoto-style drip towers. These beautiful artifices of glass and wood slowly drip ice water over coffee grounds over the course of 12 hours. The result is syrupy, rich, sweet, and intense.
A few years later we began experimenting with putting our Kyoto-style cold brew on nitrogen draft. Our Kyoto brewers only brew 2 gallons per 24 hours, so we went looking for a comparable large-format solution—and found the BrewBomb.
Fast forward a few months: we received our BrewBomb x45 and installed it directly in our walk-in cooler. Now we can brew up to 50 gallons at a time at temperatures below 40°F, store it in kegs, and serve it with nitrogen infusion. Our café was the first café in Ithaca to offer nitro cold brew.
What is Nitro Cold Brew?
Nitro cold brew is coffee that has been cold brewed and served infused with pure nitrogen gas. Nitrogen infusion does a couple things for the coffee.
Freshness: by blanketing the cold brew with pure nitrogen, we remove oxygen, the source of oxidation. This helps our nitro cold brew maintain peak quality for up to 2 months.
Texture: nitrogen creates a rich, silky mouthfeel. As it’s poured, it produces a gorgeous cascading surge and settle, reminiscent of a well-poured pint of Guinness. The nitrogen also adds a slightly sweet note—often sweet enough straight from the tap.
Equipment Requirements
What is required to serve Nitro Cold Brew in your café, bar, hotel, office, or event space?
Your minimum requirements:
- Stout tap (not a standard draft spout). Stout taps slow the pour and include a sparkler, which starts the nitrogen cascading effect.
- Ball lock gas and product connectors (we keg in 5-gallon ball-lock Corny kegs).
- Pure N2 gas cylinder (food-grade nitrogen, not beer gas, which is a CO2/N2 blend) — available from most local gas and welding suppliers.
- Nitrogen regulator (nitro cold brew uses different pressures than typical draft systems; a dedicated regulator is strongly recommended).
- A way to keep the keg cold (kegerator, walk-in cooler, or ice bath for catering; often paired with a jockey box).
Many bars, restaurants, and cafés already have much of this. If you don’t—or aren’t sure—we’d be happy to help with a facility evaluation.
