Foam pouring out of the bottle straight after opening...

Hi all,

I brewed my second all grain and yet again had this problem. When I open the beer bottle I get a LOT of foam coming out instantaneously... I think it is because the bubbles form around the sediment that keeps at the bottom.

Basically, a lot of this light cream color dusty sediment forms during the fermentation. I went from only primary in my first all grain to primary and secondary in this second time, reducing the amount of sediment but by no means eliminating it completely.

I have read that gusher infections might cause this if some of your bottles are not well sanitized. The thing is I sanitize them well enough and it happens in all the bottles. So I think the dusty sediment particles act as centers around which the CO2 can become gas when the pressure drops. Also, I tried the two first beers after only 4 days from bottling this second all grain just for testing and all the foam was already forming again.

Then the question here is: is this sediment really causing the problem? How do I get rid of it?

Sounds like overcarbonation to me. Can you eliminate that as a cause? How much priming sugar are you using?

By the way, that light cream colored dusty sediment you describe is yeast.

I kinda doubt that the sediment is the problem and you're more likely having simple overcarbonation. I'm no expert, but my gut says that, even if the sediment was providing a nucleation site, you'd still need a ton of carbonation to make anything happen in the sediment.

Anyway, how are you priming?

Then the question here is: is this sediment really causing the problem?

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No, but it's likely a symptom of the problem. Assuming you didn't radically overprime, it probably is an infection. There are lots of places it could come from: tubing, bottling wand, bottling spigot, bottling bucket... (to name a few).

Could be priming, could be bottling too early, could be infection. More info is needed, what was OG and FG, How long in primary and secondary? etc. Tell us about your beers with the problem.

I've primed (deliberately) to 4 volumes - that's almost twice the normal priming rate - and it doesn't produce gushing bottles, just really carby beer. I've had gushing bottles on beers I primed to less than 2 volumes. They were infected. It takes a lot to get your beer to gush like that.

Where at in COLO, COLObrewer?

Captain Damage said:

I've primed (deliberately) to 4 volumes - that's almost twice the normal priming rate - and it doesn't produce gushing bottles, just really carby beer. I've had gushing bottles on beers I primed to less than 2 volumes. They were infected. It takes a lot to get your beer to gush like that.

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Well, it IS kind of unusual, especially after only 4 days so, who knows? I'm certain any CO2 wouldn't be absorbed into solution yet, but why so much so early? I would simply wait 3 weeks and try another bottle.

Jakemo said:

Where at in COLO, COLObrewer?

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Pea Green of course, (Don't blink) Western slope.

Maybe I am over priming, but I don't know if this causes the problem. I primed with 250g of sugar for 16L of beer, that is about 15g/L or 5g per bottle of 33 cl. I'm sorry guys I don't do pounds and gallons... :-S Google says this is 2 ounces per US gallon.

I was at the Duvel brewery a couple of months ago and they explained to us that their beer raises its alcohol content by 1% Vol. inside the bottle, and still doesn't generate this kind of problem... I will try to tape it to show what happens..

P.S.: the beer tastes nice, which wouldn't be the case if there was an infection, is this correct?

Doesn't look like you're over priming, I'd wait three weeks and try again. How was the last one after 3 weeks?

250g in 16L is 8.8 oz of sugar in 4.2 gallons of beer. According to the priming calculator that I use thats about 4.7vol CO2 at 70 degrees... closer to 5vol at 60 degrees. If those are the right numbers its definitely over primed and carbonated. I'd chill those puppies fast and put them in a sturdy container ASAP!

I guess they are over primed then... Anyways, thanks for the replies. I tested a beer just 10 minutes ago after putting it inside the freezer for a while and it came much better. I don't have space in the fridge for all of them though so I hope they won't be exploding or anything. It rarely gets hot here in Ireland, not even during the summer, so I'll keep my finger crossed and simply will chill them well before use...

After only four days (after adding priming sugar) your beer was krausening in the bottles. It is just like your fermentor bucket still bubbling on day four but with a sealed cap on it. Let them finish fermenting, and let them build up that pressure from the CO2 and let that pressure get absorbed into the beer. I would leave them at 70 degrees.

The standard answer is three weeks in the bottle. Try one at two weeks or as long as you can stand it.

After only four days (after adding priming sugar) your beer was krausening in the bottles. It is just like your fermentor bucket still bubbling on day four but with a sealed cap on it. Let them finish fermenting, and let them build up that pressure from the CO2 and let that pressure get absorbed into the beer. I would leave them at 70 degrees.

The standard answer is three weeks in the bottle. Try one at two weeks or as long as you can stand it.

