Over fermentation

I am at a total loss. I have been brewing several years now and I have had an acute problem of over fermentation in the bottle. That is, when I open the bottle it simply overflows foam like a volcano. I bottle condition all my beers with priming sugar, but the last batch I made (an IPA) has just been atrocious. Help!!

Had that problem once. Little did I know the inside of my bottles were dirty, infected the beer and caused gushers. I'm not saying this is your problem, but an option.

It sounds like your problem can be more-aptly described as over-carbonation. There are several root causes here, but the basic gist is that there is too much simple sugar in your beer when you bottle.

Are you weighing the priming sugar, adjusting for beer volume and temperature? Are you aerating your wort enough and pitching a proper amount of yeast?

I think my problem lately has been related to fermentation temps. Yeast is pretty sensitive to temperature changes. Fermentation gives off heat, so as activity slows the beer will cool slightly. This could be enough to let the yeast go to sleep before they're done. If you can, try to ramp up fermentation temps as activity subsides to ensure complete fermentation. This way you know that there is no residual sugar left in your beer when you bottle.

When you open the next one, pour some into an hydrometer jar and let it degas and then take a reading. If the gravity is lower than when you bottled it, you had some continued fermentation in the bottle. Either you bottled too early or got some wild yeast contamination. If this is only a month or so after bottling, I'd suspect you bottled too early. A small amount of wild yeast takes a long time to build population and do much damage.

Thanks for the suggestions. There has been the concern over dirty equipment and bottles. Unfortunately, I may have been brewing for several years, but I need to perfect my technique.

how much priming sugar are you using?

Your problem sounds to me like you don't wait until it finishes before bottling.

I use the amount that I am given at the home brew store near me. Problem is, I am not 100% sure of its 5 ounces, 4 or 6. as for waiting, well that could be it, but after primary fermentation (1 week), I racked into a secondary for about 2 weeks.

Musicdan77 said:

I use the amount that I am given at the home brew store near me. Problem is, I am not 100% sure of its 5 ounces, 4 or 6. as for waiting, well that could be it, but after primary fermentation (1 week), I racked into a secondary for about 2 weeks.

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I take it you don't have a scale. Next time, cut back to 1/2 cup table sugar or 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons corn sugar.

And of course boil the sugar in water to make a simple syrup and add it when you begin racking the beer to the bottling bucket.

Fermenting temps, time and yeast/ aeration will all help determine how long it takes to finish. Get a hydrometer and use it before you bottle to see if the beer is ready. If it gets cold , the fermentation may have stalled out and restarted with the extra sugar at bottling. That would cause the foaming.

In my opinion, the 5oz packages of priming sugar sold in LHBS, is far too much to prime 5 gallons of beer.
I rarely use over 3 ounces of priming sugar in my simple syrups.
I also bottle condition for at least 2 weeks, usually 3 or more.

I've noticed a lot of people confuse head with over carbonation.
Just because your pour has half a glass of fizzy foam, doesn't mean the beer has a good head.

How long do you chill the beer (in bottles) before pouring them to glass? If less than 5-7 days, go a full week in the fridge. I also agree that the 5oz bag of sugar isn't the correct amount for most beers we brew. It can be for some, but selling it as good for all, to all, is just being lazy. Get a good scale (they can be had for cheap money these days) and WEIGH the sugar out. Use a priming calculation site to figure out how much to add too.

another thought: what about saving some wort, after mashing/sparge, but before boil for priming? Lets just say on a typical 5 gallon, all grain home brew; how much am I talking here? Tried it once and liked the flavor it added, but didn't measure. Any thoughts?

Musicdan77 said:

another thought: what about saving some wort, after mashing/sparge, but before boil for priming? Lets just say on a typical 5 gallon, all grain home brew; how much am I talking here? Tried it once and liked the flavor it added, but didn't measure. Any thoughts?

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IMO, a rather complicated thing. Unless you get the gravity of the wort pre-boil, and figure out how much you'll need to reserve based off that and your CO2 volumes target, you'll be guessing at best.

Personally, while I've thought about doing it, the entire thing was too much math. Besides, I want that volume boiled down and going into my fermenting vessel and being turned into BEER...

Musicdan77 said:

another thought: what about saving some wort, after mashing/sparge, but before boil for priming? Lets just say on a typical 5 gallon, all grain home brew; how much am I talking here? Tried it once and liked the flavor it added, but didn't measure. Any thoughts?

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This is called Krausening, and was a traditional technique for carbonating german lagers according to Reinheitsgebot.

It is apparent that a good portion of my problem is the amount of priming sugar that I use. Next batch I will use less, along with good temperature control, should reduce this problem. One other thing here: mostly, the beer doesn't do "blow" when chilled in fridge, mostly when I grab one at room/basement temp.