Why all the foam?

[birdley123]

So, I finally got my first batch to carb up. Took four weeks and now theyre all foam! Been sitting in a dark case for 3 of those weeks at 72*, 1 week in fridge.

What can I do to help with the "foambombs"?

Thx,

 

[Ostomo517]

Is this a Mr. Beer or otherwise. Did you batch prime and how much and what kind of primer for how much beer?

 

[tgmartin000]

Sounds like they might be overcarbed. You can very gently pry up the caps just a tad and they will offgas without removing the cap. You might need to do it a few times to hit a decent carb level. I've done this pretty successfully.

 

[birdley123]

Its an amber ale extract kit from midwest. I used the sugar that came with it, i think it was 5 oz.

 

[Chuu]

Did you make sure they were done fermenting before you bottled?

 

[BigFloyd]

Its an amber ale extract kit from midwest. I used the sugar that came with it, i think it was 5 oz.

Did you use all of it??? How many gallons were in the bottling bucket?

If you had a full 5 gallons of beer in the bottling bucket and added 5 ounces corn sugar, you primed to a bit over 2.7 volumes (assuming 68* ferment). That's on the high end of the suggested range (2.2-2.7) for an American Amber.

If you had 4.5 gallons, that 5 ounces brings it to 2.9 volumes. That's a bit on the high side.

It's a good practice to use an online priming calculator and weigh the sugar on a scale.

 

[birdley123]

That was my first kit, so i figured since they gave it to you, it was meant to all be used. At least thats what their poor directions said! And I had a touch under 5 gallons in the BB., cause I only ended up with 46, 12oz. Bottles.
Should I just chalk it up and move on? Its a bummer, I was really excited about my first beer and its turned out like this

 

[unionrdr]

The other reason here is not chilling them long enough. They don't have to be over-primed to foam up. Chill them for a week to get more co2 into solution. 1 hour or two or three is not enough. The co2 in suspension will use the co2 in the head space as nucleation points & foam over if you don't chill them long enough. I've had that happen once or twice.

 

[reverendj1]

The other reason here is not chilling them long enough. They don't have to be over-primed to foam up. Chill them for a week to get more co2 into solution. 1 hour or two or three is not enough. The co2 in suspension will use the co2 in the head space as nucleation points & foam over if you don't chill them long enough. I've had that happen once or twice.

birdley123 said he had them in the fridge for a week.

 

[cageybee]

46 regular bottles is plenty. I had a kit produce 44 bottles and used the entire primer packet and didn't over carb. did you add anything to the brew that wasn't part of the kit? and did the kit contain maltodextrin?

 

[unionrdr]

Yup,so he did. So many times,noobs stick'em in the fridge for an hour or two & pop it. That's usually the case. But getting 46 beers is pretty close to 5 gallons. I average 48 bottles,sometimes 52. So they shouldn't be overcarbed by very much at all.

 

[reverendj1]

My best guess as to the cause is that you bottled early (fermentation hadn't completed). Everything else you've done sounds spot on.

I had a really bad problem with gushers on one of my last beers. I split the batch up and kegged half/bottled half. I didn't take notes on how much priming sugar I used, so I'm guessing I accidentally used enough for the whole batch. At any rate, these were crazy. If you opened them and set them down, after the gushing, you would only have about 1/2" of beer. What I did was to crack them open, then immediately pour enough that you are getting the beer, instead of the foam in your glass (basically trying to pour from under the foam), and pour very very slow. When the head gets to the top of the glass, set it down and wait a couple minutes, then continue pouring once there is space available in the glass.

 

[birdley123]

Funny thing is; I popped the first one after 2 1/2 weeks instead of the usual three. tasted great, great head, not flat. I thought I was golden so I gave them out to my friends! BAD IDEA. That was the only one like that at 2 1/2 weeks! The rest were flat as boards. So I moved them to a very warm part of my house and went away.
Came back after four weeks; carbed up aplenty to say the least! Now its all foam...

The only thing I added to the kit that didn't come with it was some Irish Moss, but I don't think that has anything to do with anything here

 

[CastleHollow]

For this batch, you can try to offgas them bottles a bit, or just keep them in cold storage for awhile.

What was your FG? 46 bottles is really only about 4.3 gallons, so with 5 oz priming sugar, your amber is sitting at 3 volumes of CO2 which is pretty high. Might not turn in to gushers, but you'll experience quite a lot of foam.

 

[bds3]

Sounds like they might be overcarbed. You can very gently pry up the caps just a tad and they will offgas without removing the cap. You might need to do it a few times to hit a decent carb level. I've done this pretty successfully.

+1. I've done this on two overcarbed batches with good success.

 

[birdley123]

Sounds like they might be overcarbed. You can very gently pry up the caps just a tad and they will offgas without removing the cap. You might need to do it a few times to hit a decent carb level. I've done this pretty successfully.

Should this be done with them warm in the case, or cold from the fridge?

And should it be done enough to hear the sound or not?

 

[mtnagel]

Sounds like they might be overcarbed. You can very gently pry up the caps just a tad and they will offgas without removing the cap. You might need to do it a few times to hit a decent carb level. I've done this pretty successfully.

I have an overcarbed imperial stout. So what's the process here?

Pry up a bit so you hear it fizz and then what? Leave it? Re-cap it?

 

[petey_c]

birdley, Here's my thread on the same subject (and a pic). No real winner when it came to why this happened. My next batch of Coopers, about 8 months later, had a similar issue. No more problems since I stopped using Coopers and the carb drops. I was fortunate and used PET bottles. I was able to vent them without too much of a problem. How long were they in the primary? Did they complete fermenting? Good luck and don't give up....
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/some-head-your-beer-240414/

 

[birdley123]

petey,
Thanks, but theres no thread. Anyhow, they were in primary for a little over two weeks, then secondary for two weeks, so before I bottled it was about 4 and a half weeks (plenty of time)
Thx

 

[unionrdr]

petey,
Thanks, but theres no thread. Anyhow, they were in primary for a little over two weeks, then secondary for two weeks, so before I bottled it was about 4 and a half weeks (plenty of time)
Thx

2 weeks primary may not have been enough for it to finish fermenting. Next time,make sure it's at FG before racking. This will ensure that you don't get bottle bombs or excessive foaming. Time is your allie here.

 

[birdley123]

Even if it had the same FG reading for three straight days?

 

[unionrdr]

It depends on whether it was in the FG range of the recipe. If it was high,this could be the result...

 

[petey_c]

I would think that fermentation would continue, primary or secondary until there's no more fermentables left or the yeast have given up the ghost...