Over carbonated

[Archon316]

Last three batches of beer I've brewed have been severely over carbonated. Like gushing out of the bottle over carbonated!
Any suggestions to prevent this in the future?
Maybe if I let it ferment longer?

 

[madscientist451]

Maybe.....how long are you letting it ferment now?
A good practice is to use a hydrometer to take gravity readings.
When you take 2-3 samples 5 days apart and the gravity doesn't change, its probably done.
Use an on line calculator to determine how much priming sugar to use.
A small scale is better for measuring your priming sugar, but measuring with volume is OK.
Another possible issue is that your beer is infected/contaminated.
Your bottles and bottling equipment have to be super clean but also have to be sanitized.
Check out you tube videos for different methods of sanitizing and bottling.

 

[RM-MN]

A good practice is to use a hydrometer to take gravity readings.
When you take 2-3 samples 5 days apart and the gravity doesn't change, its probably done.

Note the expected FG. You may eventually get a stalled ferment. If the FG hydrometer reading is significantly higher than expected, start doing things to try to get the yeast restarted like raising the temperature and swirling the fermenter to get more yeast in suspension.

 

[hotbeer]

How do you carbonate?

I use a priming solution that I add to the beer before bottling. But you have to know what your actual volume of beer to be bottled really is. Not what you hope it's going to be.

So if you planned your priming sugar for say 10 bottles and only got not quite 7 bottles of beer, then that's a problem.

That was my mess up with the wheat beer I made several months ago.

But as others said, if you were in a hurry to bottle and the yeast wasn't fully finished munching on sugar, then that unknown amount of sugar also figures in to your priming sugar calculations.

Before you bottle, let your beer sit for a while after reaching it's FG. Make certain it's the beers own FG and not just what the recipe says.

while = week or two in my world.

 

[Stonecold_OM]

So for a long time I brewed without actually taking gravity readings. Yes, I know a travesty in the brewing world, but I hated using the archaic method of taking the reading. How I use a Tilt hydrometer to take my readings. But before the tilt, I would let my beer sit in the primary for no less than 4 weeks to ensure that the fermentation process was complete. Now with the Tilt I know it's usually about done within a week or so.

So if you don't take gravity readings then I would let ferment for about a month then add the correct volume of priming sugar. This will ensure you carbonate correctly.

 

[Falstaff]

I use 1oz of sugar per gallon of beer, and tweek it a little depending on style. How much did you use and how many gallons?

 

[GoodTruble]

The four most common potential causes of too much CO2 are (and how you check them):

1. Beer wasn't done fermenting (check gravity readings).

2. You added too much sugar/priming ingredient (use a priming calculator).

3. Infection (beer will likely taste off or have visual indication)

4. You added the entire priming to the beer before bottling and didn't mix it well (some bottles will be overcarbed and some under).

-You can also use the process of elimination.

 

[rburrelli]

My vote is for infection.

 

[bracconiere]

just a thought. could the malt have gotten moldy?

 

[hottpeper13]

A beer overflowing from a bottle is over carbed, a gusher is either way over carbed or there wasn't enough calcium in the mash to drop out the calcium phosphate. My lowest mineralized RO liquor is for a Pilsner and has 73 ppm's.

 

[rburrelli]

A beer overflowing from a bottle is over carbed, a gusher is either way over carbed or there wasn't enough calcium in the mash to drop out the calcium phosphate. My lowest mineralized RO liquor is for a Pilsner and has 73 ppm's.

Or the batch is infected.

 

[hottpeper13]

The infected bottles I've had all had a ring at the fill level in neck.