Continuously Foaming Beer

[Col_klink]

Hi All,
So I was cleaning out the 'beer closet' yesterday to make room for a new batch of apfelwein. I found 5 bottles of Pale Ale I forgot I had. I would say they are around 6 months old.
So I put them in the fridge for a couple of hours. When I went to open the first one, I see a bunch of bubble coming up from the bottom of the bottle and a steady stream of foam begins to roll out of the bottle. I put it in the sink the foam just kept coming. I opened three more bottles and all the same result.
The other 40-something beers from this batch were fine and I never had this problem. Of course none of those had been sitting around as long.
I have seen other threads about this and people mention either infection, over carbbing, or bottling before fermentation was done. However, like I said, the rest of the batch was fine.

Any thoughts on what this could be? I kept one bottle in the fridge in case there is something I can check.

As always, thanks for the input!

-Klink

 

[Rockn_M]

I had the same exact thing happen to me. Nothing tasted or looked infected and my FG was on target with what was expected. The only thing I could come up with is that I had used to much priming sugar and the previous 30 or so had been drunk before it had been fully carbed.

 

[Col_klink]

Yah that same thought crossed my mind. And like you, The beer looked and smelled fine, even the ones that were foaming like crazy.

 

[beergolf]

So I put them in the fridge for a couple of hours

A couple of things come to mind. How much priming sugar did you use? They may be overcarbed. Most kits recomend 5 oz which is really too much. It works for most because new brewers rarely let beers sit for very long. With 5 oz they carb up quick and usually get drank up before they reach the over carb point.

Also just a couple of hours in the fridge is not really enough time to fully get the carb into the beer, so when you open them you get gushers. A few days to a week in the fridge would have helped that problem. They probably would have been highly carbed and poured with a very big head, but probably would not have gushed like that"

There is a small chance that it could have been a minor infection, but I am leaning to overcarbed.

 

[brewkinger]

There is a small chance that it could have been a minor infection, but I am leaning to overcarbed.

Totally have to agree.
The fact that all the other beers from the same batch were OK is a strong indicator of this.

 

[Col_klink]

Thanks guys, I'm going to leave that one I didnt open in the fridge and open next week. I will say the batch did seem to be SLIGHTLY over-carbed so maybe that's it. Thanks again.

 

[jonmohno]

I would get them all in your fridge now. Try not to move them around much either. Ive had plenty of overcarbed batches and leaving them alone by not disturbing them is key as well as getting them straight to the fridge as soon as you notice it. You may have just overcarbed but if you have an infected batch then the carbonation could grow worse leading to gushers or worse bottle bombs.

Ive opened beers straight out of my basement without them gushing. It seems any gushing can happen when the beer is still trying to carbonate in the first month with people. And then people only chill them a few hours. This doesn't happen to me though Ive often pulled a brew from 1-3 weeks of conditioning and never really had problems, I have had some very slight foamers though. And Im wondering how these people are handeling their beers before opening them, Im pretty gentle with mine trying to leave the yeast cake tight at the bottom.

 

[helibrewer]

Do you treat your water with Calcium, especially top off water? Excess calcium can precipitate as calcium oxalate and provide nucleation sites that cause excess foaming when the bottle is opened. You cannot taste or see it.

 

[Grinder12000]

I bet it's a minor infection. If it was over carbed you would know it in the first few weeks. Beer tends to be delicate sometime with age. Did you used Whirl Floc, Irish moss or any other stabilizers? They can help stabilize beer if it's going to be aged.

Foamers are not uncommon but not talked about by many.

What you can do is pour them into a pitcher and let them gas off if they still taste good. I just got 2 4 packs of foamers from Dark Horse

 

[Col_klink]

Hi All, I wanted to post an update to this. The bottle I left in the fridge has been in there for about a month now. I kind of forgot about it. Well, I just cracked it and no foam problems at all. So I am thinking beergolf may have nailed it when he mentioned a few hours not being enough to absorb the carb. This is something I never knew so lesson learned. I just wanted to post up the result in hopes someone can learn from my mistake and not pour four beers down the drain for no reason :-( Thanks for all the input!

-Klink