Force carbonating, more prominant than I thought...

well, that's what is claimed on the can's printed description. but i highly doubt it's only hop residues. it's a very "yeasty"-flavored beer, as delicious as it is.

 

Never had it, but it could be unfiltered and force carbonated.

 

Buy two bottles of Vintage Ale and two bottles of Golden Pride. Compare one bottle of each fresh. Compare the other two after a year.

 

Lots of interesting points being discussed in this thread and it's come at an appropriate time as I was just thinking about the carbonation issue yesterday..

 

http://www.amazon.com/Uncorked-Scie...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339349824&sr=1-1

this book gives about as thorough an explanation of carbonation you would read anywhere short of an obscure science journal. the author is describing Champagne in particular, but realtes to beer often and the principles are the same.
Cheers.

 

Larger breweries that are conditioning in package are probably still forcing the majority of the carbonation. BOttle conditioning does add shelf stability (if done properly) because the yeast is more active then a simply unfiltered beer. Still, unfiltered beer is more stable than filtered because of the presence of yeast in the package. Any living yeast will help mitigate the effects of dissolved oxygen in storage. Is this worth it for most breweries? No, but Sierra Nevada has made a big deal about it and stick with a small level of bottle conditioning. The risk of inconsistent, cloudy beer just isn't worth it for most breweries.

 

I'm not sure what that would accomplish. They're two different beers. The experiment would have to be done with the same beer carbonated two different ways.

 

No, they're the basic same beer.

 

Is bottle conditioning the only difference?

 

Force carbing is easier and faster. Bottle conditioning takes way longer hence it costs more. Bottle conditionioning makes sense for beers that are intended to exhibit a big yeast/ fermentation charactor because it adds a second fermentation to the beer. It also extends the shelf life of a beer, allegedly.
Neither is right or wrong in my opinion.

 

There are some small differences in the ingredients, but no more than you might have between two batches of the same beer brewed six months apart. The technical specifications are identical. The people at the Fullers consider them the same beer.

 

Too bad I can't get either. I would be willing to try it.