Stopping Carbonation

When my beer has reached a good level of Co2, will I prevent the beer from over-carbing by placing it in the refrigerator? Will fermentation/carbonation pick back up again when I take it out of the fridge? How do I stop the build up altogether?

wdwalter said:

When my beer has reached a good level of Co2, will I prevent the beer from over-carbing by placing it in the refrigerator? Will fermentation/carbonation pick back up again when I take it out of the fridge? How do I stop the build up altogether?

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Putting the beer in the fridge will slow the fermentation to a crawl but generally won't stop it completely, and the yeast will start up again if you take it out of the fridge.

You can pasteurize the bottles to stop the buildup altogether; I've never done this myself but the procedure seems straightforward. This is more commonly done for cider where it's desirable to have both bubbles and residual sugar, but there's no reason why it wouldn't work for beer. Take a look at this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/

Interesting, I wonder if the pasteurization has any effect on the flavor of the finished beer.