What can cause excessive head?

[ShartAttack]

I recently brewed the NB Smash kit. This involved dry hopping with one ounce of Simcoe.

When it was bottling time, I primed with 2/3 cup as directed (as I have with all of my beers). To my surprise, this beer has lots and lots of head. If I pour a bottle into a pint glass, even pouring slow the head accumulates very quickly. Otherwise the beer tastes fine so I don't think it's an infection.

Any suggestions on what might have gone wrong here?

 

[RM-MN]

Your beer probably wasn't done fermenting and it fermented a little more of the malt sugars along with the priming sugar. It's happened to me a couple of times, quite annoying when the beer is at the expected final gravity and then the yeast get the idea to eat a little more.

The other possibility is that the priming sugar wasn't evenly mixed and some of the bottles got a little more sugar than others. If you find that not all are overcarbonated, this is likely the cause.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Young, incomplete carbonation looks like this. It doesn't take long for the bottled yeast to produce gas, but it does take a while for that gas to go into solution in the beer.

Check out this video. It really illustrates the need for patience when bottling:



Let it sit for a few weeks longer, then chill one for 24 hrs and try it. You'll see the quality of the carbonation improve with time.

 

[ShartAttack]

I had hoped fermentation was complete, but I guess I don't know. It's a pretty light beer and I let it ferment for the about 2 weeks before bottling. Maybe there was still a little sugar left?

I doubt it's a problem with the timing of conditioning. It's been in the bottle for almost 2 months now and the head situation hasn't improved much over the last month.

 

[Brewbien]

Being a Senior in high school who hits on Freshman.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

I had hoped fermentation was complete, but I guess I don't know. It's a pretty light beer and I let it ferment for the about 2 weeks before bottling. Maybe there was still a little sugar left?

I doubt it's a problem with the timing of conditioning. It's been in the bottle for almost 2 months now and the head situation hasn't improved much over the last month.

If it has been conditioned that long at around room temperature, then maybe it just needs some more cold conditioning (chill time in the fridge). It might take a few days in the fridge for the carbonation to settle in nicely.

Alternatively, 3/4 cup of sugar may be too much sugar for the style of beer. You really need to measure the weight of the sugar with a scale, as 3/4 cup of sugar might be wildly different weights of sugar depending on the fineness of the crystals. (As an extreme example, imagine 3/4 cup of table sugar crystals vs. 3/4 cup of confectioner's sugar). Even different brands of table sugar can have different crystal sizes.

 

[T_Baggins]

Being a Senior in high school who hits on Freshman.

Or being Charlie Sheen in the Best little whore house in texas!

 

[Melana]

Being a Senior in high school who hits on Freshman.

This.

 

[ShartAttack]

I figured I was opening it up with that thread title

I'll try the new old conditioning. Most of the time, I don't think they've been sitting in the fridge more than a day or 2. I had one recently that was still foamy but not as bad, and that one might have been sitting in the fridge a bit longer.

 

[orangehero]

Young, incomplete carbonation looks like this. It doesn't take long for the bottled yeast to produce gas, but it does take a while for that gas to go into solution in the beer.

Let it sit for a few weeks longer, then chill one for 24 hrs and try it. You'll see the quality of the carbonation improve with time.

The CO2 produced by the yeast doesn't go out of solution, sit in the empty space at the neck of the bottle, and then go back into solution. The dissolution is nearly instantaneous. I don't believe the yeast produce CO2 at such an extreme rate that it doesn't have time to establish equilibrium with the pressure in the empty space. Also, the pressure from the CO2 builds gradually.

A beer of average gravity and with plenty of yeast in suspension shouldn't take more than a week to carbonate. That's not to say it will be at its peak then, but it shouldn't be an issue of carbonation.

As far as I can tell in the video you posted, the difference is due to him pouring room temp beers vs refrigerated beers. You can do the same thing with a commercial beer and you'll see the same thing, especially if you pour from a foot above the glass.

 

[MindenMan]

A often too drunk SWMBO? Somebody had to ask...

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

Dating someone with an oral fixation?

Someone points a mirror in my direction Who, me?

 

[doornumber3]

Measure the sugar by weight and not by volume.

 

[BigFloyd]

Measure the sugar by weight and not by volume.

+1 to this. It's the only way to get an accurate carb consistently.

 

[duboman]

Measure the sugar by weight and not by volume.

+1
If the beer has been bottled for two months and tastes fine once the head dissipates, the beer is over carbonated, plain and simple.

As suggested, weigh out your priming sugar and stop measuring by volume, it's just not accurate or consistent. Also, never assume your beer is done fermenting by a date on the calender. Yeast doesn't work like that. It could have gotten stuck, stalled or simply took a bit to get to FG, Always verify with hydrometer readings!

 

[johns]

Measure the sugar by weight and not by volume.

So what is the weight of 3/4 a cup of priming sugar or enough to carb a 5 gallon batch?

 

[duboman]

So what is the weight of 3/4 a cup of priming sugar or enough to carb a 5 gallon batch?

You can't convert volume to weight it's apples and oranges

A general rule is .75-1oz per finished gallon of beer.

1oz=28grams
I weigh out to the gram

 

[ShartAttack]

Just in case anybody finds this thread because they have a similar problem:

I think the problem is simply too much carbonation. However, a bottle that was left in the fridge for about a week (leaving the house for Thanksgiving helped ) produced only a one finger head instead of the clenched fist of head that I was usually getting. Not sure if that will work for anybody else, but more time in the fridge seems to help me!

 

[Cider123]

Being a Senior in high school who hits on Freshman.

Wrong

"Dating someone with an oral fixation?"

Wrong

"A often too drunk SWMBO? Somebody had to ask..."

and Wrong


The answer: Trick question! There is no such thing as excessive head. There is such a thing as not enough head, which BTW is a crime in itself

And BTW, thank you to the OP. Bud Abbott couldn't have pitched a better straight line. I went running for this thread like a hyena headed to a road kill convention.

 

[Cyclman]

+1 on the "no such thing as excessive head"

But, this being "the season" I hear jewels from Kay Jeweler work.

 

[Melana]

+1 on the "no such thing as excessive head"

But, this being "the season" I hear jewels from Kay Jeweler work.

Or new brewing gear... Works for me

 

[doornumber3]

So what is the weight of 3/4 a cup of priming sugar or enough to carb a 5 gallon batch?

here's a calculator....usually like 3-4 ozs for a standard beer.....definitley will help
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

 

[masskrug]

I use four ounces (by weight). This way I get four batches out of my one pound bag of sugar.