Carbonation Qualms

blah blah blah Lambic.
blah blah blah Gueze.
Saison.

fascinating book you read. whatever.
Cheers.

 

Now that everybody else has derailed this thread further, can we get back to what the hell I should do with this case of beer that is flat as hell?

 

Carb Woes: De Proef aged beers are flat as hell and/or oxidized because they use plastic corks that suck dick. Never had a problem with beers with real corks usually, even at 5 years of age.

Saisons/Biere De Garde are supposed to be highly carbonated and I welcome it every time I pop a cork on one.

 

I drain poured a Sierra Nevada/Russian River Brux last night due to this. The beer smelled and tasted fine, but was completely flat.

 

I'm told you have to pour it different. A lot of Germans actually believe that you can't pour a decent beer in under 7 minutes or so I have read. Pour down the middle of the glass straight down and let the head settle and then again. This should degas the **** out of the beer. It will also ensure better head retention.

 

Either cook with it, or borrow some fizz from another beer, assuming your beer is a style that can be mixed with another beer with a delightful result. This might be a good use for a macro beer, or a style that is frequently known to be highly-carbonated. (I'm thinking maybe a Belgian Wit.) By borrowing the fizz, you get to drink at least two beers at every sitting.

 

Yeah, I did that on one bottle, but the combination of the two was actually slightly worse than either of them by themselves. I might try to use some light champagne on my next try.

 

“Why is it necessary for some styles to have unpleasant levels of carbonation?”

Belgian beer styles are often more highly carbonated than other beer styles. For example Trappist Ales (e.g., Dubbel, Tripel, etc.) are often carbonated up to 3 volumes (a typical beer might be something like 2.4 volumes).

I have a case of Tripel Karmeliet in my basement. When I pour one of those beers I slowly pour it into a BIG Tulip glass and let it sit for 5-10 minutes to let it ‘out-gas’ before drinking it. Highly carbonated beers are an unpleasant drinking experience for me; they are too prickly.

I am a homebrewer and I bottled a Belgian Strong Dark Ale yesterday. I used an amount of priming sugar that will get me something like 2.2 – 2.4 volumes of carbonation. This beer will not be carbonated ‘to style’ but it will be carbonated the way I like it.

Cheers!