Oh No, overcarbed Stout,thought I knew what i was doing...

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Pelican521

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I have an chocolate oatmeal stout that's been bottled for two weeks and is already overcarbed :(

I thought I knew what I was doing by following the sugar priming calculator here:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

According to the calculator, it called for 3.5 oz of corn sugar but it had a slightly higher FG than Brewtoad calculated. It's FG was 1.022 (after 2 weeks) but should have been about 1.016.

I also added 3/4 lb of Lactose which would increase the gravity a little (which Brewtoad doesn't account for) but I'm thinking the yeast quit out before completely finishing as well. It was in the primary for two weeks and I checked the gravity a couple times to make sure it was stable before racking it onto 4oz of cacao nibs where it sat for another two weeks before bottling.

Has anyone recapped an entire batch to release some of the head space co2? Would this help it or an I at risk of contaminating my beer by doing it? Is there any other way to try to fix it?

Thanks in advance.
 
Your beer wasn't done, the yeast just took a little break and now that you added priming sugar they got excited and went back to work. You can uncap them and let out some of the excess CO2 without worrying about contamination. Don't completely remove the caps, just break the seal and let them outgas for a while, then take the cap off and recap. Best of luck with it.
 
The sooner you bleed them off, the better. I had a batch over carb, and I waited too long to bleed the pressure. They were all volcanoes.
 
Ok, well I tried to just give them a tiny crack, barely prying and they foamed over. I guess I open a tad too much.

I guess I'll give them a tiny crack every few hours to let out any built up pressure but not enough to let them foam over.

Any other ideas? Should I be chilling them before or after to help anything?
 
Chilling them will at least allow you to open them. If they are still gushing after 24+ hours in the fridge, you'll probably have to dump. If they aren't, then pour those that are chilled aggressively into a large pitcher, wait, and then pour into a normal glass. That should get rid of a lot of the excess carbonation and give you an enjoyable beer.

Which yeast?
 
A stout with 3/4lb of lactose added isn't typically going to get to 1.016 due to all of the unfermentable stuff in there.

Before you do anything drastic, give it another week or two at room temp, fridge a few for 3+ days and then see where you are on this.

Did you weigh your priming sugar (strongly recommended) or do it in a measuring cup?
 
BigFloyd said:
A stout with 3/4lb of lactose added isn't typically going to get to 1.016 due to all of the unfermentable stuff in there.

Before you do anything drastic, give it another week or two at room temp, fridge a few for 3+ days and then see where you are on this.

Did you weigh your priming sugar (strongly recommended) or do it in a measuring cup?

+1,000

Don't rush. Your beerhas only been in the bottle for 2 weeks. Beer will often foam if opened before it is fully conditioned - especially if it wasn't chilled long enough before opening. Let them sit a little bit longer and then throw a couple in the fridge for a few days.

4 weeks should have been plenty of time for fermentation to complete and your FG is fine for a sweet stout. While it is possible the yeast were not done I doubt this was this case. It is also possible you have an infection - if so, all that lactose will now be fermented and you will have gushers on your hand (and they'll have a sour milk taste)...but no need to worry about that until you get there.
 
Ok thanks for the replies. Due to panic, I went ahead and bled the excess gas off the remaining case and a half very carefully without any foam overs.

I used a digital scale to weigh the priming sugar.

Progmac, I used Wyeast 1335 British Ale II. Why would I dump the batch if it is overcarbed? Would it effect the taste?
 
Progmac, I used Wyeast 1335 British Ale II. Why would I dump the batch if it is overcarbed? Would it effect the taste?

Over carbonation can add an astringent bitter bite to the beer and it's not very enjoyable to drink. If you still have gushers after all this work, a bit of advice would be to open the bottle (when your ready to drink it that is) and let it degas for 10-15 minutes while it warms. Then you should be able to pour and enjoy it at the correct temperature anyway.
 
Ok thanks for the replies. Due to panic, I went ahead and bled the excess gas off the remaining case and a half very carefully without any foam overs.

I used a digital scale to weigh the priming sugar.

Progmac, I used Wyeast 1335 British Ale II. Why would I dump the batch if it is overcarbed? Would it effect the taste?
I think if they are still gushing even after being chilled for 24 hours, they are severely overcarbed and you are risking bottle bombs. Also, if I don't look forward to reaching for a homebrew, I tend to dump. Obviously your threshold for what constitutes a dumper may be different from mine.

Venting can work, but you will have to do it many, many times. Like probably 8-12 times per bottle over the course of a couple of days and even then it might still be overcarbed.

I asked about the yeast because highly flocculant strains mightfall to the bottom before the beer is done fermenting. I've experienced this with wyeast 1187, which shares many characteristics with 1335. So the beer acts done but the act of bottling plus the sugar rouses the yeast enough that it finishes fermenting in the bottle.

I like to rouse english strains at least once during fermentation to prevent this.
 
Gotcha. I did chill one for a day or two and had no issues with gushing, just a huge head when poured and I had to wait a little while to finish the pour, and just was too carbonated for an oatmeal stout.

It did have a little astringent taste and I was wondering if that was do to having too much carbonation or just being green (sounds like both maybe?).
 
Here is my over-carbed stout - can't remember the exact circumstances but thankfully I only had two of them (his brother exploded!)

 
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That's crazy!! I will say, it looks like something delicious was right under that foam though...
 
You should watch this video. It shows the progression of carbonation in bottled beer - from gushers at the start to a perfect pour after a few weeks. Again, it is possible that your beer would have been fine if you left it alone (unless your gusher was more like the stout in the video above!).

 
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Thanks for the vids. I've actually seen that one on the time lapse carbonation before but it made me feel better to see it again as my panic meter is now lowering.

The over carbed stout video made me feel better as well as my "gusher" isn't even close to that magnitude. Sorry for your loss :(

I did give them all a crack to let some gas out but now it's time to put them away for a while and hope for the best.

Thanks all.
 
Gotcha. I did chill one for a day or two and had no issues with gushing, just a huge head when poured and I had to wait a little while to finish the pour, and just was too carbonated for an oatmeal stout.

It did have a little astringent taste and I was wondering if that was do to having too much carbonation or just being green (sounds like both maybe?).
I think overcarbed dark beers taste terrible. If you have a growler, empty one into the growler, probably like the whole growler will become foam. Then once that settles down, add another beer. Let it sit out 10 minutes and then fill a glass from the growler. Enjoy properly carbed beer throughout the evening.
 

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