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superslomo · 10-11-2012, 05:40 PM

I did a few kits with full boil that were designed for partial boil. I'm finding that as they sat and conditioned for longer times in the bottle I am now getting impossible, annoying amounts of foam/head.

Is it possible that doing the steeping grains in a 5 gallon boil extracted too much foam-producing magic juice? It's drinkable, tastes good, but as time passed I've gotten so much head that you can pour a half sip into the glass (tipped etc.) and it FILLS to the brim of a pint with head.

I like the idea of doing the full boil for hop utilization, but I may go back to doing the Northern Brewer measured amount for the extract kits.

**helibrewer** · 10-11-2012, 05:43 PM

The boil size has no impact on what you are experiencing. How much priming sugar did you use? Was it pre-dissolved or added to each bottle?

superslomo · 10-11-2012, 05:47 PM

Corn sugar, and yeah, it was pre-measured for the full batch, dissolved in boiling water, and put in the bottom of the bottling bucket before transferring the batch onto it.

Isn't there something in the steeping grains that releases the dextrins or whatnot that lead to head? One batch had a bottle bomb or two, we had a power outage that let the temp crash, but I don't know whether that would cause the head to be so much more substantial. It doesn't seem more violently fizzy than any others, just a matter of lots of foam.

**Golddiggie** · 10-11-2012, 05:48 PM

How long are you chilling the bottles before pouring them to glass? Try going longer in the fridge, like 5-7 days (or longer).

superslomo · 10-11-2012, 06:30 PM

I'll give it a shot.

I've had numerous batches where this was not a problem at all... the only changes I can think of were adding whirfloc as an experiment to see if it helped clear, and increasing the volume to a full boil. Seems like the longer they sit the worse it has become. The only other change was using the wyeast instead of dry packs.

Two batches got slightly stuck, and finished a bit high... we had a power outage from a winter storm and they dropped below 60 degrees.

**Golddiggie** · 10-11-2012, 06:42 PM

Sounds like they didn't finish fermenting before you bottled them.

I brewed a batch on Saturday and chilled it down to the low 60's (used Wyeast 1882-PC for the batch, which is happy in the 60-70F range). Fermented really nice for a couple of days before slowing down and then stopping. I use a thermowell into the fermenting keg, with a remote sensor, so I also KNOW when it's done fermenting. Basically, when the middle of the fermenter keg reaches ambient, it's 100% done. It peaked at about 65-66F, so I KNOW it fermented fully.

I put this batch into the basement where I recently moved to. So no worries about power loss doing anything negative for it.

How long did you have it in primary? How far above expected FG did it finish?

spark_plug · 10-11-2012, 07:08 PM

Odd I just made an IPA that acted like this. I found as long as I cracked the bottle and let it sit a minute before pouring it poured fine, but if I poured as soon as I opened it, the foam was out of control. Not sure if that was any type of cure, but it works for me....lol

superslomo · 10-11-2012, 07:47 PM

It popped back to life when I put in room in the upper 60s, it was in primary for definitely over a month, closer to 5 or 6 weeks, I think. I don't really recall how far above the required finishing point it was, really. It was last October, so my memory is fuzzy

So, I'll just keep on truckin'. This summer was too hot to bother with, I'm too lazy a bastard to control temperature the way some folks have a knack for, so I'm back to it now that fall is upon us. Hopefully we won't have a freak Halloween storm again.