over carbonated bottles question - 6 month and older old beer

So, I wanted to enjoy some of my earlier beer attempts that were stored in the basement. I placed them in the fridge a week ago and went to open two different batches but I had foam come out of them. The beers did not taste infected but they kept foaming for 10 minutes or longer. Now, this didn't happen when I bottled the beer and drank it within the first month or so. Any idea why this happened?

Did I prime with too much sugar and over time it got worse?

Thanks!

I'm guessing it was too much sugar for priming. I had this problem after about 6 weeks with my batches (I'm just starting out, brewed 6 batches so far). They seemed good to start, and then became increasingly bubbly.

I had this happen to a black IPA I made as well. The only thing I could contribute it to was having them in my basement where it was only 60 degrees or so and they didn't fully ferment the bottling sugar. So after a few months, they were fully carbonated, and overcarbed at that. I did only use 3.75 oz of priming sugar in them too for over 5 gallons...

So after a few months, they were fully carbonated, and overcarbed at that. I did only use 3.75 oz of priming sugar in them too for over 5 gallons...

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Not possible. 3.75 oz of priming sugar by itself will not overcarb 5.0 gallons of bottled beer assuming you did everything else correctly. You either had an issue with not equally distributing the priming sugar, so that some bottles were overcarbed and some were undercarbed, or you bottled before you reached FG. Yeast can only produce CO2 with the sugars they are given to eat.

3.75 oz of priming sugar in 5.0 gallons of naturally carbed beer produces about 2.3-2.4 atmospheres of CO2 every time at 60-70F if your procedure is correct.

Scott, how much priming sugar did you use? For future reference, here's a good calculator:

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

Did the first couple bottles have large co2 clouds form when opened? this shows that it was not completely dissolved in solution yet.

Not much of a help but as soon as you uncap the bottles, pour it into a pint glass and let it gas off, you should have minimal loss.
I had to do this with a wit i made couple months ago, actually tasted pretty good super carbed.

Johnnyhitch1 said:

Did the first couple bottles have large co2 clouds form when opened? this shows that it was not completely dissolved in solution yet.

Not much of a help but as soon as you uncap the bottles, pour it into a pint glass and let it gas off, you should have minimal loss.
I had to do this with a wit i made couple months ago, actually tasted pretty good super carbed.

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I tried that but the glass filled up with bubbles as well. I will try to post a video to show what is happening.

When I started bottling, I used 4 ounces of corn sugar for 4 gallons of beer, 5 ounces for 5 gallons.

I had the same problem with my first allgrain (biab), I used that tricky wyeast 3724 belgain saison...long story short, I never reached my fg (ahh live and learn)...but the beer turned uot fantastic, ill be brewing this again soon just to do it right this time

Ok, so I opened a three more bottles from different batches and they did the same thing. Do I have an infection that took hold over time? The beers didn't taste infected or am I simply using too much priming sugar?

Ditto. My first and 2nd batches were carbed fine after 3wks in the bottle.

Now, 2.5-3mos later, they're foaming up a storm when im piuring them
(Pipeline went dry so im delving into my bombers i was saving/aging to see how the flavors developed). Used either premeasurd 5oz priming sugar or 3/4cup.

Both sat in primary for 3 weeks before bottling, and fermented either too damn hot or mid-60s using ale yeast and 38dd chiller. Cant imagine they werent done when i bottled them.

Same with nga over here. Next week, I'm bottling 5 gallons of IPA and will probably use 25% less than what mrmalty says. I have a hard time understanding how 4 weeks in primary doesn't finish the ferment, so I'm sort of wondering what the deal is.

My brew was 2 weeks primary, 3 weeks secondary, 3 weeks bottle, I think my case temp was an issue as I fermmented 70 degrees and 6 weeks @low 60s

and I bottled @ 1.02 my bad

rtb178 said:

I have a hard time understanding how 4 weeks in primary doesn't finish the ferment, so I'm sort of wondering what the deal is.

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So, you bottled the beer without checking the gravity? It is hard to diagnose carbonation problems without the FG. Because as someone said above, if you measured the sugar correctly and it distributed evenly, the beer will carbonate only to a certain level--- unless the beer was not done fermenting, or they are infected.

Check to see if your gravity dropped after bottling. I had a pumpkin beer drop from 1.015 to 1.005. Was fine at 2 weeks in bottle, but at 4 they were gushing and had 2 b
bombs.

midfielder5 said:

So, you bottled the beer without checking the gravity? It is hard to diagnose carbonation problems without the FG. Because as someone said above, if you measured the sugar correctly and it distributed evenly, the beer will carbonate only to a certain level--- unless the beer was not done fermenting, or they are infected.

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No, I took gravity readings 3 days in a row, which were stable. Still early at this hobby, so I'm sure I did something wrong, but I did measure gravity.

Check what they are now in the bottle though.

rtb178 said:

No, I took gravity readings 3 days in a row, which were stable. Still early at this hobby, so I'm sure I did something wrong, but I did measure gravity.

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It can be stable, but stuck and not finished fermenting. What was gravity reading?

midfielder5 said:

It can be stable, but stuck and not finished fermenting. What was gravity reading?

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I think it was 1.013-1.015 (Rye IPA).

All I know, after opening up another brew that is overcarbed after 4 weeks, is that I'll be cutting my priming sugar measurement by 25% of what mrmalty calc says.

koch711 said:

Check to see if your gravity dropped after bottling. I had a pumpkin beer drop from 1.015 to 1.005. Was fine at 2 weeks in bottle, but at 4 they were gushing and had 2 b
bombs.

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Just checked a double IPA that I had bottled at 1.015. I've had gushing problems, and my gravity is now at 1.009 or so. Extremely dry and bitter; a bad beer, really. Obviously the carbonation doesn't help it at all.

This is definitely frustrating, but it means I need to let my beer ferment out completely. More patience is called for. My question is: how often does this happen to folks? In tryijng to make an IPA, I'd like the beer to be as fresh as possible, but I also don't want to create bottled explosives. I thought that taking measurements three days in a row was enough to ensure that I was bottling at the right time. Is that not true?

Anyone else have this kind of trouble?

Thanks for your help everyone.

Also, 5 oz of priming sugar is too much for most styles.

I'm certain my drop was an infection, not a unfinished fermentation before bottling. No reason a PM pumpkin should ever get to 1.005.