Very foamy pour from bottle.

[btienk]

I'm waiting anxiously for my very first beer to be done. I made a Brewer's Best witbier extract. They have been sitting in bottles for almost three weeks. I wanted them ready for this weekend so I pulled one out and put it in the fridge for a day and a half. When I poured it on Sunday, it foamed up. I barely got a quarter of it poured and the foam was almost to the top of the pint glass. Is there anything I can do to fix this? I'm hoping it will calm down before Friday. I was going to refrigerate them on Wednesday. Should I bump that up a little? The taste was dead on for Blue Moon according to my Blue Moon expert, aka my fiancé.

 

[ColoHox]

Sounds like your beer might be a little over-carbonated. You can try keeping the bottles in the fridge for a longer period of time before drinking to encourage the carbonation to stay in solution.

 

[brewcephus]

Sounds like they are over-carbed. I have a similar issue with my Honey Porter. Only thing you can do with that is take your time pouring it. Takes me a solid 3 minutes to pour one of my Honey Porters into a pint glass.

Other than that, I'm really not sure. I'm sure some with more experience will chime in shortly.

 

[Whattawort]

If you're dedicated to minimizing the carbonation in its current state you could try off-gassing the bottles by taking the caps off and then putting new ones on. But since it sounds like your beer and the CO2 have surpassed equillibrium, this may not make much of a difference in the end and you can risk introducing an infection to the bottles if you're not super anal about sanitization. My $.02, keep it as cold as you can (not freezing) and brush up on your slow pour skills.

 

[Travestian]

I had the same problem recently with a nut brown recipe I found on here. It is as simple as described above. Over-carbonation. You will have to take your time pouring since it is overcarbed. One thing you can do is to store your pint glass in the fridge. Then right before you pour, wipe it dry inside with a paper towel or clean cloth. The cold glass will help keep some of the bubbles in solution.

 

[unionrdr]

My 2nd batch a couple years ago did that,but it only foamed up about 1/2" above the lip of the bottle. Problem was it was on Home Brewer TV. Boy,was my face red. He might not have chiled it long though?? I usually give beers llike that a week in the fridge or more. Def helps. They say a gusher infection can also cause this,but I never found out what the infection is/was...if at all.

 

[btienk]

Thank you everyone for your replies. Wish there was some abracadabra voodoo trick to solve that at this point. At least it still tastes good. I'm still very happy with my first batch of beer.

 

[reverendj1]

My 2nd batch a couple years ago did that,but it only foamed up about 1/2" above the lip of the bottle. Problem was it was on Home Brewer TV. Boy,was my face red. He might not have chiled it long though?? I usually give beers llike that a week in the fridge or more. Def helps. They say a gusher infection can also cause this,but I never found out what the infection is/was...if at all.

For some reason it seems whenever someone is judging/critiquing a beer and they get a gusher, they assume infection.

Another way to fix them (I'm in the process now) is to move them all (or as many as you can) to a fridge for at least 2 days. After waiting two days, every day off gas them with a bottle opener. You need a good bottle opener, like the big ones bartenders use. Lift it ever so slowly (a few mm) until you hear the gas escape. Look in the bottle and look for it to foam, or the beer to expand. Once it almost touches the cap, let go and it should still seal. Keep doing that every day (or multiple times a day, waiting like an hour between times) until the foam doesn't touch the cap when off-gassed. I've been doing this with a stout that I somehow got bottle bombs on. I've saved a few so far, but it's a slow process.

Keep a capper handy, in case you go a little overboard and it doesn't seal back quite right. Just recap using the same cap and it should be fine. I've saved 6 out of a case so far doing this, but had one that didn't reseal and I didn't notice, so it went flat. Oh well, better than what I had, I guess.

 

[reverendj1]

Also, for your next beer, make sure fermentation has stopped and that you use the correct amount of priming sugar. One of those is most likely the reason for your over-carbonation.

 

[unionrdr]

For some reason it seems whenever someone is judging/critiquing a beer and they get a gusher, they assume infection.

Another way to fix them (I'm in the process now) is to move them all (or as many as you can) to a fridge for at least 2 days. After waiting two days, every day off gas them with a bottle opener. You need a good bottle opener, like the big ones bartenders use. Lift it ever so slowly (a few mm) until you hear the gas escape. Look in the bottle and look for it to foam, or the beer to expand. Once it almost touches the cap, let go and it should still seal. Keep doing that every day (or multiple times a day, waiting like an hour between times) until the foam doesn't touch the cap when off-gassed. I've been doing this with a stout that I somehow got bottle bombs on. I've saved a few so far, but it's a slow process.

Keep a capper handy, in case you go a little overboard and it doesn't seal back quite right. Just recap using the same cap and it should be fine. I've saved 6 out of a case so far doing this, but had one that didn't reseal and I didn't notice, so it went flat. Oh well, better than what I had, I guess.

I didn't say it was an infection. I said they say a gusher infection can cause it. It's usually a stalled beer that reacts with the priming solution. Some times too much sugar in the priming solution. But I'd say most times it's that last couple points that waits tilll it's bottled to ferment out with the added sugar.

 

[reverendj1]

I didn't say it was an infection. I said they say a gusher infection can cause it. It's usually a stalled beer that reacts with the priming solution. Some times too much sugar in the priming solution. But I'd say most times it's that last couple points that waits tilll it's bottled to ferment out with the added sugar.

I misread your post (which in turn caused you to misread mine ). I thought you were saying that the Home Brew TV guys said you had a gusher infection when they tried it.

 

[unionrdr]

I misread your post (which in turn caused you to misread mine ). I thought you were saying that the Home Brew TV guys said you had a gusher infection when they tried it.

No,we both saw it at the same time on screen. That was embarrassing. As soon as he popped it & reached for the glass,it foamed up about 1/2" over the lip of the bottle. It was a member named Gary that ran the show on youtube. But I did beat out a commercial ale by 3 thumbs up to 2. and that was my second brew with a two year old Cooper's can I used in my own recipe. Now I make sure the beer is at a stable FG within range.

 

[ballsy]

Also consider just getting a larger container (I have a plastic gallon container) and pour it in, let sit for 5-10 mins in fridge and foam will be gone, then pour in pint glass.