Short Stuff: The Guinness Widget | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. hey and welcome to short stuff I'm Josh. and there's Chuck and we're talking. short stuff today we're talking widgets. on short stuff I should say widgets that. were first introduced as a concept from. a play right Chuck yeah I mean there was. uh the word first of all we need to. thank our old buddy Brian Didsbury oh. right uh the the boom operator on the. stuff you should know TV show so great. who comes to our live shows still a. friend he text me all the time trying to.

get me to play uh Red Dead Redemption. with him online he texts me Simpsons. quotes does he really mhm oh did he text. you about this too no oh okay yeah he. texted me a couple of days ago and he's. like hey man how about one on the. Guinness widget I was like done buddy. it's a good idea for sure it is uh and. thanks to guinness.com how stuff works. uh uh conservable conversible Economist. uh petroleum Service Company where else. YouTube uh yeah that's pretty much it.

okay anyway get. widgets um everybody thinks it's. basically a spin-off of the word Gadget. which is probably true um we don't know. the true atmology but I believe it was. in a play in. 1924 uh where they specifically in the. play talked about like we're in the. widget business and that maybe like the. first time that anyone had ever used it. like that uh but then Guinness came. along and said well you know what. everyone talks about widgets is just a.

thing you make a nameless thing you make. at any company we're going to make a. real thing and we're really going to. call it a widget and get it patented as. such yeah and they did it's this thing. that um makes canned Guinness much more. like Guinness from the tap which is. actually much more like Guinness from a. cask because Guinness is its own kind of. thing as a matter of fact and I say we. dig into how Guinness is Guinness that's. right I think we should prep people that.

this simple simple little short stuff. was a cause of a lot of emails and. consternation between us today right is. it. simple I think so all right well I think. you should take the lead then it's. basically a pingpong. ball yes the widget is simple right so. let's talk about what we're talking. about if you open a can of um Guinness. and just the can it's not in the bottle. um there's a little plastic sphere with. a hole in the bottom that you will hear. rattling around the can if you cut the.

can open um very gently set one aside. and then be very um careful holding the. other one up because it's a a slice can. they're very dangerous and look inside. you'll see this little plastic sphere. that is the Guinness widget and there's. noong with it even is it it's not that. big is it no it looks a little smaller. but you could you though does it have. bounce to it um I doubt it cuz it's not. it's not full of air okay and and it's. heavier I'll was just make a joke okay I.

got well I didn't know I could see that. being like a thing that the internet. figured out I bet they've done that in. Ireland and by the way Guinness calls. these officially within the Guinness. company they call it a smooth the fire. okay so everybody else calls it a widget. then yeah okay so um they put this in. there and only God themsel knows how. they. work uh well let's talk a little bit. about um a guy named Michael Ash uh in.

1951 Michael ashh joined the Guinness. company he was a mathematician he was a. master Brewer uh he was a big believer. in science and he was like hey there's. all these beers that are made with. carbon dioxide and it's that CO2 that is. dissolves in the beer that makes it. fizzy when you when you open it up when. the can is closed the pressure inside is. much higher than the pressure outside so. when you open that thing up there's a. pressure drop and the agitation of. pouring it makes that CO2 come bubbling.

out and that's where you get your foamy. head on a beer right he was like this. Cask Guinness is smooth and creamy and. CO2 just doesn't do it if we're going to. try and put this stuff in pubs and. eventually in cans no no um so the if. you have a cask um the beer that's put. into The Cask it it ages in The Cask. like when you deliver it to a pub it's. still doing its thing aging and once you. tap The Cask you have three days to.

drink it that's how like unpasturized. and new it is but the thing is is when. you get the beer out of The Cask you. have to actually pump it out and that. creates like a totally different pour. and finish than if you're pouring it out. of a keg so because the world kind of. transition from cks to kegs uh around. the the middle of the 20th century. Michael Ash was like well then what can. we do to make Guinness more Cask like or. keep its Cask like profile and look and. taste and everything thing and he.

figured out that adding nitrogen is what. would do that that's right and you know. what I think that's a good little. Cliffhanger okay so let's take a break. and we'll talk about the the magic. inside the Guinness can and glass right. after this. [Music].

