beersmith 3 and carbonation

[Erik the Anglophile]

So, how trustworthy are the suggested volumes of carbonation presented in beersmith when composing recipes? I am making a porter where 2.5 volumes are suggested, isn't that a little much?

 

[VikeMan]

I would recommend about 2.3 for american porters and somewhere around 2.0 or a bit less for english. But tradition aside, it's also about preference.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

It depends on the fermentation temp also as I understand it? I've had some issues with the under-carbonation and am trying to figure out how to properly use the carbonation calculator at brewersfriend

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

The amount of sugar to add is what im referring to, for clarification

 

[VikeMan]

It depends on the fermentation temp also as I understand it? I've had some issues with the under-carbonation and am trying to figure out how to properly use the carbonation calculator at brewersfriend

For the carbonation calculators, you want to use the temperature at the end of active fermentation, or the highest temperature it reached after that, whichever is higher.

That allows the calculator to estimate how much CO2 from fermentation is still in the beer.

 

[Oginme]

In BeerSmith, you need to enter the highest temperature as VikeMan recommended into the carbonation profile in order for the program to adjust the amount of sugar based upon residual CO2 in the beer.