Force Carb V Natural Carb, My Observations

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Truman42

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Okay firstly this is not a topic about how I carb, holes in my fridge or anything like that. :p

I have recently brewed and bottled the parched as bro pale ale found in the recipe db which is hopped with galaxy only.

I kegged most of it and bottled the rest. I carbed up the keg using CO2 and they've both been bottled for 8 days now. I know thats early but I tried one of the bottles today and it was already carbed. (Hard to keep under 20C in this weather.)

Anyway it was interesting to note the difference between the kegged beer and the bottled beer.

The kegged beer seemed to be weaker, with the galaxy fruityness not as strong. Almost like a watered down version and slightly more bitter (but not as bitter as when I first tried this)

The bottled beer seemed stronger with a very pronounced galaxy fruityness to it. More mouthfeel and certainly not as bitter as the kegged sample. It seemed to be better balanced overall.

So just curious to hear from others who often keg and bottle and so force carb and natural carb the same beers, if you find the same with your beers where the kegged sample tastes different to the bottled sample.
 
I don't do the above but two obvious differences between the two methods that can alter the beer profile are:

- your kegged beer is kept cold (hopefully) and your bottled warm
- your bottled beer has additional sugar or whatever which slightly increases alc and changes body and mouthfeel
 
Until recently, I always force carbed my kegs, but the last six or so I have naturally carbed using 2/3 cup of dextrose in each keg. I wont be going back.

For some reason and I could not work out why, the first 1-2 litres of beer poured out of my force carbed keg, were under carbonated. Almost without exception.

With natural carbonation they pour perfectly from the first beer.
 
I have had exactly the same experience on a number of occasions. The naturally conditioned bottled versions are far better. When I brewed smaller batches than I do now, I would fill one keg and bottle the left-overs. I am convinced the force carbonation CO2 strips a lot out of the beer.

-=Steve=-
 
Does anyone know of any breweries that naturally carb their kegs?
 
I generally prefer the natural carbonation in my kegs, but tend to force carb as its quicker, one less step i suppose.
 
So people seem to agree that naturally carbing equals a better tasting beer. Does anybody have any sort of science to back up the claim? Seems like something you would need a double blind test to confirm. I'm not a scientist in any respect but it seems to me like people might be placebo-effecting themselves here. It seems that people have a basic tendency to prefer "natural" products over "unnatural" products (natural VS force carbonation).

I was under the impression that simple sugars (used for bottling) added no discernible taste, just a tiny amount of alcohol. That said, apparently freshly force carbonated beer can taste somewhat tart given the excess carbonic acid and I've heard that the tartness mellows out over about a week. I have no idea if that is true or not, but perhaps is part of this "forced carbed tastes worse" impression?
 
Seems like something you would need a double blind test to confirm. I'm not a scientist in any respect...

Dude, you know what "double blind" is, you're already more of a scientist than most people I know.

P.S. I'm a scientist and therefore know a lot of "scientists" :p
 
The few times iv'e used Dextrose to carb anything I can taste it. I hate the shit! I can taste it in beers brewed by other people as well. Yuck give me a bottle of co2 any day or speise it up.
 
The few times iv'e used Dextrose to carb anything I can taste it. I hate the shit! I can taste it in beers brewed by other people as well. Yuck give me a bottle of co2 any day or speise it up.

*kschhhh*

Is that the sound of a can of worms opening? :p
 
The few times iv'e used Dextrose to carb anything I can taste it. I hate the shit! I can taste it in beers brewed by other people as well. Yuck give me a bottle of co2 any day or speise it up.

I agree that beers made using dextrose can taste like shit, but using it to carbonate your beer, imo has no negative effect on the taste.
 
I have three kegs of the same beer from the same fermenter to keg this weekend. Always tricky finding room in the keg fridge for 3 new kegs to carbonate.

I could always do one with dextrose.

Here's another data point. I always find the 3 kegs taste different. I reckon the beer stratifies and the first keg is the bottom beer, 2nd is the middle, third is the top. I think the top beer tastes the best, if I don't get it too yeasty, which normally makes the 2nd keg the cleanest and clearest. When you bottle you're bottling the 'top' beer.

I've heard of people filling multiple kegs with a splitter to homogenize the beer too.
 
Anyway it was interesting to note the difference between the kegged beer and the bottled beer.

The kegged beer seemed to be weaker, with the galaxy fruityness not as strong. Almost like a watered down version and slightly more bitter (but not as bitter as when I first tried this)

The bottled beer seemed stronger with a very pronounced galaxy fruityness to it. More mouthfeel and certainly not as bitter as the kegged sample. It seemed to be better balanced overall.

So just curious to hear from others who often keg and bottle and so force carb and natural carb the same beers, if you find the same with your beers where the kegged sample tastes different to the bottled sample.


Weird I know! Have bottled off the draught tap to take beer places, and the bottled beer seems to taste different :blink:

The few times iv'e used Dextrose to carb anything I can taste it. I hate the shit! I can taste it in beers brewed by other people as well. Yuck give me a bottle of co2 any day or speise it up.

I do quite like to use the Speise method, good results, don't do it often though as I'm usually in a hurry. Been making double batches for many years now, might try the Speise method for one and force carb the other for comparison, results would be interesting!


Screwy
 
Dark Belgian candy syrup is great for priming. :icon_drool2:
 
Dark Belgian candy syrup is great for priming. :icon_drool2:

I have some of this and might give it a crack. What rate do you prime with Nick? And I assume you have to mix it with some hot water first to make it runny so it pours easier?
 
I treat it as liquid malt for the calculation.

There's a few bulk priming calculators online.
 
Does anyone know of any breweries that naturally carb their kegs?


In a small brewery in Morpeth, NSW they remove a portion of wort and use it to prime all of their beers, 11L to a 200L batch if I remenber rightly.
 
I continually read/hear about how the reinvigoration of the yeast when bottle conditioning (and I would guess natural keg conditioning as well) will help clean up oxygen and some remaining not-so-tasty by-products of the fermentation. It's possible that has something to do with it as well.
 

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