Too much head??

bbbarrontine · Dec 23, 2011

Recently brewed my first batch of a Belgian wheat beer and after two weeks of being bottled the head is annoyingly aggressive to the point where is takes two glasses to hold beer and head. Any idea as to what I can do to not make this mistake again ?

COLObrewer · Dec 23, 2011

Wait at least another week at room temperature (Depends on the brew), refrigerate the beer for at least 2 days, then open.

Have you made a mistake, we don't know, it takes appx 21 days for an average gravity brew to fully carbonate, your beer may not have absorbed the co2 into solution yet.

unionrdr · Dec 23, 2011

I've had beers fully carbed in 10 or 11 days,but weren't conditioned till week 4 or 5. So give them another week or two at room temp. Then give them 2 weeks in the fridge. I do that,& head is thicker,& carbonation is longet lasting,as more co2 is driven into solution.
Also,making sure you have a stable FG will help toward keeping the foaming down to something more normal. Not to mention,not over-priming. I use the priming calculator at tastybrew.com.

badbrew · Dec 23, 2011

I'm guessing that you may have bottled it too early.

unionrdr · Dec 23, 2011

I've gotten a couple of those,even with stable FG's. So I'm trying to think what else could be involved here. I learned on my 2nd brew,my summer ale I sent to Gary at Home Brewer TV. I didn't fridge them 1st,& when he opened it,foam came up about 1" from the lip of the bottle. I've found at least a week for pale ales & the like is good,2 weeks better at slowing that foaming down a bit. Just chilling them down til cold isn't long enough,ime.

bbbarrontine · Dec 23, 2011

Thanks I was worried I may have had an infection of some sorts but I was not sure

lumpher · Dec 23, 2011

shouldn't be an infection. they take longer than that, usually. like others said, just overcarbed

helibrewer · Dec 23, 2011

Too much head? I didn't think that was possible ;-)

bbbarrontine · Dec 25, 2011

So I thoroughly check my bottles today and I notice a thick layer of a milky white substance on the floor of the bottle - I'm guessing that would be the residual sugar left over ?

Yooper · Dec 25, 2011

bbbarrontine said:
So I thoroughly check my bottles today and I notice a thick layer of a milky white substance on the floor of the bottle - I'm guessing that would be the residual sugar left over ?

No, probably yeast sediment. How much priming sugar did you use? If you used one of those "priming calculators" they tell you to add more priming sugar for a highly carbed beer- but usually all they've ever done for me is foam. I no longer use a priming sugar calculator, and just prime almost all beers with 1 ounce of priming sugar (by weight) per gallon of finished beer.

Too much head??

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

bbbarrontine

Member

COLObrewer

Well-Known Member

unionrdr

Homebrewer, author & air gun collector

badbrew

Well-Known Member

unionrdr

Homebrewer, author & air gun collector

bbbarrontine

Member

lumpher

Supporting Member

helibrewer

Supporting Member

bbbarrontine

Member

Yooper

Ale's What Cures You!

Similar threads

Latest posts

Too much head??

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

Member

Well-Known Member

Homebrewer, author & air gun collector

Well-Known Member

Homebrewer, author & air gun collector

Member

Supporting Member

Supporting Member

Member

Ale's What Cures You!

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!