Carbonating Stout

[Kyral210]

I have a kick ass Stout fermenting right now. Actually scratch that, it has finished fermenting and now it is maturing on the lees. Anyway, In the next week or so i will be bottling it for carbonation. Beer smith gives me the 'correct' levels of carbonation for the style, but I was wondering, what makes the better stout head, low or high carbonation. Or does it not make a difference how carbonated it is?

Its for a friends birthday, a coffee stout with a variety of dark dark dark malts, a tin of treacle and 1 litre hot lava java coffee!
:drink:

 

[phettebs]

I think it depends on what you like. I prefer a less carbbed stout but that's my preference. A really highly carbbed stout would seem out of place to me but again, that's me. I usually aim for 1.5 vols of CO2 in mine as opposed to the 2 - 2.5 vols I do for most other beers.

 

[graysalchemy]

I had a stout which was over carbonated I added about 8g of sugar per little for primming. However 2 months down the line it is perfect. If you do get over carbonated bear a pocket bear engine is the answer, a small syringe those you find with kids medicine, suck up some beer out of your glass then with the syringe under the level of the beer slam it back in as fast as possible and voila head on your beer. You will never get a head on a stout like a guinness unless you use nitrogen to dispense it with from a keg. But you will still get a great tasting beer. :thumb: :thumb:

Head retention is also promoted by brewing with toasted oatmeal in the recipe, just bog standard porridge oats.

Sounds like a great beer. I have often thought of a coffee stout as the burnt flavour of coffee would compliment the roasted grains. The only problem is you would drink a skin full and still be awake. :rofl: :rofl:

Cheers

AG

 

[Sean_Mc]

1/2 a teaspoon per 500ml bottle and left for a couple of months seems to suit me

 

[Kyral210]

Just to inform and hopefully get some advice, Beer Smith recommends between 1.8 and 2.5 volumes of carbonation for dry stout, which is what I am moddelling my stout after.

Would it be good to aim for the middle ground, say 2.2 volumes?