1st Batch Question (almost all foam from bottles)

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jamesewelch

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Bottled beer around Christmas, so they've been in the basement, covered, dark, for about 4 weeks now. Last week (at 3 week mark), I took a few and put into fridge for about 5-6 days. When I opened my first beer, about 90% of it turned to foam and came out. There was maybe an inch or so of actual beer left in the bottle after the rest turned to foam.

Before I open my next beer, is this batch ruined or should I leave them for a bit longer or refrigerate them for longer? I think I did something wrong in the process, but don't know where. I'd like to figure out how I messed this up and pay more attention to that step in my next batch.

thanks for the help,
Jim
 
I brewed a Belgium wit a couple months back and my first beer did the same thing. I let them sit a little longer and now the are fine. But how much priming sugar did you use?
 
Try leaving them in the fridge for 2 weeks. That should help. Do they taste ok? How did it taste at bottling time? Did you get a stable FG before racking to the bottling bucket?
 
Either you used to much priming sugar or you bottled it to early. If you let it ferment for 3 weeks and got 2 consecutive FG readings that where the same then its to much priming sugar. now how to fix this....I found by tipping the beer bottle about 45 degrees when I open it there is less foaming, also make sure you start to pour it the moment you have opened it. Not sure if there is a lot you can do with a over carbed beer.
 
BobC said:
Not sure if there is a lot you can do with a over carbed beer.
Click to expand...

i've had a batch that was overcarbed like this. what we did was carefully and cleanly popped each bottle, let it foam and degas for a while (maybe around a minute or so) then recapped with sanitized caps. it worked quite well, lowered the carbonation noticeably. :mug:
 
I had an overcarb'd IPA here's what I did:

Step 1: Find a lot of friends!
Step 2: Open & pour all the bottles into your bottling bucket
Step 3: Hit an empty keg with Co2 and purge.
Step 4: Siphon the beer from the bottle bucket to the keg as quickly as possible.
Step 4.5: Put the keg on just enough pressure to push the beer.
Step 5: Drink the entire keg within 1-3 days or all the aeration will cause it to get funky.

Your friends will be begging you to overcarb another beer! lol
 
I still familiarizing myself with the terminology, so I might misunderstood the question. I added a couple tablespoons of honey before bottling. Is that what you mean by priming sugar?

I followed the instructions here (Brooklyn's Brew Shop Everyday IPA kit).

They tasted okay to me (first home brew I've made, but it didn't taste spoiled or anything). I'll let them sit another few days and try another one this weekend (which would make it 2 weeks in fridge).
 
Ok,that's a little better. Thought you meany per bottle. Something isn't right. Bottles clean of grit,etc,& sanitized? How about racking tubes,etc? Steady FG? Something is messing with it...
 
I followed directions and used the sanitizer to clean bottles, tubes, etc. I could have screwed up somewhere (first time doing this), so I was hoping there'd be a key step that I could identify where I could have messed up. I think I followed the steps pretty well, but I could have made any number of beginner mistakes.
 
First of all sanitizer is not cleaner. There is a difference between the 2. Second did you slowly stir the beer in your bottling bucket after you added the honey? What was your exact process on bottling day step by step in detail?
 
We basically use a cleaner (like PBW) to clean. Then rinse,the sanitize with something like starsan or idophor. I soak the bottling wand,tubes,etc in a bucket of PBW then rinse,dry & store. I santize them right before use. Fermenters & bottles are soaked,scrubbed,etc ahead of time & stored. Again,santized right before use. But I like to be sure everything is clean of any small grains of funk,etc. first.
 
60's a bit low, so they'll take longer to carb and condition. you say they've been going for a month now? they may be still actively carbing, which could make them foam up like that. you could try leaving one bottle in the fridge for 4-5 days, then give it a try. fridging will stop activity and the cool temps will allow the co2 to dissolve into solution.
 
With going almost a month in bottles, sounds like 1 of 2 things. Over carbonation, or infection. That's about it with it spewing everywhere.
 
Brewnoob1 said:
With going almost a month in bottles, sounds like 1 of 2 things. Over carbonation, or infection. That's about it with it spewing everywhere.
Click to expand...

well, it's obviously overcarbed. i think that's why the OP posted. i think infections are pretty rare, and jumping to that conclusion right off the bat is a bit much. the OP said nothing about any other signs of infection other than the overcarbing issue. there's a lot of things that can cause gushers, infection is only one of them.
 
comer88888 said:
First of all sanitizer is not cleaner. There is a difference between the 2. Second did you slowly stir the beer in your bottling bucket after you added the honey? What was your exact process on bottling day step by step in detail?
Click to expand...

Yes. I stirred the honey (after dissolving a bit in water) into the bottling bucket before bottling.

