gassy lager

[mikeyurgent]

ok so im new to the brewing business but love a gassy lager. I have begun to brew my first batch. Was wondering if the finished brew will be full of gas, or cani add extra co2 to my pressure barrel before i draw? will this make my beeer more fizzy? Or will the pressure barell...er...explode? i have ordered some co2 sparklets

thanks

 

[Janx]

How are you planning to dispense your beer?

To a degree, you can add more carbonation by keeping the beer under pressure longer (in kegs) so it absorbs more CO2, or adding a wee bit more priming sugar (careful here) to bottles. Using kegs is the easiest way to control your gassiness. We have three taps in our setup. Usually one is for a good fizzy light beer, one is for a less fizzy hoppy beer and the third is a nitrogen tap, which pours almost flat with a creamy guiness head. You can adjust based on what type of gas you use to carbonate, under what pressure and for how long. Also, colder beer can absorb more CO2.

Janx

 

[mikeyurgent]

thanks for the advice, im planning to dispense my beer through a pressure barrel which can take up to 10psi max.

 

[Janx]

Hmm...that sort of barrel is going to be useful only for "cask conditioned" type beer. A couple of options with it:

1. Ferment beer to completion. Add to barrel with some priming sugar and seal. Wait another week or two. The beer will now be carbonated, and will be more likely to stay that way if you manage to chill the barrel. However, as you pour the beer, relieving the pressure, it will go flatter. That's pretty much exactly how cask-condition ales poured with a beer engine work.

2. If it can have a CO2 tank connected to it, you could put 10PSI on it, chill it, and wait a good long time for it to carbonate. Once it is carbonated, reduce the CO2 pressure to, say, 2 or 3 PSI to dispense. The pressure that the CO2 keeps on it will keep the beer carbonated. But I doubt your barrel can connect to gas, if it's what I'm thinking of.

We use cornelius kegs. When carbonating, we crank the gas to 40 PSI or so. If the beer is chilled and you shake the keg, it can be carbonated in minutes. In order to get a really bubbly beer, you probably have to switch to a gas-pushed setup or bottle your beer.

Good luck!

Janx

 

[ChrisKoivu]

I have a lot of gas too... but beano seems to help