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That makes sense... I will do that. I'll try to post here what happened after 2 weeks if I remember. Thanks to everybody.

Once again everyone's over complicating matters when the clue is right in your answer.

There's nothing wrong with your beer, it's not overprimed nor is it infected...the problem is YOU'RE OPENNING THE BEER AFTER BEING IN THE BOTTLE ONLY 4 DAYS!!!!


Watch poindexter's video from my bottling blog.



Like he shows several times, even @ 1 week, all the hissing, all the foaming can and does happen, but until it's dissolved back into the beer, your don't really have carbonation, with tiny bubbles coming out of solution happening actually inside the glass, not JUST what's happening on the surface.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

But until then the beer can even appear to be overcarbed, when really nothing is wrong.

A lot of new brewers who tend to kill their two cases off in a few days, don't experience true carbonation and the pleasures thereof, until they actually get a pipeline going, and have their first 5 or 6 week old full carbed and conditioned wonderfully little puppy! Then the come back with an "aha" moment.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

Makes sure the beers are minimum of 3 weeks at 70 degrees before you even think of opening them, then make sure a couple of them are THOROUGHLY chilled for at least 48 hours to draw the co2 into solution. Then more than likely everything will be hunky dory....

Lemme know if this is more pertinant to your situation. We get folks like you on here daily thinking their beer is over carbed when in reality the co2 has not yet balanced out and gone back into solution.

Had you opened them after 3 weeks you never would have noticed anything wrong.....

I used 70g table sugar for 15 litres of beer and mine ended up slightly overcarbonated (for my tastes). I think using over three times as much sugar (getting 5 vol CO2) means that he probably did overcarbonate, n'est-ce pas?

monkeydan said:

I used 70g table sugar for 15 litres of beer and mine ended up slightly overcarbonated (for my tastes). I think using over three times as much sugar (getting 5 vol CO2) means that he probably did overcarbonate, n'est-ce pas?

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But he won't know until he waits at least three weeks to see if it does balance out. It's the same with waiting for beers to bottle condition before declaring an off flavor...some of the tastes, just like gushing bottles, mimic problems when in reality the beer has just been opened/tasted too soon....99.9% of the time, I'm right about this....n'est-ce pas?

monkeydan said:

I used 70g table sugar for 15 litres of beer and mine ended up slightly overcarbonated (for my tastes). I think using over three times as much sugar (getting 5 vol CO2) means that he probably did overcarbonate, n'est-ce pas?

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It's possible, but not a fact. There are too many variables to track when it comes to fermentation (Which is what this is), we know nothing of this brew, I'd suggest waiting at least 3 weeks, place in a fridge for another week and try it again. Meanwhile, brew another batch.

looks as if you have twice the amount of priming sugar you should probably have... 1 oz per gallon produces about 3 volumes, which imo is high depending on the style.

Revvy said:

But he won't know until he waits at least three weeks to see if it does balance out. It's the same with waiting for beers to bottle condition before declaring an off flavor...some of the tastes, just like gushing bottles, mimic problems when in reality the beer has just been opened/tasted too soon....99.9% of the time, I'm right about this....n'est-ce pas?

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Oui, c'est vrai. Carry on

Captain Damage said:

I've primed (deliberately) to 4 volumes - that's almost twice the normal priming rate - and it doesn't produce gushing bottles, just really carby beer. I've had gushing bottles on beers I primed to less than 2 volumes. They were infected. It takes a lot to get your beer to gush like that.

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I've had bottle bombs on 2 occasions. One was becuase I purposefully used extra priming solution to produce an overcarbonated Belgian. One weak bottle exploded. The other batch occured when I bottled a Brown that I thought was done (5 weeks in primary with a stable FG). Well it wasn't done and started fermenting again in the bottle. A couple of the bottles exploded and the rest are wayyyyyy overcarbonated. Neither were caused by infections. I would have to say infection is the least likely of the 3 possible causes

hipertrofia said:

Maybe I am over priming, but I don't know if this causes the problem. I primed with 250g of sugar for 16L of beer, that is about 15g/L or 5g per bottle of 33 cl. I'm sorry guys I don't do pounds and gallons... :-S Google says this is 2 ounces per US gallon.

I was at the Duvel brewery a couple of months ago and they explained to us that their beer raises its alcohol content by 1% Vol. inside the bottle, and still doesn't generate this kind of problem... I will try to tape it to show what happens..

P.S.: the beer tastes nice, which wouldn't be the case if there was an infection, is this correct?

