Diagnose my problem : foamy beer

[Malted_hops]

Background : I brewed Yooper's DFH60min clone, posted in recipe forums. I used 14#s, and 1/2# respectively of grain to compensate for efficiency. I brewed on May 4th, fermented with Nottingham yeast, and bottled on May 30th, fg 1.006 ( not temp corrected). Bottle conditioned until June 29th, then it sat in the fridge ( 44° ) until July 4th. Popped a top, had a nice pffttt. Then when I pour it into a glass it foams up. Regular pint glass, got about 8 oz of beer in and it is overflowing with head. Warm glass, cool glass, dry glass, freshly rinsed glass, refill a used glass, it's all the same..... More foam than beer. And, yes, I do tilt the glass and pour down the side. The foam will die down after a few minutes and it has a 1/4" head til you finish the glass, bubbles from bottom the whole time.
Is this a brewing technique issue ( I use a CFC so cold break is in the fermentor), or (dare I say ) infection?

Edit: I used 4.5 oz of table sugar to prime a total of 56 bottles . This isn't a beginning of batch issue. I started with the last bottles top be capped.

Any comments, suggestions, insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[grathan]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/dogfish-head-60-minute-clone-ag-extract-25709/

Your F.G. is way low which could indicate infection. Depends on what Not temp corrected is supposed to mean.

4.5 oz of sugar seems like a fair amount. Did you weigh this yourself? Could your scale be off?

Also perhaps some of the bottles are more carbed than others and your just getting the more sugary ones first.

 

[nukebrewer]

I use the carbonation calculator on Tasty Brew to calculate my priming sugar additions. For a typical 5 gal batch it usually has me in the 3.2 - 3.5 oz range for table sugar. It's not always perfect, but it's always close enough and I never get gushers or highly overcarbonated beer.

 

[Yooper]

I use the carbonation calculator on Tasty Brew to calculate my priming sugar additions. For a typical 5 gal batch it usually has me in the 3.2 - 3.5 oz range for table sugar. It's not always perfect, but it's always close enough and I never get gushers or highly overcarbonated beer.

I like my beers carbed to a commercial beer level- about 5 ounces of corn sugar for 5 gallons. It works perfectly for me. That is about equal to 4.5 ounces of table sugar, more or less. I would find 3 ounces undercarbed, unless it was like 3.5 gallons going to the fermenter instead of 5- always possible in a highly hopped IPA I guess!

I'm not sure what's going on here. I assume you have about 1-1.5 inches of head space in each bottle, and that the priming sugar was well mixed in. I'm surprised that chilling them longer doesn't seem to help.

 

[Malted_hops]

The ' not temp corrected' comment was because I had to move between brew day and bottling day. And I had no idea where I packed a thermometer. My guess is the beer was in low 70s when I bottled.

I weighted the sugar using a digital kitchen scale, I've never actually checked its calibration. Just assumed it was correct.

No gushers yet, but I did have one bottle bomb. Since it was just the one I figured it was a defect in the bottle.

Maybe it's just at the verge of being over carbed.

 

[ktblunden]

How does it taste? High carbonation and a bottle bomb could be indicators of infection. You say you started with the last bottles to be capped, try a couple from the beginning and middle and see if those are the same. If they're better, the sugar might not have gotten mixed quite enough. If your OG was 1.070 as the recipe calls for and FG was 1.006, that seems like higher attenuation than Notty usually goes, which could again lean toward infection.

 

[Malted_hops]

During the move, my brew notes have been... Uhmm, misplaced. I do remember that the O.G. Was a bit low, maybe a 1.065? Or was it 1.062???

Taste is good, I like it! Nothing off, funny, or funky tasting.

If it was a priming sugar not mixed well problem, shouldn't the last bottles be flat and the ones toward the beginning be the over carbed ones? I'll get some of the first ones to be bottled on Monday and report back a few days of chilling later.

Maybe I need to start using my big beer mug, it would hold the foam so I could pour a beer in one pour.

Thanks for the responses.

 

[Malted_hops]

Forgot to update this.

All my bottles had the same issue, first of batch,middle, and last ones. So i don't think it was a priming sugar issue.

I did have a second bottle bomb, or rather it was broken in the box. Just looked like it had fallen apart, all the pieces were in a pile. I know some of the bottles had been less than gently handled.

No one that tried one ever said anything about off flavors or being sour. Everyone always wanted more. I saved a few for my bil ( he brews also ) and he thought it was good with no off flavors.

The only thing i can think off is that i used a cheap generic cleaner instead of Oxyclean on the bottles. It didn't say unscented, but it didn't mention any particular scent either. Maybe it left some kind of residue ?

On a side note, drink your IPAs while they are fresh. The ones i saved mellowed and lost some of the hoppy goodness.

 

[grathan]

If bottles explode then there is too much sugar. Check the kitchen scale. A newer penny weighs about 2.5 grams so 51 pennies should show about 4.5oz