Imperial stout force carb?

[Ezemcgee]

Just cracked open my first Imperial Russian Stout. I bottle conditioned it and didn't get as much carbonation as I expected. Everything else came out beautifully, but would I get a better head/head-retention with a forced carb? I just ordered kegs and the rest of the equipment am just wondering if I should make another Imperial brew for the Fall using this other method.

 

[tennesseean_87]

Could be a lot of things. Maybe you didn't add enough sugar, maybe the sugar wasn't completely mixed in, maybe the yeast were too tired from fermenting a big beer, or maybe you didn't give it enough time to carb (stronger beers can take longer).

I tend to sprinkle a wee bit of wine yeast in the top of my bottles to help them carb faster, especially for big beers and anything I've cleared with gelatin.

Sometimes higher alcohol beers don't have the same head retention. I actually prefer a lower carb level for those imperial stouts anyway.

 

[Ezemcgee]

Thanks for the feedback! I'll try the wine yeast if after a few more weeks I don't see any change in the rest of the batch.

 

[friarsmith]

When you're ready to keg another imperial, consider adding 3oz of dissolved bottling sugar to the keg when you rack from fermenter to a 5 gallon keg. Keg priming requires a bit less sugar than bottle conditioning.

That should 1) give you adequate natural carbonation (which some say tastes better than forced), 2) scavenge any O2 from the keg and 3) save you some CO2. Once the keg is full and purged, you'll need to 'seat' the lid with a short blast at 20psi. Let the keg sit somewhere between cellar temp and room temp for a week or two, then chill. Depending on your dispensing setup, you should only need to keep the head pressure up with 5-8 psi during a drinking sesh for consistent pours.

 

[BrewMan13]

I exclusively force carb, and I find that thicker beers like an IRS and the like take much longer to fully carb than a typical style for me.

 

[wepeeler]

Wondering if anyone else had any more feedback on force carbing a RIS (9.4% abv)? Kegged mine last Thursday, so 6 days ago. I set to 30 psi 24 hours, then to 20 for 24, now to 14 for 4 days. It's slightly carbed, but not like the other 2 beers I kegged on the same day. Those were a 5% abv scottish ale. Those are nicely carbonated, with good head retention. All beers in keezer set to 39 degrees F.