CO2 for a Scottish Heavy Ale

Hi,

I am brewing a Scottish Heavy ale and followed the CO2 levels on tastybrew.com which says to have 0.75-1.3 CO2. I did this (about 0.8 ounces), but it sounds like a very small amount? Beersmith also recommend 2.3 ounces. can anyone tell me whether tastybrew or beersmith are correct, of if both are correct and one is measured at 0 celsius or something?

If I'd undercarbonated then, is there something I can do now?

Regards,

Dara

I just bottled a Strong Scottish ale last week. I use tastybrew as well for my calculations when it comes to bottle priming. I went on the high end of the scale and used 1.3 ounces of corn sugar for 5 gallons at about 68 degrees. Scottish ales are suppose to be lightly carbonated.

Ok thanks - at least I have a companion in potential folly! I am curious as to how Beersmith recommends a lot more carbonation for the same style. One of these sources must be incorrect for the Scottish Heavy Ale style, if there is nothing else we are missing

HA!! shouldn't be a folly though. I typically carb all my beers to style based of off tastybrews calculator. I actually prefer a bit lower carbonation in most of mine, but thought that .75 was a bit low. Based on my scottish ale temp. on tastybrew it called for something like .80 ounces of corn sugar for 1.3 volumes of CO2. I went with 1.3 ounces instead of .8 and called it good. I'm also going for a true Scottish ale style with this one. Scottish ales are typically much lower carbonated than your standard ales. Some people prime with their normal amount of sugar and have no issues. Just like some people keg with the same psi no matter what they have to serve, while others try and carb to style for each brew. Let it ride and see how it turns out. You might be pleasently surprised.

ye, i went with about 0.8 ounces. I felt silly putting in so little sugar, but did it anyway. I don't like highly carbonated ales too, but I don't like flat ales even more! Fingers crossed. I'll let you know how it turns out

Your beer probably has 1 volume of co2 residually and I consider that flat. Call me a non-traditionalist, but I need some carb to my beers...even scottish/english ales. I usually put those around 2 volumes.

@BrewThruYou: Yes it may come out quite flat, but I think I have matched the specifications of the style (and took into account the residual CO2 with TastyBrew calculator)

I am not sure what "specifications of the style" means, as BJCP doesn't list volumes CO2 for any beer.

What the actual style guidelines say is "moderate carbonation", whereas the range TastyBrew has is what I'd consider "low" carbonation. Some of their other styles have inconsistent carbonation numbers, too, although I think some may have been changed since the last time I used it.


EDIT: No...like Saison which is described as "effervescent" in the guidelines but has 2.4 as the maximum for the range in TastyBrew.

any updates on how this came out?