Highly Carbonated

I just opened the first bottle from my third batch of beer. This is a red ale from a Brewer's Best kit.

This is the first batch for which I've had excellent temperature control from brewing to putting in the fridge.

The beer was excellent, but it was very, very carbonated. Not so much for the taste (seemed like normal), but for the pouring (too much head, regardless of how slowly and carefully the beer was poured).

Is this normal?

How much priming sugar did you use? If you used the whole pack they gave you, it might have been too much depending on how much beer you ended up with. You can use a priming sugar calculator to find the exact amount you need for how much beer you have. I use this one on the Northern Brewer site: http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/.

There are several factors that can be the cause, one being that we will assume the beer was done totally fermenting. Did you use the corn sugar that comes in the kit to prime? How much did you use? One thing that you said that comes to mind is that you had better temp control, this could have possibly left more co2 in the beer before you bottled it since more co2 is lost when the beer is warmer. But let's answer some of those questions first before we jump to conclusions.

I had 4.3 gallons of beer that I bottled (they say it's 5 gallons, but the gravity doesn't come out right if you fill it to five gallons when done boiling and adding the sugar). I used the whole pack of priming sugar that came with the kit (as I had in the previous two batches).

To clarify, the beer is excellent and doesn't seem to have too much carbonation when in the mouth; it (at least the first bottle) produces too much head.

5 ounces in 4.3 gallons is about 3 volumes of CO2 which is a little overcarbed. It's probably losing enough CO2 when you pour it so that it doesn't feel overcarbonated, but that lost CO2 is resulting in excess foam. 3.5-4 oz would have been about right for that volume.

Ok; thanks!

124Spider said:

I had 4.3 gallons of beer that I bottled (they say it's 5 gallons, but the gravity doesn't come out right if you fill it to five gallons when done boiling and adding the sugar). I used the whole pack of priming sugar that came with the kit (as I had in the previous two batches).

To clarify, the beer is excellent and doesn't seem to have too much carbonation when in the mouth; it (at least the first bottle) produces too much head.

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It is very difficult to get the boiled wort to mix 100% with the top off volume. Hydrometer readings will not be accurate. If the kit says it should be 1.049 OG, and you brewed it correctly, the OG is 1.049.

How long do you have it in the fridge before consuming?

twistr25 said:

How long do you have it in the fridge before consuming?

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3-1/2 weeks fermenting in the barrel; 22 days in bottles, then 5 days in the fridge.

twistr25 said:

How long do you have it in the fridge before consuming?

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I try to leave beers in the frig at least four days. Not much room in the frig for many beers so sometimes it is only one day. Not very carbonated though. Finally bought 40 pounds of ice and filled two large coolers with various brews. Didn't have any until they had been chilling a week. Fruits of the labor are more enjoyable with proper carbonation.

peterj said:

5 ounces in 4.3 gallons is about 3 volumes of CO2 which is a little overcarbed. It's probably losing enough CO2 when you pour it so that it doesn't feel overcarbonated, but that lost CO2 is resulting in excess foam. 3.5-4 oz would have been about right for that volume.

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I also agree 5 oz of priming sugar is too much for only 4.3 gal of beer. I usually average around 3.25-3.75 oz for 5-5.5 gal batches and am happy with my results. Looking in my notes for some past brews the most I ever used was 4.5 oz for a 6 gal batch. Also, keep in mind for lower gravity brews it is wise to not over do carbonation or the beer will have a "thin" taste and mouthfeel.