Extreme Carbonation Problem

Why is my beer so over carbonated?
Back on august 8th I brewed an imperial porter/stout. It was my first partial mash. BeerTools calculations have OG at 1.089 and FG at 1.024. Actual OG was 1.083. At the time I figured my efficiency was low or one of my various sugar additions was lite. So I put in primary for two weeks take a reading and get 1.023, cool, time to rack to secondary with my bourbon soaked oak chips(august 24th).
At this time my total volume is about 1/3 gallon shy of 5 gallons. Figure this is normal as there were a lot of hops and trub left in the pot initially and good depth on the yeast cake in the primary. After 2 more weeks (Sept 6th) I bottle with standard 5oz pack of priming sugar. At this point I do not take a gravity reading thinking it was finished with all of the fermentables.
So about 6 weeks ago i start to enjoy the beer except that it is way over carbonated. So much so that the entire pour becomes foam unless i let it trickle smoothly into the glass and still I get half a pint of foam.
My guess is that my problem comes from 2 sources. 1 being that my volume was a bit low and the 5oz of priming sugar was just too much.
And 2 being that fermentation was not complete even after a month. And there were still fermentables left when I bottled.
Am i right or did my beer just get contaminated and that is the reason for the carb problem? Help

I wouldn't think that 5 oz of priming sugar is too much... I've used as much as 7 oz in brews that I wanted to be very carbed (belgian wheats, triples). 4 weeks is enough for normal-gravity beers, but 1.083 is pretty high, what sort of temps did it ferment/carb at? I have been leaving high-gravity beers in the secondary for upwards of a month. If it didn't taste tainted, don't worry about contamination. In either case, I don't think you over-sugarred your brew.

I would guess #2, especially if you mashed low and/or didn't use a yeast starter. The left over fermentables got eaten up along with the priming sugar, thus over carbonated beer. I, myself, have never complained about over carbonated beer. The forming of the foam helps to release aroma and I love the smell of my beers as much as I do the taste and appearance.

fermentation temp was a pretty steady 70F. Bottles were kept about 7 days around 75F then moved to semi basement area where temp in sept usually in the low to mid 60's. The beer does not have any taste indicators of contamination, in fact it is quite delicious once the foam dissipates.
btw- I did use a starter and i used Wyeast 1728 Scottish ale

I've run into the same problem recently on several beers brewed weeks apart. And yet one kind that has been fine. I am not sure that contamination is not my problem and maybe yours as well. I plan to be a much more aggressive with sanitation the next couple of batches and see what happens.

I'll keep you posted.

mstamm said:

I've run into the same problem recently on several beers brewed weeks apart. And yet one kind that has been fine. I am not sure that contamination is not my problem and maybe yours as well. I plan to be a much more aggressive with sanitation the next couple of batches and see what happens.

I'll keep you posted.

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I hate to be so awkward as to ask what your head is like but I will. And what kind of beers were yours.
I am leaning towards incomplete fermentation as opposed to infection. I think the carbonation level increased gradually as the yeast fed on the left over sugar. I am still waiting for some bottle bombs. Until then I will keep it cool in a box.

I just has this same problem. I have been brewing for a few years and kegging my beer. A few months ago my neighbor wanted to learn to brew so we split a 10 gallon batch of a 2 hearted ale clone using my home grown hops for everything but the bittering stage. We primaried for 4 weeks, I racked mine off to a keg. I boiled the priming sugar in a cup or so of water, put it in the bottom of the bottling bucket and racked the 5 gallons on top of the sugar solution. To clean bottles we blasted with scalding hot water using a bottle washer, then soaked in star san for 10 minutes or so. Because of my spigot on my bucket, we ended up with a really fat hose pushed all the way over the bottling wand so we got a bit more headspace than desired.

My neighbor then let these bottles sit for 2 weeks on his basement floor. Probably 65 degrees. Every single one opened with a nice pfisss. Upon pouring into a glass, you get 70% foam. Once settled the beer was delicious, one of my best ever. The head was dense and creamy as it settled.

I'm assuming either over carbed or infected with the hops hiding the infection taste. His bottles taste very close to my force carbed keg beer.

Linc

I have the same problem with a hefeweizen, and have been searching forums for something I can do to this batch to reduce the head. Would it make sense to return the batch to a bottling bucket, let it sit a while, and re-bottle?