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Date: 06 Jul 2006 18:00:50
From: Gerard Eberlein
Subject: carbonation mellowing with time
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I made a stout about 6 weeks ago and after 2 weeks bottled it wasn't very
good, was very sharp in taste big head and lot's of carbonation.as little as
last week I was debating wether to dump it or not because it still seemed
overcarbonated and sharp on the tongue. I cracked one open today and the
carb had gone down significantly and it had a nice coffee with creme taste.
I know the flavour will change over time but can a beer "uncarbonate" with
time? Thanx in advance.
Gerard
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Date: 06 Jul 2006 23:49:35
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: carbonation mellowing with time
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On Thu, 6 Jul 2006 18:00:50 -0400, <dormouse@charter.net > wrote:
> I made a stout about 6 weeks ago and after 2 weeks bottled it wasn't very
> good, was very sharp in taste big head and lot's of carbonation.as little as
> last week I was debating wether to dump it or not because it still seemed
> overcarbonated and sharp on the tongue. I cracked one open today and the
> carb had gone down significantly and it had a nice coffee with creme taste.
> I know the flavour will change over time but can a beer "uncarbonate" with
> time? Thanx in advance.
It doesn't really uncarbonate, but the carbonation does tend to change
the mouthfeel with age. Also, it will react with the beer and form
carbonic acid, although I don't know how long this takes. I think you're
just noticing normal effects of beer aging, which tends to effect lots of
things in the beer including the overall mouthfeel. A lot of our
perceptions related to flavor/aroma/"feel" of the beer are inter-related.
Changes in one category will effect our perception of the others. IE,
change the aroma and you'll think that the beer tastes different as well.
John.
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Date: 07 Jul 2006 09:32:00
From: Larry Bristol
Subject: Re: carbonation mellowing with time
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John 'Shaggy' Kolesar wrote:
> [...]
> Also, it will react with the beer and form carbonic acid, although I
> don't know how long this takes.
> [...]
Actually, carbonic acid (HO-CO-OH, or more typically, H2CO3) *IS* the
carbonation. It's nothing more than carbon dioxide (CO2) dissolved in
water (H2O), also known as "carbonated water".
> I think you're
> just noticing normal effects of beer aging, which tends to effect lots of
> things in the beer including the overall mouthfeel. A lot of our
> perceptions related to flavor/aroma/"feel" of the beer are inter-related.
> Changes in one category will effect our perception of the others. IE,
> change the aroma and you'll think that the beer tastes different as well.
Exactly! I think you will notice that when a beer is very young, it tends
to be more "fizzy" [I'm going to use a lot of very technical terms like
that!], and the "bubbles" are somewhat bigger. The flavor of the carbonic
acid (acids taste "sour" or "sharp") is very strong.
After it matures a little more, the CO2 comes out of solution more slowly,
producing smaller bubbles that last longer. That initial "fizzyness"
disappears. This can make the beer appear to be less carbonated, and
greatly reduces the sharp flavor of the acid.
I do not know the physical mechanism that causes the change. As the beer
matures in the bottle, more and more of the microscopic particles (such as
the "yeastie beasties" themselves) settle to the bottom. Since the CO2
bubbles tend to form around such particles, the fewer there are, the slower
it bubbles. It sounds like a decent theory, anyway. Sorry to be so
"technical". <grin >
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