Overcarbonated bottles?

[Kyricus]

The last two batches I've made, both from extract kits, appear to be over carbonated. Not every bottle, but most of them. When I pop the lid...sploosh.. foam overflow everywhere. And the eruption is pretty violent.

I'm not handling the bottles that foam up any differently than the ones that don't, and I've not had this problem with any other batches. I've followed the recipe exactly for these last two, no deviations, and used only the priming sugar that came with the kit.

The only thing different on the last batch is I got busy and let it sit in the seconday glass carboy for almost 2 mos. before bottling it, but I don't see that causing the foam issues.

Ideas? Thanks.

 

[cbjohnson2]

Did you force carbonate or add starch and wait? If you added starch do not add to each bottle individually. Add the starch to the entire batch, stirr to dissolve and to ensure homogeneity, and then fill the bottles. Also the level to which you fill I think would have an effect on the carbonation rate. Did you notice a correlation between the fill level and the carbonation?

 

[rifraf]

How long have they been carbonating?

 

[Kyricus]

They've been in the bottle a bit over a month, that's what's so odd.

@cbjohnson2 No forced carbonation or added starch, just the priming sugar the recipe called for.

 

[rifraf]

It might settle a little bit, mine did but you might be over carbed. How much sugar? What kind of beer?

 

[Kyricus]

This batch is a Red Ale, and only the 5oz of priming sugar the recipe called for.

Here's the stuff.. http://www.monsterbrew.com/Prod_RedAle.cfm

Simple to make really, even though I was um...drinking at the time. So, I'm somewhat at a loss for all the darn foam. Beer still tastes just fine though.

 

[rifraf]

5 Oz is probably too much. Those pre measured packets tend to be more than enough for your average beer. Next time try using a priming calculator (www.tastybrew.com). My beers have been getting closer to 3.5 oz.

 

[nascarazy]

You may not have gotten your priming sugar mixed up well enough. I usually add mine to the bottling bucket before transferring from the fermenter. If you add it after the transfer, you may not get enough of a mix. Insufficient mix would result in some bottles being over carbonated and others not so much.

 

[duboman]

Couple things:

Go to tastybrew.com and use their priming calculator, punch in the numbers and see what it says to determine how much priming sugar you needed to use to compare, probably more than you needed

What was the temp of the beer at fermentation. CO2 is still present in the beer in different concentrations at different temperatures-the calculator will ask for this

The beer is obviously carbonated so it's not the 4 weeks or the long secondary. Where and how warm were the bottles stored? Have they been refrigerated and for how long?

place them in the fridge and forget about them for a week or two and then try one, the cold conditioning should improve them, if they are already in the fridge then let em sit longer

 

[Kyricus]

I'll try that priming calculator next time. It should be interesting to see the comparison.

The beer ferments in my basement where the temp is pretty much a constant 62-63 degrees F. The bottles are also stored down there and I usually do put them in the fridge for a bit before drinking.

Though, I can't recall if hte one's that overflowed were in there or not. I know the one that did tonight had not been. I just opened it without putting it in the Fridge. Hey, I was thirsty!

 

[homebrewdad]

Another vote for "5 ounces is probably too much". If the style calls for 3.5 ounces and you use 5, you are talking about 40+% more CO2 that you ought to have added. That's definitely enough to cause foamy beer.