Bottle conditioning a mild

[uncleozzy]

I'm getting ready to bottle my mild (NB's extract kit) late this week or this weekend, and am weighing my options with regards to carbonation. I took a look at the carbonation in English beers thread, and I'm considering priming for 1.8 volumes or so, but is there any reason to go higher, or lower?

Obviously, American tastes in general skew toward more carbonation, but this beer is delicate. Just under 3% ABV, with a fairly light body. There's plenty of flavor--roasty chocolate and caramel--but I'm worried that even a little too much fizz will ruin it. Hydro samples at 69F taste pretty good, actually, with a little sparkle from the dissolved CO2, and I'm not sure I'd want a whole lot more.

Any thoughts or cautions before I prime this one? Thanks, folks.

 

[Jaysus]

I am in a similar situation, will be bottling a bitter this weekend... I am interested in seeing some thoughts on it.

 

[flyangler18]

Go low on the priming sugar- you definitely don't want any carbonic bite.

 

[Jaysus]

That carb calculator always confuses me....

I will be using table sugar for a ~5 gallon batch. Will a 1/2 cup do the trick?

 

[flyangler18]

What confuses you? For a 5 gallons of English mild carbed to 1.8 volumes using cane sugar and conditioned at 70 degrees, you're looking at 2.46 ounces of sugar.

 

[Jaysus]

What confuses you?

I've just had poor results following it's calculations in the past.

 

[uncleozzy]

I'm going to prime with table sugar, since it's such a tiny amount, which weighs 6-8oz. per cup, so I think I'm looking at around 1/3 of a cup to prime. Thanks for the sanity check on the priming plans.

 

[mew]

I had this dilemma a while ago, too. I carb'd to 1.6 volumes and it came out lifeless and flat to my tastes. If I were you, I'd go with 2 volumes. You can always knock out a little CO2 with a vigorous pour.

 

[niquejim]

I had this dilemma a while ago, too. I carb'd to 1.6 volumes and it came out lifeless and flat to my tastes. If I were you, I'd go with 2 volumes. You can always knock out a little CO2 with a vigorous pour.

Don't do this
A mild should be low carbed( almost flat to us)
I used .75oz for 5gallons on my best bitter when I bottled

 

[uncleozzy]

Whoa, 3/4oz. in 5 gallons? Does that even provide any carbonation? Don't get me wrong, I do like this beer pretty still--like I said, it's good in the hydro samples--but I don't know if I'll go that low. I do think I'll keep it lower than 2 volumes, though, because I'm pretty sure that would completely overwhelm it.

 

[fratermus]

I will be using table sugar for a ~5 gallon batch. Will a 1/2 cup do the trick?

Weight is a more precise measure for judging priming sugar. A used postal scale is very helpful in this kind of case.

table sugar is slightly more fermentable than corn sugar, so I'd use about 5% less than the recommended amount of dextrose.

+1 on not overcarbing mild.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Weight is a more precise measure for judging priming sugar. A used postal scale is very helpful in this kind of case.

table sugar is slightly more fermentable than corn sugar, so I'd use about 5% less than the recommended amount of dextrose.

+1 on not overcarbing mild.

Agreed, I used table sugar on my wheat and DB cream ale thinking "ahh, itll be fine" HOLY JEEBUS, Fiz attack, can't even pour a whole one into a pint glass straight there's so much foam. They're not gushing out of the bottle and taste okay (maybe one bottle each left) but man are they an adventure in the ole pie-hole!~

i just kegged a mild last night (first beer to hit a keg) and put it on 8 psi at 44 degrees giving me 1.91 units of carbonation. Didn't look at the calculator till today. ( don't have it linked on my home PC) Gonna turn down to 6psi when I get home and vent the keg to bring it down to 1.75 units Co2