I like both American and European beers and I know carb level varies from beer to beer but I was curious of something.
What is the average carb level from both regions? Lets say an American wheat like Bells Brewery puts out, or May be a European like a German Plisner what would those be respectfully?
Now I must say I do like a little more carb than most probably, but I still what to experience the complexity of the different beers I make. What I am shooting for here is an average carb level for all (except stouts and porters) so I don’t have to keep adjusting the reg on my co2 set up for the kegs.
Depending on which source of suggested carb levels you pull from (they vary slightly), just pick something in the middle of whatever you have on tap. The only other way having different levels for each brew is to get regulators for each keg.
I use just one regulator for 3 kegs and just pick something I’m comfortable with. It’s somewhere around 2-2.2 for me.
Beer Style/Volumes CO2
British-Style Ales 1.5 - 2.0
Porter, Stout 1.7 - 2.3
Belgian Ales 1.9 - 2.4
European Lagers 2.2 - 2.7
American Ales & Lagers 2.2 - 2.7
Lambic 2.4 - 2.8
Fruit Lambic 3.0 - 4.5
German Wheat Beer 3.3 - 4.5
I keep mine at 12 psi for about two weeks. Well, maybe a glass or two after a week. I haven’t worried much about authentic carb levels. As long as I don’t get a glass of foam or something that looks like old dish water, it’s good.
If you just set it and forget it, it usually takes about 2 weeks. You can speed things up by shaking the keg or turning up the psi to 20 or so for a few days, then bump it back down.
