Very Foamy Beer

[PhelanKA7]

Last summer I brewed a high OG beer (1.100) with the intention of bottling in bomber sized bottles 22oz. I used the same amount of priming syrup i usually do. I bottled at a FG of 1.024. Since i started trying it (Around December '11) it tastes just fine but the problem is that it is obscenely carbonated. I open a bottle and it immediately begins foaming up and out the bottle and i lose almost half a bottle to this before i can even pour it.

The recipe is as follows:

11# Pilsner LME boiled

Steeped grains are:
1# Carafa III
5# Biscuit
5# Special B
.375# Aromatic
.06# Chocolate malt

4.5oz Northern Brewer hops

and fermented with Wyeast smackpack 1732 Belgian Abbey Ale 2 (Rochefort).

So what is going on here?

 

[Stix]

Its not infected is it? How does it taste? It may be infection just starting. If so drink it up!!

 

[Grinder12000]

For one thing you need to carb with less sugar when going into larger bottle because the headspace in the bottle is the same?

With that said it sounds like you have a foamer infection. It tastes good but foams. I bet it was perfectly carbonated after 2 weeks.

So either it's just plane over-carbed or a foamer infection.

How big of batch and how did you carb it. I've had sadly many foamer infections that I FINALLY tracked down to micro grooves in my bottling bucket.

OR you bottled it too soon.

 

[discooby]

Sounds like the yeast are still working. What temperature are the bottles stored at?

 

[PhelanKA7]

Its not infected is it? How does it taste? It may be infection just starting. If so drink it up!!

No. Unless there can be infection that doesn't effect flavor in anyway. As i said, it tastes great which makes the wasted beer in the foaming so much more painful.

 

[Grinder12000]

There is.

 

[drathbone]

I would say infection also. How much priming sugar and what volume of a batch? How long did you leave the bottles in the fridge before serving?

 

[PhelanKA7]

For one thing you need to carb with less sugar when going into larger bottle because the headspace in the bottle is the same?

With that said it sounds like you have a foamer infection. It tastes good but foams. I bet it was perfectly carbonated after 2 weeks.

So either it's just plane over-carbed or a foamer infection.

How big of batch and how did you carb it. I've had sadly many foamer infections that I FINALLY tracked down to micro grooves in my bottling bucket.

OR you bottled it too soon.

I was thinking I maybe bottled too soon, but I figured 2 months should have been sufficient. Also using the same equipment I have brewed 5 batches with no problems. If there can be an infection issue that doesn't find its way into the flavor i am thinking there may be an issue with the bottles i used... but ALL of them? (I've drank maybe 6bottled bottles so far out of 24.)

Puzzling...

 

[PhelanKA7]

I would say infection also. How much priming sugar and what volume of a batch? How long did you leave the bottles in the fridge before serving?

5 oz of that Maltodextrin stuff in 2 cups of water. Like i said, the same i do for every batch with no issues. I tend to lightly chill them since its a heavy beer on Belgian yeast. Have tried everything though from leaving them in fridge overnight to drinking at room temperature. Same problem everytime.

After reading advice here i'm leaning more towards infection even though the fermentation seemed to have finished nicely. Probably an issue with the bottles.

 

[Polboy]

either its infected or it wasnt done when you bottle it, i bet gravity now is below 1.024, how does it taste?, im assuming you keep it in a fridge before opening, is it better if you keep it cold for a week or longer?, also try releasing co2 very slowly

 

[PhelanKA7]

either its infected or it wasnt done when you bottle it, i bet gravity now is below 1.024, how does it taste?, im assuming you keep it in a fridge before opening, is it better if you keep it cold for a week or longer?, also try releasing co2 very slowly

Taste is boozy and remniscent of a Rochefort 12. It tastes finished to me. I will try refrigerating for a week and see what happens and also not pop the cap vigorously as i am prone to doing.

Thanks for the advice, all.

Edit: I would also add that once it is done foaming and poured carefully it has a nice head that laces perfectly as it is imbibed.

 

[curtisj]

fusarium head blight

 

[beergolf]

My guess is that it was not done when you bottled it. 1.024 is pretty high for a Belgian.

The only time I had a way overcarbed beer was a Belgian that I thought was done but obviously was not. Belgian yeasts can continue to work for a long time so you need to make sure they are done.

Here is a good quote from Brew Like a Monk...

" Let the fermentation finish, perhaps at a higher temperature. It can take as long to get the last few points of attenuation as it does for the first 80%"

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

My guess is that it was not done when you bottled it. 1.024 is pretty high for a Belgian.

The only time I had a way overcarbed beer was a Belgian that I thought was done but obviously was not. Belgian yeasts can continue to work for a long time so you need to make sure they are done.

Here is a good quote from Brew Like a Monk...

" Let the fermentation finish, perhaps at a higher temperature. It can take as long to get the last few points of attenuation as it does for the first 80%"

that's what i was thinking. belgian strains can take weeks to reach FG.

OP, with a beer like that, you want to have a stable gravity for some time before bottling. i'd make sure it was stable for a week to ten days before bottling a brew like that.