Beer has HUGE head when poured and is flat, but no fizz/foam when opening bottle

[jtwilliams31]

I bottled a Dunkelweizen about 2 weeks ago and, as the title states, I'm having issues with a huge foamy head and flat beer when pouring. My instinct says that it's overcarbonated (I primed to about 3 vols and am pretty fastidious when it comes to measuring volumes/weights of priming sugar/etc), but when I open the bottle after being in the fridge for 24-36 hours there's no problem at all - a very mild carbonation hiss, actually pretty small compared to many other beers, no foaming/spewing (even after sitting with the cap open for a bit), etc. When I pour it into the glass though - even when pouring down the side and trying to maintain as much carb as I can - I come out with a huge, thick head and relatively flat beer.

Am I opening them too soon? Perhaps should I let them sit in the fridge for 1 week+? Is it just a product of the high volume of carbonation and not conditioning long enough?

Thanks for any input!

 

[brewswithshoes]

Varying opinions on this but I usually don't feel like the bottle conditions beers I've made were done conditioning for at least 3 weeks. That is to get to the carb levels I'm expecting.

Temp they were conditioned in also plays a factor.

A good tip regardless of the length of time you choose to condition is to turn the bottles over to resuspend any settled yeast. You don't have to shake the bottle but getting it mixed back in helps the process along.

Time usually fixes this, but I know how anxious I've been to crack open some of those bottles.

Good luck!!!

 

[dwhite60]

I bottle in plastic. At two weeks I give all the bottles a quick spin to re-suspend the yeast. Makes quite a difference in pressure levels.

They feel the same for many days up to two weeks. That little spin really ups the tightness of the bottles over a day or two.

I've read that if you have a lot of sediment in your bottles it can get stirred up when opening. This creates lots of nucleation points for CO2 and thus create a lot of foaming which of course pulls the CO2 out of solution making your beer flat..

All the Best,
D. White

 

[rburrelli]

Are you sure the beer had finished fermenting before you bottled?

Have you considered that it might be an infection?