[rightasrain]

I know that some beers have less carbonation than others. But does anyone know of a beer that is not even meant to be carbonated?

Below is why I am looking for a recipe in case your interested.

I'm not much of a fan of carbonation. But aside from that for some reason a batch I made did not carbonate at all. After forgetting to eat before drinking and not bothering with water I was amazed to not have a hangover the next day after drinking from this batch. Coincidence? Maybe? I almost always have at least a little hangover even after eating and drinking water. So I looked into it and some un referenced information is saying that carbonation speeds metabolism, which speeds the rate at which your body is absorbing aclohol. And part of a hangover is an over reaction to deal with the amount of alcohol being introduced to your body. Which i believe is why health experts say to just have 1 drink per hour because too much alcohol is being introduced into your body in a given time frame. Sooooo..... I want to experiment and was just wondering if there are better non carbonated beers before I just purposefully make a batch of non carbonated beer that is supposed to be.

[morticaixavier]

Not really non-carbonated but cask conditioned ales only have a very small amount of carbonation, Barley wines also are traditionally very low in carbonation levels but given the high ABV still have a fair chance and hanging over. One of the big causes of hangovers is higher alcahols (Fuesels) these bad boys can give you a hang over before you finish drinking the first one. I have not heard of a completely non-carbonated beer though. Mexican/south american corn, sugar cane or agave based 'beers' are often consumed while still fermenting so the only carbonation there is the CO2 still in solution from teh active yeast.

[thomasbarnes]

I know that some beers have less carbonation than others. But does anyone know of a beer that is not even meant to be carbonated?

Unblended lambics are flat, and some of the other Belgian sours can also have very low CO2, but I don't think that's what you're going for. 

I'd go with the other poster's suggestion and consider cask-conditioned English ale style ales. I particularly like the lower-alcohol styles since they're much more sessionable; you don't wake up the next day feeling like something died in your mouth. Don't be put off by 2-4% ABV, you can pack a LOT of flavor into those little guys.

Also, since you're homebrewing, there's nothing that says that you have to carbonate your beer if you don't want to. It will mess up your perception of aroma and might make the beer seem sweeter or more watery, but presumably you can compensate.

I'm skeptical that CO2 has any effect on hangovers. CO2 mostly comes out of solution (hence beer belches) and I don't think it's absorbed through the lining of your stomach or esophagus. By the time the beer gets to your small intestine, I'd think that the CO2 is mostly gone. The big culprits in hangovers are ethanol, as well as the higher alcohols, ketones, esters and other minor flavor/aroma compounds. Those, plus dehydration as your body flushes these chemicals and their metabolites out of your system.

I think that there was some other factor in your uncarbonated beer that made it less potent hangover fuel: lower attenuation = lower ABV, lower fermentation temperature = fewer fusel alcohols & esters, different yeast strain = smoother fermentation profile. You'll need to look carefully at your "yeast management" and fermentation techniques to figure out exactly what's going on.   

[tschmidlin]

I'll add Unibroue's Quel Que Chose as a beer that is flat (or nearly).  Sample some of the ones mentioned and see if any strikes your fancy.

[euge]

I seem to remember that co2 helps speed absorption of alcohol. My last batch of Euro ale is lightly carbonated. I think the malt comes through better and it is easy to drink.

This is the beauty of homebrewing. If you don't like carbonation then don't add it. Personally I think it contributes to the flavor and can help round out the brew somewhat. Drink a flat hydrometer sample and then force-carb another. It needs some carbonation to taste right.

[morticaixavier]

As it happens I just cracked open a bottle of barley wine I bottled about 6 weeks ago and it was very low carbonation and tasted just lovely. It only gave the slightest psst when opened but had a nice little lacing around the edge of the glass. It was lower than I intended because a) I didn't add fresh yeast at bottling time and it was already 11% and b) When I did the calculations on how much maple syrup to add to get desired carb levels I got jumpy cause it was so much (like 9 ounces) so I added less.

Luckily it worked out well for me and I might suggest a big barley wine as a place to look as well.

[rightasrain]

Its too bad I didn't bottle one of my bottles in my last batch of barley wine with no carbonation. I'm going to experiment and see if I can make a tastey non carbonated beer without getting a cask by bottling one bottle without any priming sugar.

[morticaixavier]

Its too bad I didn't bottle one of my bottles in my last batch of barley wine with no carbonation. I'm going to experiment and see if I can make a tastey non carbonated beer without getting a cask by bottling one bottle without any priming sugar.

I think this would be a little different than cask conditioning. I wonder, if you bottled in a swing top type bottle and popped the top daily as it worked so only a little carbonation remained if it would be somewhat like cask conditioning.