Here's the instructions copy/pasted from link I posted in first page:
Thoroughly rinse bottles with water, removing any sediment.
• Mix remaining sanitizer with water.
• Fill each bottle with a little sanitizer and shake. Empty after two minutes,
rinse with cold water and dry upside down.
• Attach sanitized tubing to the short curved end of your sanitized racking
cane. Attached the black tip to the other end - it will help prevent sediment
from
getting sucked up.
• It will probably be a snug fit, but you can get it on there.
• Dissolve 3 tablespoons honey with 1⁄4 cup water. Pour into a sanitized
pot.
• Siphoning (It all happens pretty fast. You may want to practice on a pot of
water first.)
- Fill tubing, but not racking cane, with sanitizer.
- Hold tubing below top of racking cane so sanitizer doesn’t pour into
your beer.
- Remove stopper and place racking cane into jug, just above the
sediment at the bottom (“trub”).
- Lower end of tubing not connected to racking cane into sink so that
sanitizer flows out. Suction will force beer up and through the
racking cane and tubing.
- Let sanitizer flow into sink until beer just starts to flow out of the
tubing, then clamp shut. Open clamp on tubing, allowing beer to
flow into pot with sugar solution.
- Tilt jug when beer level is getting low, but be careful in not sucking
up the trub.
- Siphon beer from pot into bottles, pinching tube clamp to stop flow
after each bottle.
• Close bottles.
Click to expand...
 
I don't think its a clean/ sanitize issue I was just letting you know there is a difference between the 2. Some new brewers think its the same thing. I was more wondering how you added the honey to the beer. I was thinking that one may have got more honey then the others. I see that you have it at 60 degrees I would bring it up to around 70 for a week then try it.
 
NordeastBrewer77 said:
60's a bit low, so they'll take longer to carb and condition. you say they've been going for a month now? they may be still actively carbing, which could make them foam up like that. you could try leaving one bottle in the fridge for 4-5 days, then give it a try. fridging will stop activity and the cool temps will allow the co2 to dissolve into solution.
Click to expand...

Ok. I have a few bottles that's been in the fridge for just over a week now (it will be 2 weeks in fridge this coming weekend). I'll try another bottle this weekend and see if it's still foaming.

thanks
 
cool. out of curiosity, is this a 5 gal batch? i'm trying to figure out how much the honey you added should carb the batch. FWIW, i don't think it's an infection issue, but covering all the bases will help us help you figure this thing out.
 
NordeastBrewer77 said:
cool. out of curiosity, is this a 5 gal batch? i'm trying to figure out how much the honey you added should carb the batch. FWIW, i don't think it's an infection issue, but covering all the bases will help us help you figure this thing out.
Click to expand...

1 gallon. Followed instructions to dissolve the honey with water, then mix it in before bottling.
 
Did you boil the honey? Honey is not sterile. You've got to add it to some water that is boiled or I think you're adding wild yeast into your beer.

I had wild yeast when I didn't get my siphon hoses clean. The result was that The wild yeast would continue fermenting in the bottles, creating too much pressure, bottle bomb, or all foam when the bottles were opened.
 
Mugsfull said:
Did you boil the honey? Honey is not sterile. You've got to add it to some water that is boiled or I think you're adding wild yeast into your beer.

I had wild yeast when I didn't get my siphon hoses clean. The result was that The wild yeast would continue fermenting in the bottles, creating too much pressure, bottle bomb, or all foam when the bottles were opened.
Click to expand...

I didn't boil the honey. Just added water to it, then stirred it up so that it was liquidy.
 
jamesewelch said:
Everyday IPA from Brooklyn Brew Shop

Ok. Thanks. I plan on buying a hydrometer the next time I'm at the shop.
Click to expand...

yeah, i looked up and saw that you posted that earlier, sorry. i don't have any honey on hand that i can weigh, but if the two tablespoons was over .9 oz or so, you may have just added too much sugar. fermentation temps are important to consider when calculating priming sugar. try using the Tasty Brew priming calc at TastyBrew.com, it's great for dialing in the amount of sugar you need to bottle condition. if your brew remains overcarbed, you can always pop the tops, let them gush and degas for 30 seconds or so, then recap with sanitized caps. that should settle the carbonation down some.
 
NordeastBrewer77 said:
yeah, i looked up and saw that you posted that earlier, sorry. i don't have any honey on hand that i can weigh, but if the two tablespoons was over .9 oz or so, you may have just added too much sugar. fermentation temps are important to consider when calculating priming sugar. try using the Tasty Brew priming calc at TastyBrew.com, it's great for dialing in the amount of sugar you need to bottle condition. if your brew remains overcarbed, you can always pop the tops, let them gush and degas for 30 seconds or so, then recap with sanitized caps. that should settle the carbonation down some.
Click to expand...

Cool. Thanks. I'll bookmark that calc and use it next time.
 
According to some on-line conversion applications (not to be trusted entirely, but they're all within range of each other), 2Tbl of honey is 1.5oz.
 

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