amount of beer in bottle

i bottled a nut brown ale (1st homebrew) last week. i bottled in 22oz and all but one are filled to approx 1 to 1.5in from the top. one bottle is 2/3 full. my brewing partner and i got a little excited and opened the bottle that was a little light. when i opened it a head instantly formed in the bottle. it seemed "over carbonated". i don't want to create a bunch of bottle bombs in my basement:confused. does not having enough beer in a bottle cause to much or not enough carbonation?

Too much headspace can cause overcarbonation. I don't know that the 1-1.5" headspace will cause bottle bombs but you should probably aim for a little less next time.

If you are using a bottle wand then you just fill it until it gets to the top of the neck and just starts to flow over. Once you lift the wand to stop the flow and then lift the wand out of the bottle, the headspace that is left from the displacement of the wand is the perfect amount. For me it is usually about 1-1.5 inches, just like you. I'd say that as long as the fermentation was complete before you bottled, you will be good to go, with no bottle bombs. If you bottled too early, then you might need to worry.

John

trinitone,
My logic is telling me you have it backwards. The more headspace, the less carbing you get. The first reason is that you actually have less CO2 producing potential being there is less sugar being consumed. The second reason is that headspace is essentially air (gas) which is more easily compressible than beer (liquid). In my opinion, fill it up as high as you can without overflowing (1/2 to 3/4" headspace). That may just be one less bottle to sanitize.