Carbonic Bite on a Rochefort 8 Clone

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gERgMan

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Hey All-
So, it has been almost two months since I brewed a Rochefort 8 clone (Belgian strong dark ale). I threw a bottle in the fridge for a few hours and then cracked it open. Upon tasting, it was very good, flavor wise. Could make out some strong estery and banana scents. However, it seemed to have a carbonic bite to it. Not exactly pleasant, but a little swirl here and there seemed to get rid of it as it warmed up. I had it bottle conditioning for about 4 weeks at 75F. I then moved it to our basement where it is 60-65F, but has crept up to almost 70F during the summer months. I placed it on the floor, assuming the floor would hold a temp closer to 60-65F than the air would.
Do people think this may be overcarbonated? Will the carbonic bite mellow with more age? Should I have not placed it in the refridgerator for so long? Curious as to what people's take is on the whole "carbonic bite" issue. Thanks!
 
If you feel the bite is there then it is over carbonated and it won't go away with age. You can control it by reducing the amount of priming sugar/DME you use when you bottle it. The conditions after bottling won't affect the final level of carbonation - unless you move them into cold storage and force the yeast to go dormant. This is one more reason to keg - wish I had the $ and the room...
 
If you can pour more aggressively without gushing, that will help pull some of the excess CO2 out and mellow it a bit.

I had a batch like that (when I bottled) and ended up popping all the caps off, letting the batch sit for about 1/2 an hour and then recapped.

That helped but it was a PITA.
 
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