Question!!!

Hey everyone I opened up one of my beers last night, it’s only been bottled for one week but I couldn’t help it, I had to try it. Anyway I know you have to let it sit for at least 2 weeks but I just wanted to try it. My question is that when I opened it, it foamed everywhere, is this normal? Is there to much carbonation or what? BTW its an Enland Dark Boch is that helps.

How long did you let it ferment before you bottled? It sounds like it may not have been completely finished. After a week you can normally expect some carbonation if it is stored around 70-72 but it is normally kinda flat. It takes mine about 2-3 weeks to get fully carbed. If it was foaming after a week you might want to watch for bottle bombs. How did it taste? Was it too sweet? If it was that would mean there is still more left to ferment.

If a beer is sweet and overcarbonated, will time remedy this situation? Can an incomplete fermentation be completed in the bottle?

An incomplete fermentation that completes in the bottle = bottle bombs.

I would suggest chilling and trying one more. If you have the same problem, cool them and cover them, like maybe in a rubber maid container with a lid. Or dump them.

If fermentation was complete, (what was the fg?) sounds like a gusher infection. That's bacterial and there isn't any fix. Hopefully you just had one bottle that over carbed and there rest is ok, that's why I suggested trying one more.

how can I tell if it is bacteria? it didnt taste bad.

Also, how full was the bottle? An underfilled bottle with a lot of airspace at the top will often over carbonate quite quickly.

If all of your bottles are overcarbed, then you have potential bottle bombs which need to be handled very carefully. You can try opening the cap ever so slightly to relieve the pressure and then recapping it.

EDIT: You'd know if it were a gusher infection--it would taste awful sour nasty vomitrocious.

We left about an inch of air space in each bottle. How much space should be there?

That's about right. You never said- what was the f.g. and how much priming sugar did you use?

The F.G. was 1.010 and we put 4oz of priming sugar in .

Sometimes if you get an uneven distribution of priming sugar you can end up with uneven carbonation levels across the board. Like Lorena and cweston mentioned, one thing to consider is a wild yeast infection. If you open another and have the same results, I'd recommend bringing the temperature down immediately and then venting the caps by slightly prying them open and then resealing. This is tricky and you have to gauge when to stop venting otherwise you may lose most of your carbonation.

Please post OG and yeast strain used so we can figure your attenuation. Although 1.01 I am guessing you are probably finished out or close to it.

Actually after rethinking....was this a full 5 gallons and at what temperature was your ferment? If you got a gusher in your primary then you lost the batch. If you got it just in that bottle no worries. But since you mention it tastes fine it is probably not a wild infection.

it was a full five gallons it fermented between 69-72 degrees. I will find out the yeast information as well.

6.6 lbs. Plain Amber Malt
1 lb. Plain Light Dry Malt Extract
12 oz. Crushed Crystal Malt 60L 6.5
4 oz. Crushed Chocolate Malt Airlock
1 each Grain Steeping Bag
1 oz. Cluster Hops (Bittering)
1/2 oz. Saaz Hops (Finishing
5 oz. Priming Sugar
1 each Beer Yeast

thats what the recipe was. And I believe the O.G. was 1.05

OK--so that recipes gives an OG in the high 50s. If the FG was 1.010, it is very likely fully fermented unless there's some sort of infection at work. It's already attenuated 80% or more.

Tilson: did you ever say how long it fermented before bottling?

Does it have a plastic, wet band-aid type of taste? That would be a good indication of wild yeast.

Was the initial gusher bottle chilled or at more like room temp? Sometimes bottle gush at room temp.

I'd open a few more....carefully (and well chilled).

How clean were the bottles when you filled them? If there's enough places in the inside surface of the bottle that promote nucleation the CO2 is going to come out as soon as it can... oh, and was the bottled pretty well chilled when you opened it?

We bottled it around 12 days. The instructions told us to bottle after 7 so we let it sit a little longer. It doesnt have a bad taste just a little flat. And it was sitting in a dark closet at room temp when I opened it.

my buddy just called me, he cracked open another bottle and the same thing happened. I asked him if it tastes bad and he told me it taste like there is a lot of carbonation. I told him to take the cap off very slow and he said as soon as he took it off completely it started to ooze out. So he put on in the fridge to chill for a night and open it later. hopefully this works.

hmmm.
I have had gushers before and believed it to be a bacterial infection, but the beer tasted fine. I just had to have the glass ready when I opened it and poured quickly as it gushed out. Chilling helps a little, but it still gushes.

maybe it was not an infection though...

Like I said, tasted good anyways. So, just have that glass ready when you open 'em

How did you add the sugar at bottling time? Was it added to boiling water then added to the bottling bucket and mixed?

Sometimes ya just get a perfectly good batch of "gusher" ale. I have some gusher APA in the fridge now.

Just a matter of one recipe really needing 3-4 extra days of secondary fermentation than another. If the 1.010 reading was steady for three straight days, then I'd say the corn sugar or too-warm bottling temps were the culprit.

If the taste is okay I'd say super-chill the beer before serving and if necessary, do a double pour (pour bottles into a pithcer and serve from pitcher) to tame the brew at drinking time.

I mostly keg now but when I do bottle, I tend to use less corn sugar and more time as a general rule.

I just wanted to add that the only gusher I've had was from bacteria.

In my case, there was absolutely no question that it tasted bad. It tasted like mega-fizzy lemonade. Two weeks later, it was straight lemon juice. It was literally not drinkable.

So, in my limited experience, I would say you would already know whether it is a gusher caused by bacterial contamination.