Carb level for Blonde Ale?

I took a keg of Blonde Ale to a friend's house this weekend and it was an underwhelming success. It was successful in that at least one person liked it.

To be honest, it wasn't served at it's best, and the people who didn't like it probably won't ever like homebrew anyway. That's another rant, but it doesn't matter.

The question I have is this: What is the correct pressure (or carb level) for this beer? I transported the keg in the trailer pulled behind our SUV and I think it got shook up. Because the keg was at serving pressure I think some of the CO2 came out of solution on the drive down. I iced it down, but it was sort of flat. I'm not sure it was at proper carb at home in my kegerator though. I always thought it was "ok".

Last night as I was finishing the stairs to my garage, I pulled a Labatt's out of the pop machine and when I took a drink I noticed that it was VERY fizzy. That got me wondering what carb level this blonde ought to be. I also noticed how flavorless that labatt's was.

Above 1/2 way down this page is a little cheat sheet: Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Carbonation Priming Chart

I think most blonde ales would be served around 2.8 volumes.

YooperBrew said:

Above 1/2 way down this page is a little cheat sheet: Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Carbonation Priming Chart

I think most blonde ales would be served around 2.8 volumes.

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Ok. I'll set my gas tonight. Seems pretty low compared to the Labatts, which is so carbonated that it almost hurts. I don't mind, but very different than what I have been drinking from my tap.

I've read that once you have your beer carbed up to the proper level you can drop the pressure to serving pressure. I had it just right at one time, but over the past couple of weeks, it's dropped in carb level. I wondered if the CO2 comes out of solution just sitting there.

Homercidal said:

Ok. I'll set my gas tonight. Seems pretty low compared to the Labatts, which is so carbonated that it almost hurts. I don't mind, but very different than what I have been drinking from my tap.

I've read that once you have your beer carbed up to the proper level you can drop the pressure to serving pressure. I had it just right at one time, but over the past couple of weeks, it's dropped in carb level. I wondered if the CO2 comes out of solution just sitting there.

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It doesn't come out just sitting there. But if the pressure drops because you turn off the tank or drop to a different serving pressure, eventually the beer will change its carb level. In order to keep it at the correct volume of CO2, you need to keep it at the correct psi.

Homercidal said:

I wondered if the CO2 comes out of solution just sitting there.

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It does. The carb level in the beer will eventually reach equilibrium with your serving pressure.

I wish everyone would forget the idea of "serving pressure". It's indicative of a poorly balanced dispensing system when you have to drop the pressure to pour properly. If you want 3 volumes of CO2, you really need to leave your regulator set to the pressure on the chart. If it pours too violently, you need to add more length to the serving line or add some pressure reducer that has been discussed recently.

Bobby_M said:

I wish everyone would forget the idea of "serving pressure". It's indicative of a poorly balanced dispensing system when you have to drop the pressure to pour properly. If you want 3 volumes of CO2, you really need to leave your regulator set to the pressure on the chart. If it pours too violently, you need to add more length to the serving line or add some pressure reducer that has been discussed recently.

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I must have gotten some bad info then. I was under the impression that you carbed up the beer and then dropped the pressure to allow for a proper pour. I guess I'm going to get more line now and get it right. Probably ought to get the second reg for my system too, so I can carb soda for the kids.

Granted there's a whole camp of people who follow the serving pressure thing but I'm making an argument against it. Running about 8-10 feet of serving line isn't a big deal and it makes it so you don't ever have to monkey around with your pressures.

Wait, don't you have a carb table thingy for showing line length and pressure, Bobby?

I tried using the balancing formulas that account for pressure drop and all that and it kept telling me I needed like 5' of tubing. It just wasn't working out and I only got nice controlled pours when I went to 10' of 3/16" ID line per faucet.