What causes this?

[Desert_Sky]

I came home from the store today with a sixer of a beer I usually love. But today was a bit diferent. When I went to pop the cap, it was pretty loud and since I use my cigarette lighter to pop open bottles, it shot to the ceiling.

No foam at first, at this point it looks normal. But as soon as I went to pour, it was instant foam. The entire beer turned to foam. No matter how gently I poured, as soon as I agitated the beer in the bottle it turned. So Im jsut curious what caused this. It was every single one too. Normally if you shake the bottles they foam as soon as they are opened, so it wasnt that.

 

[Radarbrew]

I'll bet the beer got too warm and then chilled when they remembered they left a bunch of beer sitting around. What was it, BTW, so I don't get some of that?

 

[Somerville]

You know, I recently had a four pack of Brasserie des Rocs Grand Cru (strong belgian brown). I would open it, a couple bubbles, then all of a sudden a lot near the top, then it would get really foamy and start to rise really fast. Though, this beer was 9.5% and perhaps its normal sometimes. Also, yours sounds like the whole bottle turned to foam, mined just started to foam out the top really fast but with enough time to start pouring. It was actually kind of cool! Haha...anyways, what type of beer was it?

 

[david_42]

Sounds like you might need to look into "beer clean". Depending on how you wash your glasses, there can be residues that act as nucleation sites for foam. If you run glasses through a dishwasher, you should hand rinse each one with hot water and let them air dry. If you hand wash them, rinse them two or three times. If beads of water form inside the glass, it isn't clean enough. The rinse water should run off in sheets.

My favorite brewpub uses a dishwasher, but never uses soap and nothing but glasses are run through that machine. All coffee cups, etc. are cleaned in the kitchen.

 

[Desert_Sky]

I'll bet the beer got too warm and then chilled when they remembered they left a bunch of beer sitting around. What was it, BTW, so I don't get some of that?

Four Peaks out of Tempe, AZ. An English Pale called 8th Street Ale

Most of the time their beers are great, its not like Im going to boycott them or anything, I was just curious

 

[gremlin]

did you take the long way home down a bumpy dirt road?!
seriously, could you return them and get another 6 pack to see what happens?

the last beer i bottled a week ago, after 3 days in the bottle i opened one. total gushing foam fest before it hit the glass. how does it carbonate that fast! i did a comical run across the kitchen to the sink with the bottle to in my mouth to catch the foam!

you use a cig lighter to open all your beer bottles? the one time i tried that i broke the neck off and nearly needed stiches i cut myself so bad. you are a brave man!

barrett

 

[Desert_Sky]

you use a cig lighter to open all your beer bottles? the one time i tried that i broke the neck off and nearly needed stiches i cut myself so bad. you are a brave man!

barrett

Only had one incident involving an exploding lighter over the years. And it was one of those crappy see-through plastic ones.

 

[D*Bo]

I had a similar problem with Maudite recently. Drinking from the bottle was horrible, the entire thing turned to foam while drinking, way to much gas in my stomach. Pouring didn't help much.