Excess overfoam on newly conditioned beer

I bottled my american citrus wheat last thursday. cut the dextrose dose in half, and i place of that added 1 conditioning tab per bottle. i was getting anxious to try my new brew last night so i cooled one off and opened it,, FOAM!!!!! had tons of carbonation after the bottle stopped fizzing and there wasnt an excess amout of pressure upon uncapping, hissed like a normal beer. any help on this one? let them sit a week longer? cool them down alot more before opening? is it possible my beer is stil fermenting after an 8 day soak in primary and 10 in secondary?

BrewinBigD said:

I bottled my american citrus wheat last thursday.

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The only problem you have, is impatience.

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 A FEW 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....

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

Another option for lack of patience would be to keg but that still requires some patience.
- Minimum 3 weeks primary
- minimum 3 weeks bottled
- secondary for anything that will ferment for more than 6 weeks

3 weeks primary? honeslty can say i didnt think it was a good idea. im a newbie and have pretty much followed a few kit instructions and taken tips from the owner of my LHBS and they recommended about a week primary and a week or 2 secondary for settling. what can i say, i love beer and the anxiety of trying it gets the best of me. trial and error, right guys?

BrewinBigD said:

3 weeks primary? honeslty can say i didnt think it was a good idea. im a newbie and have pretty much followed a few kit instructions and taken tips from the owner of my LHBS and they recommended about a week primary and a week or 2 secondary for settling. what can i say, i love beer and the anxiety of trying it gets the best of me. trial and error, right guys?

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From my experience all that worrying from trial and error is a waste of effort and energy. The first few beers that I worried over extensively ended up getting me physically ill from all the stress and worrying.

I fuggled up a few steps on a few batches, and ended up tearing my hair out. What was the end product?


Great. Tasting. Beer.

There's a reason we have this saying -- RDWHAHB. It's true. You'll make great beer!

We're brewing scientists-- what is progress without errors? Time is on our side.

You really should let your beers ferment in the primary for at least a few weeks, especially since you're just starting. I left my first batch in the primary for 4 weeks and it turned out great. My second batch, a Belgian Wit, was only in there for 2 and a half weeks because I heard they ferment faster than other beers. Because of my impatience, I experienced two bottle bombs in that batch. Now, I don't take a hydrometer reading until at least 3 weeks into the primary fermentation, and then usually keg one week after that. Along with a lot of other people on here, I can attest to the fact that the beer usually turns out better if you just give it time.

BrewinBigD said:

3 weeks primary? honeslty can say i didnt think it was a good idea. im a newbie and have pretty much followed a few kit instructions and taken tips from the owner of my LHBS and they recommended about a week primary and a week or 2 secondary for settling. what can i say, i love beer and the anxiety of trying it gets the best of me. trial and error, right guys?

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Got the 3 weeks primary from my lhbs on my first kit. They were correct. At 2 weeks the sample tasted alcoholic harsh. At 3 weeks it was much better. You will read alot of people say the kit instructions are out dated. I kind of agree about the 1 week primary instruction being out dated.