force carbing english beers for competition

[Neddy]

I'm getting ready for some upcoming competitions. I've brewed both a mild and an ordinary bitter that I'm planning on entering. My question is about carbination levels. Both are low carbination beers. The mild is finished and has been in the keg carbonating for the past 10 days or so. I'm shooting for around 1.5 volumes based on the temp vs. psi charts for force carbonation. I've been sampling it every few days and now, 10 days in - I'm still not getting any appreciable carbonation and essentially no head when pouring from a picnic tap.

How much head/bubbling in the glass should I expect for a low gravity english beer like this? I've never brewed a low-grav low-carb beer like this before - it tastes great flat but I have no points of comparison.

Any comments, ideas, suggestions would be appreciated.

[bkrebsy]

I think you just need to give it more time. In my experience, it takes at least 2 weeks for carbonation to equilibrate using the set and forget method. I prefer to wait 3 weeks. 1.5 volumes is not much CO2, so it will seem noticeably less carbonated compared to most commercially produced beers. Minimal head is typically acceptable in these low gravity English styles. Good luck in the competitions!

[brewinhard]

I know this is not "standard" CO2 chart graphs, but I have had great success (in comps) with carbing low gravity english styles to 20psi for about 1 wk. I then purge to release pressure and reduce to serving pressure of about 4-5 psi. When beer gunning my bottles for comps I have followed this procedure and the finished product is spot on for english style carbonation. Hope this helps get you a medal or three!