Overcarbed blues

[westofthebeltway]

So I brewed my first all grain batch. An amber ale. Yesterday it finished bottle fermenting. Popped open the first couple bottles and they erupt with foam. About 1/3 of the beer is left and of course it is cloudy from sediment being kicked up.

So I refridgerated all the bottles and was able to drink one by using a burping method I found on youtube. Unfortunately, still cloudy. However, the beer actually tastes amazing.

This batched fermented for 2 weeks(1 primary and 1 secondary, with dry hops). There were no signs of infection during fermentation, and I am pretty anal about all sanitation post boil. It reached a stable FG prior to bottling. I primed with one package(5oz) of priming sugar I purchased at my LHBS.

The saving grace is about half of the batch is in growlers, which I have burped and am now refrigerating, and hoping for the best.

My serious concern is for 2 batches of all grain black IPA which I bottled yesterday. I will be devastated if they are all foamers and undrinkable. I have many people eager to try these beers and was hoping to enter one in a local competition, just for fun.

I have been unable to figure out if infection, or overpriming has caused my issues. Does anyone have any advice on how to determine the cause of this problem? Also, how to prevent it in the future?

TL;DR-one batch overcarbed, wondering if 2 conditioning will be overcarbed, not sure why this happened, looking for help/guidance related to this issue.

 

[freisste]

Did you get them good and cold for a considerable amount of time? I'm thinking like three days in the fridge.

If not that, maybe over primed. How big was the batch?

 

[westofthebeltway]

The batch was 5 gallons. Lost some volume during fermentation and was about 4.5 or so when I bottled. Ill give them some more time in the fridge and see if they behave any differently.

I have been doing 3 weeks for bottle conditioning. I am thinking I might check the black IPAs at 2 weeks and if they are carbonated putting them in the fridge for the last week.

 

[duboman]

They need more fridge time for sure, try a week!

If you used a full 5 oz of priming sugar to only 4.5 gallons then you probably did over carbonate as well

.75-1oz /gallon is a good rule of thumb, weighing the sugar out is even better

If you want to try a bottle for a test you should always give not fridge time first so the CO2 goes into suspension, when warm they can just erupt!

 

[westofthebeltway]

Okay gotcha, I guess I will just be more careful with the amount of priming sugar I use in the future.

Hopefully soon I will be looking into kegging as well.

 

[CZs]

Finally opened a Mr. Beer kit I received as Xmas gift 2 years ago. I thought the beers were a little metallic tasting and maybe I just didn't know what I was doing. Then I read up on all grain v. extract v. partial and I got hooked on the endless possibilities and creativity I could have with become and all-grain brewer. Boy was I in for an adventure the very first time but glad I did it anyways - have made 3 other all grain batches (where I became increasingly better with each one and have learned valuable lessons along the way)

My first all-grain batch was a Kolsch because my wife loves them and I needed to sell her on my hobby This was about 6 months ago - The twist was, I wanted to have something that was a little more suited for the fall months so I said hey, I'll add some Caramunich II and Crystal 60 to give it a caramel/toasty flavor. Well - my first experience resulted in overflowing, mad-as-hell lava coming out of the beer upon opening the first bottle.

Coming off of Mr. Beer I thought I would read their directions on priming sugar for a 12 oz bottle. Now, I could have had a gusher infection, but I will swear to this day that it was too much sugar and I overcarbed it because I am a meticulous about sanitizing and haven't had any problems since I changed my methods - maybe table sugar directly into the bottle was not the way to go for me.

I'm proud to say the beer is delicious, but just needs to sit for 10 minutes after slightly opening and carefully pouring. Hell - even if I have to split it with someone to down this "fuzzy" beer it is worth the kolschy/toasty flavor.

After that, I made my first Saison that was a huge success with my crowd. The difference was that I used 4.5 ounces of cane dissolved into 2 cups of water and put it into the bottom of a bottling bucket. Played around with the sugar amount and did 4.6 for a Belgian "2.5" (Dubbel/Triple) hybrid and then recently did 4.75 ounces, 4 oz cane and .75 oz turbinado for a pumpkin saison I'm testing before I brew again in mid summer for fall. This 4.75 oz (84% Cane to 16% Turbinado) dissolved in 2 cups seems to be perfect for the way I like my carbonation - only (3.5 weeks fermented) only 9 days bottled so far but it is already bubbly without being overly vigorous - I would say it is slightly over medium carbed (just right for me) .

 

[CZs]

Okay gotcha, I guess I will just be more careful with the amount of priming sugar I use in the future.

Hopefully soon I will be looking into kegging as well.

Kegging is a mid to long term goal for me - would love to do it, and especially since I'm impatient - I would love to hear from some vets about sugar priming v. force carbing, what the difference in taste may or may not be and if this is something especially noticeable with Belgians/Saisons since a lot of the good ones have sediment in the bottom.

Good luck to you and thanks for your input - I'm a beginner myself and always appreciate others' experiences. I think I'm sticking with my 4.75 cane/turbinado mix until I delve into other styles. Dissolving into water and bottling bucket seems to be the way to go for me v. right into the bottle

 

[freisste]

Kegging is a mid to long term goal for me - would love to do it, and especially since I'm impatient...

Kegging may not help. While it will be carbonated faster, it will still be green.

 

[CZs]

Kegging may not help. While it will be carbonated faster, it will still be green.

very good point - so would you say this is just for convenience sake?

My noobness made me think that this might eliminate some "green" time but I can see where it might just be because it is better than having to deal with bottles, but still have to give it its time

thanks for that!

 

[rklinck]

Kegging may not help. While it will be carbonated faster, it will still be green.

This really depends on the beer. You can easily keg and force carbonate most average gravity lighter colored beers in two weeks. I kegged and force carbed a blonde ale 10 days post brew and it was good. Last night, I kegged and force carbed a pale ale that had been in fermenter for 2.5 weeks and it is ready to drink. There is a sticky in another one of the forums about how it is perfectly possible to go from grain to glass within 2 weeks if you keg.

 

[CZs]

This really depends on the beer. You can easily keg and force carbonate most average gravity lighter colored beers in two weeks. I kegged and force carbed a blonde ale 10 days post brew and it was good. Last night, I kegged and force carbed a pale ale that had been in fermenter for 2.5 weeks and it is ready to drink. There is a sticky in another one of the forums about how it is perfectly possible to go from grain to glass within 2 weeks if you keg.

thanks for the sticky heads up - I'm just gathering in general that t_i_m_e is what I will need to decide what works, doesn't work v. my personal preferences - thanks - more valuable info to consider

 

[freisste]

This really depends on the beer. You can easily keg and force carbonate most average gravity lighter colored beers in two weeks. I kegged and force carbed a blonde ale 10 days post brew and it was good. Last night, I kegged and force carbed a pale ale that had been in fermenter for 2.5 weeks and it is ready to drink. There is a sticky in another one of the forums about how it is perfectly possible to go from grain to glass within 2 weeks if you keg.

Absolutely. I was imagining the VERY impatient brewers who do the roll/shake method and have their beer carbed in a day or two. Although, I am sure that even in extreme cases it is possible to not have a green taste that early.

I'm certainly not saying it CAN'T go faster when you keg. What I am saying is that you CAN have a beer where it is carbed before it is ready. But thanks for the clarification.