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Author Topic: Carbonating aged beer  (Read 1478 times)

Offline ryno1

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Carbonating aged beer
« on: June 23, 2015, 12:24:36 pm »
I have a Belgian triple and an old ale that have been aging for about a year now. We are planning on kegging the triple and bottling the old ale.  What is the best way to bottle and keg so that both carbonate assuming after that amount of time the yeast will have all settled out.

Thanks in advance!!

Offline rjharper

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Re: Carbonating aged beer
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2015, 12:32:12 pm »
I would suggest kegging both. That way you can force carbonate to appropriate volumes, then fill the bottles from the keg.

Offline euge

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Re: Carbonating aged beer
« Reply #2 on: June 23, 2015, 01:00:18 pm »
You could kreusen the beer, but I'm all for force-carbonation and filling the bottles from the keg.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

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Offline ryno1

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Re: Carbonating aged beer
« Reply #3 on: June 23, 2015, 01:03:08 pm »
I would suggest kegging both. That way you can force carbonate to appropriate volumes, then fill the bottles from the keg.

not sure why I didn't think of that but will probably go this route.  simple and straight forward!

Offline kramerog

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Re: Carbonating aged beer
« Reply #4 on: June 23, 2015, 01:05:01 pm »
Force carb the kegged beer and bottle condition the Old Ale.  Add some champagne yeast with your sugar solution to carbonate the Old Ale. 

Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Carbonating aged beer
« Reply #5 on: June 23, 2015, 01:33:49 pm »
If you are going to bottle without first kegging the beer then I'd add fresh yeast and prime with sugar using a calculation that sets the temperature at the warmest temperature the beer ever reached and then add 10-15% priming sugar. This accounts for the loss of dissolved CO2 due to temperature and the length of time the beer sat in a unpressurized vessel. There is undoubtedly a better formula to determine CO2 loss due to time but this is what works for me.

Force carbing and bottling off the keg would be easier.
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Offline euge

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Re: Carbonating aged beer
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2015, 01:47:47 pm »
If you are going to the trouble of adding yeast and sugar why not kreusen? It will have a better chance of success than just adding yeast and sugar to already conditioned beer.

FYI, Kreusening or krausening is adding actively fermenting wort to already finished beer for carbonation purposes.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Carbonating aged beer
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2015, 02:55:45 pm »
I would suggest kegging both. That way you can force carbonate to appropriate volumes, then fill the bottles from the keg.

Yep
Jon H.