all right so where we left off uh. Michael Ash had discovered that uh. nitrogen uh along with it's not it. doesn't replace the CO2 it's a mixture. of the carbon dioxide and nitrogen right. um but nitrogen isn't absorbed into the. beer like carbon dioxide is so it it has.

the same pressure of just a regular beer. but it has a lot less um CO2 and so it's. not as fizzy which is not what you want. out of Guinness anyway uh because that. nitrogen is making up a great deal of. that pressure inside the can yes and. even though it's harder for nitrogen to. dissolve inside beer um CO2 it's very. easy um nitrogen will some will dissolve. and it forms smaller bubbles and more.

stable bu bubbles so when you pour this. nitrogen infused Guinness beer the um. the the head will be foamier much. creamier than say like a CO2 logger head. that eventually kind of settles down and. looks like urine in the glass after a. while especially if you're talking about. K's banquet beer um this is like a foamy. head that because the nitrogen bubbles. are more stable stays around way longer. too so he figured out by adding nitrogen.

you can basically replicate the look and. the feel and the taste of Casp Guinness. like it used to be that's right uh so. the next step was like how do I make. this happen in a can it seemed like an. impossibility uh until a guy named John. Lun L NN a master distiller uh created. the widget uh the patent I believe. Guinness eventually filed for the patent. in ' 69 for an improved method of and. means of dispensing carbonated liquids.

from containers uh it began as uh. project Dynamite but apparently there. was a lot of that was problematic for. Customs because it said project Dynamite. on all the you know paperwork and stuff. are you serious and so yeah yeah so uh. they changed it to project uh oak tree. they changed it to project dyo Mite. right uh they change it to project. nuclear waste um now project oak tree I. think was a reference to the original. project acorn.

uh from Guinness so um they they they. wanted to get these cans right that you. can get Guinness in a bottle but it's. not the same beer at all it's completely. different beer so you like the you like. the canned version better huh oh yeah. that's the pub version I might not be. doing it right then because I'm like. what is this crap like this is I would. rather just drink the Guinness out of a. bottle any day of the week I mean do you. like Guinness in a pub I don't know that. I've ever actually had real Guinness in. a pub oh.

Josh I'm I'm taking you to England next. week okay that'd be awesome we're you're. like really yeah uh that just surprises. me I must not aort it correctly because. it doesn't make any sense that they. would even go to this trouble of putting. a widget in it to make worse Guinness. than it is in the bottle so I I just. didn't do it right that's my guess well. uh maybe you just don't understand the. concept of Guinness I mean Guinness is. supposed to go down like a a milk and. not a fizzy carbonated beverage it's got.

they call it the Surge and settle it. pours in and you just see it gently. falling to the bottom and you get this. Milky foam at the top a Cascade yeah and. like that's why I could always drink a. lot of Guinness because it didn't it. didn't fill you up and make you super. gassy and Burpy wow so I've been doing. the opposite because drinking a single. bottle of Guinness is like eating a. whole loaf of bread to me yeah that's. the bottle is completely different wow. okay so I got to try this other version.

because what you're talking about is. basically the opposite of the Guinness. I'm familiar with oh wow that is that. that's funny like I really want to try. it like you just blown my mind yeah oh. man go out and get a four pack and crack. the can open and then just dump it in. the the the glass as hard as you can. just turn it upside down okay and it. won't won't overflow or anything it'll. get to the top and just stop and then. start settling well there's this other. thing they have now too that I guess. kind of takes the whole thing into a new.

level it's called Nitro Surge and it's. like I saw that you put it on top of a. can and it does it does the pouring like. it would from a cask as far as I. understand right there at home or you. know uh in the parking lot of a. convenience. store yeah I saw the Nitro surge I don't. think they sell them here yet uh but. it's like a I think it's like a. mechanical device like does it have a. battery in it even I'm not fully sure I. stopped looking into it could when I.

realized how much further it was taking. me away from the widget you know what I. mean oh yeah I forgot we were talking. about the widget all right let's get. back to the widget okay so the widget is. a little plastic ball and I think this. is where we got hung up earlier I don't. know if you saw my most recent email I. think it's a matter of semantics because. I kept saying that the and Guinness on. their website says it's a nitrogen. filled sphere and you're like it's not. filled with nitrogen I think it's just. semantics because they don't literally. fill this ball with nitrogen and then.