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2 ounces per gallon is an awful lot of sugar. I use 3-4 oz of dextrose when bottling 5 gallons of beer

Revvy said:

But he won't know until he waits at least three weeks to see if it does balance out. It's the same with waiting for beers to bottle condition before declaring an off flavor...some of the tastes, just like gushing bottles, mimic problems when in reality the beer has just been opened/tasted too soon....99.9% of the time, I'm right about this....n'est-ce pas?

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9 oz of sugar is an awful lot. these things should be put somewhere safe and cool.

It appears there are different experiences and opinions here, maybe you should place these in a tupperware tup and wrap them with a heavy towel or something then wait a few weeks and report back.

I once had this problem and it didn't go away - even after several months of bottle conditioning they would gush immediately upon opening. I finally concluded that I either had an infected beer or possibly there was a fulsarium infection of the malt.

Definitely put them in a safe place.

While I agree with Revvy that it is not likely an infection as people are always want to think when things aren't exactly like they believe it should be; if Strave's calculations are correct that volume of CO2 is capable of bursting your standard 12 ounce bottle (if memory serves they are good to mid 4's). Then again, the OP said something about 330ml bottles of which I have no knowledge of their strength. If that is an unknown it would be advisable to take some precautions for bottle bombs.

ishkochito said:

I once had this problem and it didn't go away - even after several months of bottle conditioning they would gush immediately upon opening. I finally concluded that I either had an infected beer or possibly there was a fulsarium infection of the malt.

Definitely put them in a safe place.

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Over carbonation doesn't go away with aging. If you did not have a fully attenuated beer and or put too much priming sugar in it you can also get gushers.

Thoreau huh? I would counter his assessment with not trusting anyone who imposes on summone to stay at their place and then can't even be bothered to buy an axe to chop wood so he borrows that too...he's like the first hippy.

Have you tried chilling them down to 32F'? Sometimes they will be less carbonated when near freezing.

Chill them down! I did a beer at 2.8vol and it had plenty of sediment (some of which I think was hops that I didn't manager to filter out). Opened the first one and a rush of bubbles came from the bottom and lifted all the sediment.

Stuck them in the cellar for a week at 55F, and they were fine.

Thanks again for the replies. This is my beer after 5 days of bottling:



I thought I'd post because even if on the other video the beer gushes, it is very little indeed compared to this. As I said already, I put one in the freezer for a while yesterday and no gushing happened. The one on the video was at about 15 Celsius. I will wait a few days and then will open another one. The beers are in a safe place so the only harm if they explode would be some stuff getting a bit wet...

I've seen worst, keep us updated please.

Mine didn't foam up that bad and yet I had some bottles explode. Be careful

Here's an article I stumbled upon just now, about gushing. It might not apply to your situation, but seems interesting nonetheless!

http://www.scientificsocieties.org/jib/abstracts/2010/G-2011-0114-111.htm

hipertrofia said:

I will wait a few days and then will open another one.

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Go back and read Revvy's post above

...then read it a few more times.

ZooKeeper said:

Go back and read Revvy's post above

...then read it a few more times.

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Agreed. 2 weeks minimum. 3 weeks preferred.
then chill for a day or 2
Anything before that is just speculation and worry (and kind of wasting beer too)

Go back and read Revvy's post above

...then read it a few more times.

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I just want to do some experiencing of my own. Reading it once was enough, thanks.

ZooKeeper said:

Go back and read Revvy's post above

...then read it a few more times.

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Revvys post doesn't take into account 9 oz of priming sugar

hipertrofia said:

Hi all,

I brewed my second all grain and yet again had this problem. When I open the beer bottle I get a LOT of foam coming out instantaneously... I think it is because the bubbles form around the sediment that keeps at the bottom.

Basically, a lot of this light cream color dusty sediment forms during the fermentation. I went from only primary in my first all grain to primary and secondary in this second time, reducing the amount of sediment but by no means eliminating it completely.

I have read that gusher infections might cause this if some of your bottles are not well sanitized. The thing is I sanitize them well enough and it happens in all the bottles. So I think the dusty sediment particles act as centers around which the CO2 can become gas when the pressure drops. Also, I tried the two first beers after only 4 days from bottling this second all grain just for testing and all the foam was already forming again.

Then the question here is: is this sediment really causing the problem? How do I get rid of it?

Click to expand...

Four days after bottling it to early to tell anything.
Nother question. How long did you let it ferment? And did you get steady SG readings before you decided to bottle?

I did a primary fermentation during 4 days and then added some sugar for the secondary, which took 2 weeks. The fermentation was pretty much over when I bottled, although the SG before bottling was 1.015, but I expected this as I added some caramelized sugar.