carbonation question

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RobDrechsler
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Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:47 pm

carbonation question

Post by RobDrechsler »

I received some of the limbo beer after the contest... several of them , after opening seemed normal, but once you start to pour it into a glass, foam city... massive amounts of foam... what causes that? I would have expected the foaming to begin just after you open a bottle, like it was shaken just before... just how do you get that much co2 into your beer?
Beer contains just a small amount of vitamins - that's why it's necessary to drink lot of it
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Bill Lawrence
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Re: carbonation question

Post by Bill Lawrence »

Well there are many reasons that might be happening. When you pour beer of course, you are agitating it to some extent so if it is highly carbonated in the first place, it is going to foam up. Also, if the glass is relatively warm, the beer will warm up also as it's being poured so more CO2 will come out of solution (more CO2 can be disolved into solution the cold the liquid, that's why you want your beer as cold as possible when force carbonating). I generally overcarbonate just a little if I am using my counterpressure filler because I know I am going to lose some CO2 in the normal bottling operation. If you want really high carbonation (like some Belgians or Weise bier) try bottle conditioning. I have a bunch of Oud Bruin in Belgian 750's that I got a little carried away with the priming sugar, those suckers go off like "old faithful" unless the beer is really cold to start with. By the way, you want to be a little careful with long neck bottles, they are not designed to hold really high pressure and you can make little bottle bombs if you are not careful. If the bottles blowing up don't get you, your wife surely will when you start spraying beer all over the house. I'm currently working on a Saison and I plan to bottle the stuff in Champagne bottles with the plastic corks and cages. Because I added brett B, I expect that beer will be pretty damn fizzy once the bugs go through the priming sugar and then start eating everything else in sight, well that's the plan anyway.
Remember, brewers make wort, only yeast make beer
Mike Grover
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Re: carbonation question

Post by Mike Grover »

Was the beer very cold when you initially opened it? If so it will hold a lot more CO2 in solution. The combination of agitation and, as Bill said, sudden warming as it is poured into a glass will cause a lot of CO2 to instantly come out of solution.
24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case...coincidence? I think not. - Steven Wright
LRankin
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Location: Richardson

Re: carbonation question

Post by LRankin »

I was interested to read your comment about bottling with long necked bottles, Bill. I'm currently working on a saison too, a 3 gallon batch. I've only got four champagne bottles, so need to find somewhere else to put the rest of the batch. Do stubbies work for saisons? I also have some 12 oz bottles that commercial saisons came in, the ones that look like miniature burgundy bottles. I'm using Jamil's recipe that calls for carbonation to 3 to 3.5 volumes.
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Bill Lawrence
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Re: carbonation question

Post by Bill Lawrence »

Well, if you use the normal Saison yeast, let it ferment out then use a reasonable amount of priming sugar you should be ok. If however, you start messing around with bugs and/or wild yeast, the risk of really high carbonation goes way up. That is because some of those little suckers can eat sugars that the normal yeast can not so the beer ends up being very dry and extremely fizzy. In my particular case, I added Brett B to my Saison. I expect the stuff to be slow acting but once it does it's thing, I should get a pretty fizzy beer (I hope). Having said all that, I filled three normal long necks with the afore mentioned Oud Bruin for the Blue Bonnet. Accoring to my score sheets, the bottle was a gusher but apparently it didn't blow up however I bet I was close to the line so I wouldn't recommend that. Of course, I will probably do the same thing with the Saison I am making but your know, I am willing to take risks for my craft. By the way, you can buy Champagne bottles from the local homebrew supply stores along with the plastic corks and cages.
Remember, brewers make wort, only yeast make beer
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