Too Much Carbination

Hey All!!!

I haven't posted much lately but I've been visiting now and then. Now that it's nice outside I'm trying to get out (and brew) more

My most recent brew that has conditioned is my Fat Tire Clone. It tastes delicious but it is EXTREAMLY carbinated. I mean, If I try to pour it when I first open one, it's ALL foam. No matter how carefully I pour it.

I opened one and I had a little gyser squirting on the counter for a good 5 minutes! If I open one and dont pour it immediately it will start to foam until it foams out of the bottle.

I didn't use more priming sugar than usual (4.5 to 5 ounces) and it has been conditioning about 3 weeks. This is, like, my 8th brew and never had a problem like this.

What is causing this and how can I prevent it in the future?

Thanks everyone and good to "see" you again!

I am a newb to brewing but infections can cause gushers, but then if it is delicious I dont know, possible to have an infection that effects the carbination and not so much the taste

A ring around the neck of the bottle MAY BE an indicator of an infection, but not necessarilty. It could be hop particles from bad racking techniques (some people try to get all the beer from their carboys and ruin a few with particles).

What you need to do it put all the bottles in the fridge and get them as COLD as possible without freezing. The gushers will stop at very cold temps.

Odd, I carbonated my Hugh Heffe with 8oz of corn sugar, no gushers, but it is really nicely carbed, really spritzy! Infection? Was it done fermenting prior to bottling? Beer is beer and it knows what it is doing... we dont always.

Pol

Yeah, either you bottled it too early, or it's infected. I'm voting on the bottled to early, myself.

GoatFarmersInternational said:

Yeah, either you bottled it too early, or it's infected. I'm voting on the bottled to early, myself.

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Well, I'm going back a while here, but I believe I bottled it late. I was busy/lazy when it came time to bottle (if I remember corretly) and I think it sat in the primary for a week and secondary for about 3 weeks. Nothing extreame. Like I said. It tastes great! I've had about 8 of them already tonight but I have to make sure to start pouring them beofre I'm dont with the one before. I pour, let it set in the fridge til it "chills out" puor some more, and repeat.

I hate to think that it's infected and can't think how it got infected but I know there is MANY ways it can unknowingly get infected.

I seem to think it's because of "bad racking techniques" because when I open one, I see a little bit of s"stuff" on top. WHether it's yeast or hop residue I'm not sure.

did you get a final gravity reading? just because it sat around doesn't mean it was finished. if it tastes as good as you say, it's probably not infected.

Too much space at the top of the bottle leads to overcarbed beer as well.

DeathBrewer said:

did you get a final gravity reading? just because it sat around doesn't mean it was finished. if it tastes as good as you say, it's probably not infected.

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Good point! I didn't get a final gravity reading. That's one thing I never do is take my gravity readings. Maybe it has come back to bit my in the arse ths time!

I've also had this problem. It sucks, I can't even choke them down when they're over carbed. I think conditioning them at excessive temps can also cause over-carbonation. I'd rather have an non-carbed than an over carbed beer any day. (well, i'd rather it be perfectly carbed ).

I would do as advised above and chill them to as cold as you can without freezing. Then open a couple at a time and pour them into a chilled pitcher. Let it sit on the counter for 5 or 10 minutes to bring it up to serving temp (I hate ice cold beer unless it's lawnmower beer) the sitting opened should purge some co2 as well.

good luck.

desiderata said:

I've also had this problem. It sucks, I can't even choke them down when they're over carbed. I think conditioning them at excessive temps can also cause over-carbonation. I'd rather have an non-carbed than an over carbed beer any day. (well, i'd rather it be perfectly carbed ).

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As with any OVER-carbonated beverage...soda included, all you have to do is take a straw and blow into it (like you did in your milk when you were a kid...OK, like yesterday for some of you). The air you inject will blow out the CO2 bubbles. Trust me on this one.

I had this exact same issue and once I got them real cold and they didn't gush at all.

Yeah, the chilling seems to be working pretty good. I toss my glass as well as the bottle in the freezer a few minutes before I'm ready to pop one open and it settles the foam down a lot.

I will use this "over carb" as an excuse to not give any beers away and hoarde them all to myself

SO....I started drinking my next brew (a Belgian Wit) after about 2 weeks and it was great. Now the ones that are left have been in there for about 3-4 weeks and I've having this over-carb problem again.

Someone mentioned conditioning they at higher temps can do this. SInce it's summer now and the closet is an outside wall, it's about 73-75 in the closet. I didnt think this was too warm, it's not IDEAL but I dont think it's too excessive.

I just hope I'm not over-looking anything during the bottling process because I'm bottling again in a few minutes. All the beer is definatly drinkable, in fact, it taste awesome, so it's not infected...

Any more ideas?

I had this once. I would say that if it doesn't taste bad, you probably just had additional fermentation take place in the bottle. When this happened to me, I would pop the top, immediately drink a big gulp, and pour the rest into a glass. It seemed like that first gulp would allow the rest of the beer to pour better and would prevent any overflow of foam thereafter.

I vote for the too-much- or too-little-headspace in the bottles. Papazian says the ideal headspace is 1 to 1-1/2 inches from the top of the bottle. Do you use a bottling attachment on your hose? Something like this:



If so, simply fill the bottle as close as you can to the rim with it fully submerged, and when you remove it from the bottle there will be the perfect amount of headspace. I have used this for 12oz regular bottles as well as 32oz swing-tops (don't have any 22oz bottles but same concept) and it works great, i.e. a taller bottle will have more of the filler cane submerged displacing more beer which will still produce the right amount of headspace.

Thalon said:

I vote for the too-much- or too-little-headspace in the bottles. Papazian says the ideal headspace is 1 to 1-1/2 inches from the top of the bottle. Do you use a bottling attachment on your hose? Something like this:

If so, simply fill the bottle as close as you can to the rim with it fully submerged, and when you remove it from the bottle there will be the perfect amount of headspace. I have used this for 12oz regular bottles as well as 32oz swing-tops (don't have any 22oz bottles but same concept) and it works great, i.e. a taller bottle will have more of the filler cane submerged displacing more beer which will still produce the right amount of headspace.

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Yes, I use one of these. The spring-loaded one is a lot nicer than that one, and for one $5 you cant beat it.

This technique is exactly what I do. I usually fill 22oz bottles and fill them to the brim with the filler in so I have about an inch when I pull it out.

I am leaning twords the warmer conditiong tempeeture problem since this only stared happening when the summer came.