Beer turns entirely to foam on pour

[dendron8]

So I think I know the problem.. This is a kahlua stout, and I added a 3/4 full bottle of kahlua as well as 4oz of priming sugar.

Assuming the problem is over carbonation, I have been over the last week slightly opening bottles to release the co2 and re capping.

I tried one tonight and I think it was ever so slightly better, it was still 80-90 percent foam.

I tried also pouring an entire bottle into a pitcher and letting the foam settle, but that just made it flat.

Does anyone have any thoughts about how I could avoid tossing this batch?

 

[jbunton]

Maybe open a bottle and let it breath for a few mins before pouring.

 

[Kene64]

As you've identified, you have an over carbonated batch. Letting a little co2 out is the right thing to do. When you recap the remaining co2 will release into the available head space Andy then equalize with the amount of co2 in solution. The more head space in the bottle the more co2 that will be released. There is no quick fix that I'm aware of. Bottles have minimal head space so you will have to release co2, re-cap and let it equalize and then do it again. Keep doing this until you get to a more favorable carbonation level. you will blow threw a fair amount of caps but you might be able to save the batch. When you do pour a glass do it very slowly into a chilled glass. The cold glass will help minimize the foam up. Good luck.

 

[flars]

Lay a quarter across the bottle cap and then just lift an edge of the cap enough to release CO2. The coin will keep the cap from creasing and then just recrimp the same cap on the bottle.

 

[Kent88]

As long as you don't have a gusher, I don't see this as a problem. I don't know where you are with brewing, but when I started out I had horrible carbonation and foam retention in my beers, so now I'm happy to see plenty of foam as long as it isn't a gusher.

What volume of beer did you end up with for this batch? Are you sure that that it was done fermenting?

I wonder how strong kahlua is and if it adds any fermentable sugar.

Get bigger glassware. Pour slowly.

 

[flars]

There are 11 to 14.7 grams of sugar per shot in Kahlua. Keep all these bottles cold and continue releasing CO2. Plan to drink as soon as the amount of foam starts diminishing.

 

[dendron8]

thanks for the replies, all.. im having trouble posting from the app (permission denied??) so this is a little delayed.

after I vented a bottle for 7 days, the 8th day i started to vent it and it didnt overflow. i took the cap completely off and it flowed out a little, and had more head than i would have liked but was drinkable. still tasted very fizzy, like a soda.

I think im going to bump it up to 9 or 10 days to see if that helps.

@Kent88 I ended up with 46 bottles if i remember correctly. i didnt check hydrometer/gravity readings, but it was in primary for 3 weeks. the OG was 1.072, FG was 1.014.

@Kene64 thanks. I was afraid of that I have been lifting the cap just enough to let CO2 seep out and then reusing the same cap.

@flars - ya, that was my mistake, not accounting for the sugar in the Kahlua. The Kahlua bottle was about 3/4 full, so lets say thats 19 ounces, which means ~250grams of sugar, which means ~8.8oz of sugar. in addition to the 4oz of priming sugar, my total fermentables in bottling was more than triple what it should have been. I actually could have just put kahlua in and still been over. Assuming my calculations are right, I might be venting for a while

Oh well, at least I learned something!

 

[dendron8]

I vented for 8 days, and on the 9th day I poured one into a glass from the freezer. Much better. And the beer actually tasted good

 

[BoredomElixir]

I've bought commercial beer before that was like this (thanks inbev!) I just ended up uncapping it and putting it back in the fridge for awhile before drinking it. 30 mins uncapped helped a lot.