Overflow when Opening Bottles?

So we brewed a winter style ale and bottled it at about the same time as we did a separate Pumpkin Ale batch. When we open the Pumpkin Ale, they open fine and pour fine with great head.

At the house, the Winter Ale opens fine and pours fine, real low head. If we take the Winter Ale in the car and open it some place else, it acts as if it's over carbonated and overflows out of the bottle (probably 75% of the volume).

There are slight sediment build ups in the bottom of the bottles of both batches. Does anyone know what might have gone on here? Thanks in advance for your help.

Just guessing but:

A) priming sugar not evenly mixed (some bottles got more, some less)
B) bottles got "all shook up" on the car ride and didn't have time to settle (shake a pepsi and pop the pull tab)

Is it warmer when you take it somewhere as opposed to pulling it right out of the fridge? Maybe try bringing one up to cellar temperature in the house and opening that, see if you get a similar effect. CO2 does not dissolve as well at warmer temperatures.

1. sounds like your bottling sugar didn't get mixed evenly in the batch and some bottles got more sugar than they were supposed to. look at the sediment at the bottom of the bottle. the bottles with more sediment probably are the most overcarbonated. i would take those and put them in the refridgerator now to stop further fermentation/overcarbonation.

2. cold temperatures will make the beer foam less. drink the bottles with more carbonation while they are still cold.

3. don't transport the bottles with lots of sediment. drink those at home.

4. if the beer is too carbonated to drink, let it sit for an hour an get flatter.

Thanks for the replys guys. The place I brought the beers was for a taste testing and they were put in coolers upon arival. They sat in coolers for about 8 hours which would have allowed them to settle.

The beers we open at home are also in the fridge and then straight into a pint glass with no problems.

We did add the priming sugar after transfering the beer from the carboy to the priming bucket and bottling. That makes some sense that it was not even distributed into the bottles so some have more carbonation than others. Probably the last batch of bottles. We'll have to do a better job of distributing the priming sugar next time. Flavor is pretty good but you never know if it's going to pop or not.

BrewInTheFort said:

We did add the priming sugar after transfering the beer from the carboy to the priming bucket and bottling. That makes some sense that it was not even distributed into the bottles so some have more carbonation than others. Probably the last batch of bottles. We'll have to do a better job of distributing the priming sugar next time. Flavor is pretty good but you never know if it's going to pop or not.

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Standard practice is to pour your priming solution in the empty bottling bucket and then siphon on top of it. Once the siphon starts lay the siphon hose in the bottom of the bottling bucket so it slowly swirls in the bucket. Your solution will be fairly well mixed by the end of the transfer. As an added measure you can use a sterilized long-handled spoon to gently/slowly stir after the transfer.

The sediment on the bottom is just yeast and it is perfectly normal.
+1 on adding the priming sugar to the bottling bucket/carboy first and then racking the beer on top of it.

How long have your beers been IN the bottles? Before we start diagnosing any possible problems we need some baseline info...and that is the biggest question that needs answering.

The brew was bottled for about 6 weeks prior to opening.

Tried one of the Pumpkin Ales over the holidays and had the same issue as the Winter Ale. First bottle of the Pumpkin batch that did that.

We live in Florida so the temperature is always warm while the brews are conditioning in the bottles.

Does the beer still taste fine?

Yeah, the beer tastes just fine, but you lose about 1/4 to 1/2 if you don't pour it into a glass right away. I'm just looking for an explanation so next time I give friends a beer I don't have to send them with a disclaimer on opening it.

I have the same issue, and I also live in warm weather (Mexico) could it be the conditioning temp?

I had the same issue for 2 batches. I thought it was a bug getting into my bottling process. I replaced all my bottling equipment and added a StarSan rinse in addition to running the bottles through the dishwasher's hottest cycle (with no cleaners in it) as I did before. My next batch still foamed pretty bad at first but died down after a couple weeks and more importantly some colder weather. I am chalking it up to warm temps, and not getting all the C02 into solution before opening. I may be wrong but that was my experience. Also I was orginially storing my beer at about 72F in the house and then quick chillining them in the freezer about 30 min before drinking. (i think this also prevented the Co2 from going into solution, but again I might be wrong.