Big Head

[Steiger66]

I just popped open the first bottle of my 4th brew a California Steam. When I poured it It was all head from the bottom to the top of the glass. It was all foam. I poured it my usual way tilting the glass and all. The head just shot up really fast. What could be the cause of this? Just curious.
BTW after it all settled out it was delicious.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

Sounds like it may not be finished fermenting and continued in the bottle. What were the starting/final gravity? How long did you let it ferment before bottling? How much priming sugar did you add?

 

[Steiger66]

The starting gravity was 1.045 and the final was 1.012 for 3 days before bottling. I had it in the primary for 16 days and a secondary carboy for 14 days and in the bottle for 3 weeks. I also added 5 oz of priming sugar.

 

[marubozo]

You should be thankful it tastes good after that. I've had two batches thus far that somehow picked up a gusher bug during bottling and they would pour just like you describe. Nothing but head and carbonation. The problem is that even after the beer settled it still tasted like a donkey's taint.

But one thing to note is that the same beers that turned out disgusting actually tasted very good while young and it was only after many weeks or months of sitting in bottles they really got bad tasting.

This shouldn't alarm you or anything as I'm sure your beer is fine, but just sharing a similar foaming experience.

 

[alexdagrate]

How long did the bottle sit in the fridge before you opened it? I sometimes find that if I let a bottle sit in the fridge for at least a week, the pour is smoother and less gush-y.

 

[Shooter]

You should be thankful it tastes good after that. I've had two batches thus far that somehow picked up a gusher bug during bottling and they would pour just like you describe. Nothing but head and carbonation. The problem is that even after the beer settled it still tasted like a donkey's taint.

But one thing to note is that the same beers that turned out disgusting actually tasted very good while young and it was only after many weeks or months of sitting in bottles they really got bad tasting.

This shouldn't alarm you or anything as I'm sure your beer is fine, but just sharing a similar foaming experience.

Hmm, interesting, I had a gusher infection a while back, but as long as I opened and poured immediately the beer poured and tasted fine. Well, actually the beer tasted terrible, but that was because it was probably the worst beer I've ever made and that had nothing to do with the infection.

 

[DavidHawman]

Let the bottle chill for at least 24 hours. Otherwise I've found that even though the beer feels chilled, there ends up being way too much head.

This should diminish with further bottle aging I've found. My first batch had to be chilled for 24 at least hours before consumption but now the remnants of that batch can be consumed almost warm with no problem.

 

[bosox]

The same thing happened to me with my last IPA that I brewed. I chalked it up to over carbonation, as I added about 1 cup of DME instead of 3/4 which I later found out I should have.

The benefit to this though seems to be that the beer is so carbonated that it will actually get a good head in the bottle when drinking, so there is no need to pour it in a glass. Otherwise my beer gets about 5 inches of head in a glass, but in the bottle it will even get a nice 1.5 inches head. It tastes great though, so I would just drink if from your bottles and RDWHAHB

 

[Steiger66]

How long did the bottle sit in the fridge before you opened it? I sometimes find that if I let a bottle sit in the fridge for at least a week, the pour is smoother and less gush-y.

I had it in the fridge for about 2 days.

 

[Steiger66]

Thanks everyone. At least the beer taste great. I popped a second one last night and the head wasn't as big as the first... Still big though. I'll just pour a little slower for now.

 

[doctorRobert]

I think this would go away with time... what temps did you condition the beer at? Maybe it needs a little more time.