Carb question for stouts.

I don't do a lot of kegging but I recently bought a keg setup and a blichmann beer gun so that I could bottle with co2.

My first question pertains to stouts...I have a vanilla milk stout that I am about to be ready to bottle. What is my best bet in terms of carbing this guy.

Should I just carb with co2 and bottle as I do with my other beers.

Should I get beer gas? If so should I still force carb with co2 and then when filling the bottles switch to beer gas?

Suggestions please.

Also since I don't keg much I went with the procedure of kegging my beer, chilling it, pressurizing at 30 psi and shaking it on and off throughout the day. Then I leave it connected to co2 for another 12-24 hrs, equalize it to about 5 psi and bottle using the gun. Does this seem like a solid method. Again any suggestions greatly appreciated.

beer gas is designed for a stout faucet. no need to use it if your just bottling ur beer. you would need a widget to release the nitro into the beer when opening.I would just use your standard carbing method and youll be fine.standard co2.

Just straight CO2, as mentioned. Beer gas is intended to overcome the high-resistance of a stout faucet, without over-carbonating. Stout faucets and beer gas make for a nice pour, but much as I like the dark side, I'm not willing to spring for the extra gear.

Thanks for the advice!! I'm in the process of building my keezer and my stout is my go to brew so I will eventually be adding a beer gas setup but I wasn't sure if there would be any benefit for using it for bottling. The widget makes sense I didn't even think of that as being needed, but a very good point.

Any thoughts on my carbing process in general prior to bottling?

If you plan on bottling from the keg I wouldn't bother shaking & equlizing the pressure ,I would set the pressure on the keg to normal co2 volumes that you desire & wait the 10-14 days for the beer to carbonate & then bottle at a lower pressure .

I serve my stouts with a stout faucet on co2 without any issues , just take the restrictor plate out of the tap.

^^^ I agree with you jdd...My onyl issue at the moment is I have a big event coming up this weekend (my buddy leaves for the army) and I'm supposed to have these 3 batches bottled and ready for the weekend celebration. So I am trying to expedite the process for these three batches this time around. Since I am doing that I hope the process I'm using doesn't harm the beer to much.

As far as your suggestion, what would you suggest as a get normal co2 volume. I understand that certain styles ideally are carbonated at different volumes, is there anywhere you can suggest that gives these suggested volumes and how to attain them. Also are you leaving the keg on co2 for those full 10-14 days?

Thanks for the stout tap suggestion, is it difficult to remove the restrictor plate?

david_42 said:

Just straight CO2, as mentioned. Beer gas is intended to overcome the high-resistance of a stout faucet, without over-carbonating. Stout faucets and beer gas make for a nice pour, but much as I like the dark side, I'm not willing to spring for the extra gear.

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Shop around I bought two stout taps for under $20 and nitrogen cylinder on CL traded cylinder for beer gas that has the same valve as a co2 so standard reg total under $45 Beer gas lasts along time my 20lb tank has pushed 8 kegs and counting cheap to me to enjoy the full stout experience.

beaksnbeer, how often do u have to mix up the beer gas cylinder to mix the gases back together?