drop it in okay some people say they do. it is because it has a hole in it it's. uh you drop it in there and then fill. the can with nitrogen and then that ball. fills up with nitrogen and beer gotcha I. got you and it stays in this tiny it's. basically a little mini Turbo Jet so. when you crack that beer uh it's a. little a mini ball with higher pressure. than the rest than even what's inside. the rest of the can right and so when. you crack that beer and all that.

pressure changes just like a regular. beer it comes shooting out of that. little tiny hole in the plastic ball and. provides this little extra boost of. nitrogen like a little beer jet. agitating everything to create even more. bubbles right but the specific kind of. nitrogen bottles that make Guinness. Guinness which are smaller and more. stable so you get that foamy creamy head. in the Cascade and all that I get it I. get it see yeah all right you did a. great job I I think it was the. semantical thing when people say it's.

filled with nitrogen it is but as a. virtue of the canning process right they. don't like fill it up and go like quick. throw it in there right you have to hold. it just right put your thumb over the. hole and then just throw it in and put. the top of the can on really quick yeah. it's really ingenious though I mean it's. got this this tiny little hole and. imagine a little Ball filled with like. nitrogen infused beer being jetted out. of this tiny little hole as you're. pouring as you opened and pouring this. beer uh it's so simple it's ingenious. and and so ingenious that in 2004 they.

did a survey of almost 9,000 people MH. uh and they voted that the Guinness. widget was a greater invention than the. internet right and they're wrong but I. get the point for sure I mean it's. something to put on your website I guess. it depends which version of the internet. you're talking about you know let me ask. you this have you ever had any like. cream Stouts yeah like bodington or. Murphy's or any of those yes okay not.

the Guinness like I just associate a. stout with like like I just had dinner 3. hours ago I can't drink a stout cuz I'll. I'll throw up I'll be too. full no I think that's uh to my mind. it's a misnomer because Stout sounds. heavy because it's a big dark beer uh. but it's because it's not heavily. carbonated like a logger like it doesn't. fill you up like that it doesn't make. you gassy and Burpy it's like drinking a. big thick milk which may make you feel. full but it's not from like gassy full.

okay we're we're getting tripped up by. semantics again it to me yes the the big. milky thing if I drank a big glass of. milk I after I ate I would probably. throw up so it's the same thing in that. sense but no it's not making me like you. know like Kors banqu be or would where. Burpee or whatever um I it doesn't fill. you up in that sense it like literally. fills you up I got you yes so yeah I. think we're talking about the same thing. well now I'm worried that I have.

experienced Guinness like you're. supposed to and there's not like a whole. world out there for me to try well you. may not like it I'll try it for sure I. haven't I mean I don't drink a lot of. beer anymore period And I went through a. big Guinness phase in the 90s uh. starting in college and through New. Jersey and in fact that brings me to. another little factoid here uh the. Guinness uses a floating widget yeah uh. since. 1997 and I was like oh that explains it. cuz in the '90s. cut open the can cuz we were like what.

is that in there and it was fixed to the. bottom of the can so it was pre 97 and. during Co with supply issues they fixed. it to the bottom of the can then as well. but otherwise it's been a floating. widget wouldn't you have been freaked. out when you cut the can open and you. found the thing just fixed to the bottom. of the can looking back up at you and. blink yeah like little Irish eyeball. right uh one other thing though there's. a I noticed on this list Old Speckled. Hen uh uses widgets too which I didn't.

know that used to be one of my fave. beers for a while yeah and the bodington. Murphy's Beamish tetley's MH uh what. else Wexford Bell Haven and I'm sure. we've missed some but they all use the. widget technology to deliver that that. Pub Pub uh drawn flavor to your lips. right there at home yeah this episode is. short stuff brought to you by K's. banquet beer right yeah I doubt that uh. you got anything else. I got nothing else I'm sure we got some.

stuff wrong there's some beer fish and. aidas that are like not quite right guys. whatever I think you should say the. thing okay short stuff is. out stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart radio for more. podcasts my heart radio visit the ihart. radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you. listen to your favorite shows. [Music].