overcarbed

My beer seems to turn out with a fine taste and color but it seems to be overcarbonated every time. Sometimes it will completely foam out of the top of the bottle when I open it and even when it doesn't I have way too much head and really big and too many bubbles. I have lowered my corn sugar addition in my bottling bucket to 1/2 cup and chill before drinking but am still having this problem. I had more of a problem with beers not carbonating enough when I first started brewing and was using more CS. It's embarrassing to have a good beer blow up all over a friends kitchen! Any advice?

Let it ferment longer.

The best advice I can give is to get a small kitchen scale, and weigh your sugar. I weigh my priming sugar, and use 4 ounces in most 5 gallon batches. That doesn't really translate to "cups", though. It can pack down, or be more finely granular so you could be using 5,6,7,8 ounces in 3/4 cup.

The other things are to make sure you have completely fermented the beer before bottling, chill at least 24 hours before opening, and make sure to let the beer sit at at least three weeks at room temperature before chilling. Those three things are crucial, also.

klyph makes a good point. how long are you letting these beers ferment? are you 100% sure you have reached their FG before you bottle?

it seems like your doing everything else right. might also make sure your getting an even mix of the CS in your bottling bucket. but i don't think thats your problem.

I usually primary for at least 1 week and secondary at least 2 so I don't think its a matter of unfinished fermentation. I also bottle condition at room temp and chill before opening. I think Yooper might be on to something with the sugar. When I first started brewing I was often going right from Primary to bottling. Now I go from primary (5gal) to secondary (where I lose some beer) to bottling bucket (where I lose some beer) to bottle (where I lose some beer) I will try lowering my sugar further with my next batch which will be bottled this weekend. Thanks for the help.

i wouldn't rack to a secondary till i was sure the SG had stopped falling. just because you rack it off the yeast doesn't mean its stopped fermenting. because of the drop in yeast population the fermentation may of just gone into slow-mo.

although i think you and Yooper are on to something with the loss in volume due to all the racking. see how many gallons you have in your bottling bucket and multiply your sugar by the proper ratio.

I calculated the proper ratio on my last batch and it was WAY more than I have been using and getting overcarbed beer. I opened a Pale Ale last week and it did not blow but had way too much head. Big bubbles and many. I let it sit out for about 30 minutes before drinking and when I tried it it was almost flat. Like it had bubbled itself out. This is driving me crazy. Its to the point where I almost dont want to brew because I know its going to turn out this way. I know I'm suppoed to relax but i can't drink without obsessing over this. Could this be a result of older bottles? I rinse and sanitize but I have not bought new bottles in quite some time. Thanks for listening.

How long did you chill the bottles before opening? Try to have them in the fridge at least 48 hours before opening. CO2 dissolves more readily into cold liquids, so that the co2 in the headspace is more easily forced into the beer. It sounds like that isn't happening well for you.

Older bottles aren't an issue at all. I think this is more of a temperature issue, if you don't have an infection and are using the correct amount of priming sugar.

I had the same problem. I was using prepackaged 3/4 cup of priming sugar from my LHBS. I lengthened my fermentation to 4 weeks and had the same problem. What solved my problem was to rack the beer into the bottling bucket first and then calculate the amount of sugar I need based on 0.75 oz per gallon. I found with losses I was actually getting less than the full 5 gallons, yet still carbonating to the full 5 gallon amount.

One other method that has helped save over carbonated beer for me is to chill the beer, uncap it, quickly recap the beer and chill it once again. This has helped me save bottles that when opened at room temp are bottle bombs into bottles with a slight amount of over carbonation yet very drinkable.

Why not try those carbonation tablets, one per bottle. That way you can be sure you are not using too much priming sugar.