Over-carbonation

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gdenmark

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On some of the last brews I have done when I open the bottles they seem very over-carbonated. I am not sure why they are doing this. They do not explode or anything and the beer tastes fine it is just annoying if anything. Foam will come up out of the bottle though, so pouring the beer takes a very long time. I transferred the beer to a secondary carboy so extra yeast sediment should not be an issue. When I carbonated them I used three fourths a cup of corn sugar. Does anyone have some advice on how to solve this problem. Thank you for the advice.
 
Could be a few things. It's possible that you have a gusher infection, in which case it will get worse over time. If it does turn out to be an infection, you'll want to replace all of the plastic that contacts the beer during and post fermentation, and thoroughly clean and sanitize everything else. Could also be that you're bottling before the beer is done fermenting. How long are you leaving them in the primary? Could also be that you just used a little too much priming sugar. What was the exact volume of beer that you added the 3/4 cup of sugar to? Did you chill the beer before opening, and if so for how long?

For future reference, measuring the priming sugar by volume can give you innacurate results, since the amount will vary depending on how coarse it is or how tightly it's packed into the cup, so it's best to measure it by weight. Here's a handy priming calculator that will help you get the exact carbonation level you want every time-

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
 
Before we start looking for infections, we need to know how long they've actually been in the bottle?

Although we recommend measuring priming sugar by weight, not by volume, 3/4 cup seems to be the standard volume measurement most folks use, so I don't think that's the issue.

A lot of folks who are opening their bottles earlier than the 3 weeks we repeatedly discuss here experience gushers because the carbonation hasn't really gone into solution fully yet, so the bottles gush.

Watch poindexter's video from my bottling blog.



There's some other things we can look for, but let's rule out the usual one most folks preset with, openning the bottles too soon.


Could this be you're situation?
 
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its definitely not me opening the bottles too soon. The longer I let them sit the more it seems to happen. I have let my porter sit for three months now and it was foamy as ever. Tasted fine still, took along time to settle. I usually let my bottles sit in the fridge for a week or two at some times. So I am not sure what the problem is. The guy above mentioned infection from my buckets, but it has also happened on beers that I have fermented in pure glass carboy for both primary and secondary fermentation. As far as the volume of my beer it is five gallons. So five gallons for three fourth cup of corn sugar.
 
JuanMoore said:
Could be a few things. It's possible that you have a gusher infection, in which case it will get worse over time. If it does turn out to be an infection, you'll want to replace all of the plastic that contacts the beer during and post fermentation, and thoroughly clean and sanitize everything else. Could also be that you're bottling before the beer is done fermenting. How long are you leaving them in the primary? Could also be that you just used a little too much priming sugar. What was the exact volume of beer that you added the 3/4 cup of sugar to? Did you chill the beer before opening, and if so for how long?

For future reference, measuring the priming sugar by volume can give you innacurate results, since the amount will vary depending on how coarse it is or how tightly it's packed into the cup, so it's best to measure it by weight. Here's a handy priming calculator that will help you get the exact carbonation level you want every time-

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
Click to expand...

So I usually leave the beer in primary fermentation for ten days my old ale I did for fourteen because it was a really heavy high alcohol beer. Then I usually let it sit in secondary for three weeks sometimes four. I had a five gallon batch and three fourth cups of corn sugar. I chilled the beer for one week in the fridge some of them two weeks and it still happened. I also let some of these bottles sit for three months, it almost got worse with time.

On another note I never let the beer sit in a plastic bucket for secondary fermentation, just because glass carboys are better to age in. I also sanitize those carboys of course too. This has even happened on some batches where the beer never touched plastic buckets until the bottling process. Thank you very much for the advice and if you have anymore please do let me know.
 
Hard to say for sure, but based on what you've told us so far I'd guess it's a gusher infection. Buckets aren't the only source of infections, they can come from anywhere. Most likely culprits are plastic components since they can develop small scratches that harbor bacteria, and are harder to fully sanitize than metal or glass. This includes transfer tubing, bottling wands, auto-siphons, bottling bucket spigots, etc, etc.
 
So what would be the best move. To change all of that stuff out for new equipment? Do I need to change out my glass carboys too?
 
31 days for carbonating...WHAT!!! My beers pretty much always carb within 2 weeks, my latest watermelon wheat carb'd up mostly by day 5. And yes...there are bubbles aka c02 in solution coming out of solution and is not flat. It's carb'd
 
weigh your priming sugar first. digital food scale from walmart or target works great. Had a buddy who was brewing at my place pack the priming sugar to 3/4 of a cup... he had bad gushers & a few bottle bombs.

as last resort replace rubber items (hoses & gaskets), bleach on hard plastic & glass. If buckets are old then may be time to change. Glass will be fine with a good cleaning.
 

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