I have a Janet's Brown Ale clone from BCS that has finished carbonating (OG = 1.065, FG = 1.018). The first two I've tasted have had a really nice hop flavor and aroma, nice head retention; probably the best I've brewed in these aspects. The body of this beer, though, is a little thin and lifeless, especially for a 1.018 FG. I've read that high carbonation can cause the palate to perceive a thinner bodied beer.
I'm gonna take a couple of bottles, crack the top to release the head pressure, then re-cap. I'm guessing this will reduce the amount of carbonation. By how much? I don't know.
Does anyone have experience with this? Just trying to get someone's thoughts before I give it a shot.
Post #2 made 14 years ago
BrickBrewHaus,
I few years ago I had some Saison that was to be entered in a competition. It was well over-carbonated! At a friends insistence I lifted the cap carefully with a bottle opener. It was just enough to release the gas without ruining the cap or seal. It was OK for a few bottles but it wouldn't pay for a case or two! I actually got so good at it that I let out too much carbonation! I was marked down for low carbonation! This is another reason I keg!
I few years ago I had some Saison that was to be entered in a competition. It was well over-carbonated! At a friends insistence I lifted the cap carefully with a bottle opener. It was just enough to release the gas without ruining the cap or seal. It was OK for a few bottles but it wouldn't pay for a case or two! I actually got so good at it that I let out too much carbonation! I was marked down for low carbonation! This is another reason I keg!
tap 1 Raspberry wine
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tap 2 Bourbon Barrel Porter
tap 3 Czech Pilsner
tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV
http://cheesestradamus.com/ Brewers challenge!
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Post #3 made 14 years ago
Thanks Bob. I probably won't do it for the whole case. Its more of an experiment to 1) see what happens to the carbonation level, and 2) try to narrow down the reasons for the thinness in the body. Because if it wasn't for that, it would be an excellent beer, right now its only real good. And if it works well, I'm gonna enter it into a local comp where the BOS winner gets free tickets to the GABF.BobBrews wrote:BrickBrewHaus,
I few years ago I had some Saison that was to be entered in a competition. It was well over-carbonated! At a friends insistence I lifted the cap carefully with a bottle opener. It was just enough to release the gas without ruining the cap or seal. It was OK for a few bottles but it wouldn't pay for a case or two! I actually got so good at it that I let out too much carbonation! I was marked down for low carbonation! This is another reason I keg!
Last edited by BrickBrewHaus on 21 Mar 2012, 21:04, edited 3 times in total.
Post #4 made 14 years ago
I accidentally primed a 2.5 gallon batch with enough sugar for a 5 gallon batch recently (drunken bottling). The only way to drink them is to pop the cap and sit the bottle in the sink for @ 15 minutes until they settle down and quit gushing. I would just pour them all out but it's a batch I made with my home-grown hops and it's very tasty (and REALLY bubbly). Burp!
I did try getting them really cold, popping the cap, letting a bit of CO2 vent, and then recapping........didn't make a lick of difference.
---Todd
I did try getting them really cold, popping the cap, letting a bit of CO2 vent, and then recapping........didn't make a lick of difference.
---Todd
WWBBD?
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Post #5 made 14 years ago
These aren't nearly that carbonated. I'm completely worthless at distinguishing volumes of CO2, but it might just be off by a volume of CO2 or maybe two.
I'll pop the caps tonight, like Bob suggested, and report back this weekend.
I'll pop the caps tonight, like Bob suggested, and report back this weekend.
Post #6 made 14 years ago
I stand corrected...Just popped the top on two bottles when they were at room temp. Gusher! I hurried and capped it and threw it in the fridge.BrickBrewHaus wrote:These aren't nearly that carbonated.
The two I've drank already haven't gushed, I guess because they were chilled in the fridge first. I'll crack two different ones after they've chilled a while so hopefully they don't gush. We'll see what happens.
Last edited by BrickBrewHaus on 22 Mar 2012, 09:21, edited 3 times in total.
Post #7 made 14 years ago
Definitely need to chill them, it allows the gas to be absorbed into the liquid. At room temp you will surely have gushers. I put my "double carbonated" batch in the fridge as soon as I realized that I over-carbed them, had I left them at room temp I would probably had a case of glass hand grenades exploding in my bedroom closet
WWBBD?
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Post #8 made 14 years ago
If the bottles are cold, this won't really make much difference at all.BrickBrewHaus wrote:I'm gonna take a couple of bottles, crack the top to release the head pressure, then re-cap. I'm guessing this will reduce the amount of carbonation. By how much? I don't know.
If you had a full bottle of coke in the fridge, took the cap off to release the pressure and then tightened it straight back up, in a week's time, you would see no difference in carbonation.
It's one of those temperature and pressure equation things unfortunately. (And you've already seen this by opening a warm bottle!)
As to finding the right way of reducing the carb level, I really don't know the right answer.
There is an upside however to not being able to get rid of CO2 easily from bottled beer. Occasionally I'll taste an excellent beer someone has given me and I want to see if it tastes as good on a fresh palate. Putting a cap back on it and tasting it up to a few days later, even with 50% headspace has not detracted from the beer.
Apologies BBH that I am not much help
,PP
Last edited by PistolPatch on 23 Mar 2012, 20:28, edited 3 times in total.
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Post #9 made 14 years ago
Did a side-by-side between one with the pressure released a couple of days ago and one as-is. By my palate, they aren't much different. The bottle which I popped the cap to release some head pressure does have more body, the malt profile comes through a little better. However, I did a triangle test with my wife and she was able to pick the odd one out. According to her "it was obvious, one was watery and one wasn't" 
Just that simple to her (she has an awesome palate, she's able to pick up on flavors that I can only find when trying really hard). I, on the other hand, failed the triangle test. I had to drink them side by side to find the subtle differences.
So for me, releasing the head pressure then re-capping does seem to reduce carbonation a little. Like Bob said, probably not worth doing on the whole batch. But the comp. coming up, definitely worth doing it.
Just that simple to her (she has an awesome palate, she's able to pick up on flavors that I can only find when trying really hard). I, on the other hand, failed the triangle test. I had to drink them side by side to find the subtle differences.So for me, releasing the head pressure then re-capping does seem to reduce carbonation a little. Like Bob said, probably not worth doing on the whole batch. But the comp. coming up, definitely worth doing it.
