Is carbonating really necessary for some stouts?

[ayrton]

SWMBO loves oatmeal stout, and we made one last week, and when we racked it to secondary, she had a sip and loved it, and said she wouldn't want it to be carbonated. This made me think: some stouts really aren't carbonated (seemingly). I know nitrogen is used to dispense a few of them, but Guinness, for instance, isn't really very "fizzy" drink. Has anyone ever just bottled a beer straight out of secondary and not bothered with the priming?

 

[gruntingfrog]

Stouts are carbonated but at a much lower level than many beers. You want some carbonation, though. Just use less priming sugar and you'll get the desired effect.

 

[ayrton]

I'm thinking I'll have to sneak it by her, because if she sees me priming it at all, she's going to think it's too much. I'm thinking a little less than half should do it.

 

[the_bird]

I've got a stout I need to get bottled, I'm planning on using either a half cup of corn sugar or 3/4 cup of DME. You need to have SOME carbonation, just so that you can get some head on the brew. Completely flat beer, be it a stout or whatever, does nothing for me.

 

[mysterio]

The only stouts i've tried are the ones on draught over here which are served with minimal carbonation (or co2/nitrogen in the case of Guinness). That's the only way I could imagine serving a stout - you can also get Guinness 'original' which is one of the bottled varieties that is quite fizzy and not so good.

The problems I can forsee with not priming would be - no head when you pour it, oxygen remaining in the bottle and oxidising the beer (remember that the oxygen that normally gets into the bottle while bottling will be used by the yeast when priming). A small amount of sugar may work better but you'd still have to bring it up to about 2 vols of CO2 to get any head. Remember the beer is always going to have a small amount of CO2 dissolved in it from fermentation (enough to say that it's not flat) and will remain there unless you remove it somehow.

The best option, IMO, is to corny keg your stout and use a stout tap with minimal carbonation. Or, to bottle it with reduced priming sugar.

 

[ayrton]

Hey, thanks guys. I can't do the kegging option, because I am in a *really* small apartment and have no room for it. But I'll try reduced corn sugar.