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Tony Dyer

Tony Dyer

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Sticksville, Lincolnshire, UK
Occasionally, I get a brew that has gone perfectly well, but when I pour it, it forms a massive pile of foam and a puddle of beer at the bottom of the glass - requiring 3 glasses for a 500ml bottle.

I ferment my beer until it''s more or less stopped and prime it using DME according to the calculator on BF. The poured beer is great, it's just waiting 15 mins for it to settle down that is a nuisance.

A brewing friend has suggested adding a little champagne yeast at bottling time, which will kill off any residual brewing yeast and provide fresh conditioning.

Any ideas welcome....
 
Bottling in summer can do this, picking up wild yeast.

Also, where do you store them? Warm storage can result in some yeasts re-starting in the bottle.

Like you I get this occasionally. I've never got to the bottom of it, but it's usually one or both of the above. Always happens in summer, never in winter.
 
Tony Dyer said:
Occasionally, I get a brew that has gone perfectly well, but when I pour it, it forms a massive pile of foam and a puddle of beer at the bottom of the glass - requiring 3 glasses for a 500ml bottle.

I ferment my beer until it''s more or less stopped and prime it using DME according to the calculator on BF. The poured beer is great, it's just waiting 15 mins for it to settle down that is a nuisance.

A brewing friend has suggested adding a little champagne yeast at bottling time, which will kill off any residual brewing yeast and provide fresh conditioning.

Any ideas welcome....
Click to expand...
Are you priming according to the temperature of the beer?
https://www.lallemandbrewing.com/en...g-calculators/bottle-conditioning-calculator/
 
Tony Dyer said:
I ferment my beer until it''s more or less stopped
Click to expand...
What's stopped? A gravity reading or no visual sign of fermentation activity? If its 'less stopped', then that's one reason for ongoing fermentation in the bottle.

Otherwise, for me this could be a stalled fermentation. Most consider stalling as a fermentation not getting beyond 1.015-20, but in reality it could be any where short of terminal gravity, even one gravity point could be a stall. You could try doing a Forced Fermentation Test to confirm that you are actually fully attenuating before bottling.
https://grainfather.com/forced-fermentation-test-what-is-it-and-why-do-it/
 
Last edited:
If it's definitely finished and you are only using 1/4-1/2 TSP sugar and you get a whole brew that's lively, then it's an infection in the primary or your bottle cleaning process causing something to cause late stage fermentation and additional co2
That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not necessarily a good thing either and does ruin your carbonation calcs
 
Sandimas said:
No I never bother with that. I don't like fizzy beer so I keep it real simple, prime with the minimum amount of sugar, quarter to half a teaspoon per 500ml bottle: can't get much lower than that. And check that fermentation has finished, I've left some brews in the FV 28 days. Still get the occasional lively batch.
Click to expand...
1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon is 1-2 gram my Milk Stout I used 10 gram for 21 litres, due to the temperature the dissolved CO2 was high. The calculators aren't precise mainly because of gently stirring the batch being primed and the rise in temperature but they are very close.
 
Nicks90 said:
That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not necessarily a good thing either and does ruin your carbonation calcs
Click to expand...

I've really never understood the need for cabonation calcs for homebrewers, seems a bit overkill to me: I do for commercial brewers, but not home brewers where every bit of the brewing process is subject to some degree of variation. I've been brewing 13 years, 265 brews according to my notes, and over all those brews my main aim has been to reduce the amount of carbonation in my beer to the minimum. Except the odd wheat beer and pilsner.

I know a lot of you like the precision of such things but, for me, keeping brewing simple and fun is the objective.
 
Sandimas said:
I've really never understood the need for cabonation calcs for homebrewers, seems a bit overkill to me: I do for commercial brewers, but not home brewers where every bit of the brewing process is subject to some degree of variation. I've been brewing 13 years, 265 brews according to my notes, and over all those brews my main aim has been to reduce the amount of carbonation in my beer to the minimum. Except the odd wheat beer and pilsner.

I know a lot of you like the precision of such things but, for me, keeping brewing simple and fun is the objective.
Click to expand...
Totally agree and I don't use carb calc tables either, suppose what I meant is carbing for style.
So for ales I use a metal 1/2tsp measuring spoon and that gives what I want, but for saisons I will use the 1tsp spoon and give it a little tap to make it just under 1tsp of sugar.

But my point still stands about what the OP posted, at that level of carbonation you should not be suffering super foamy pours requiring 3 glasses for a 500ml bottle. Sounds like infection to me
 
Nicks90 said:
But my point still stands about what the OP posted, at that level of carbonation you should not be suffering super foamy pours requiring 3 glasses for a 500ml bottle. Sounds like infection to me
Click to expand...

Yes, apologies. I kinda hjacked the thread.

Whenever I've got these in the past, it has seemed to be an infection. And it always occurs in summer leading me to conclude it's airborne, maybe wild yeast?
 
Weirdly, I only get this problem with a kit brew. I have made many all-grain Belgian-style beers using the BIAB method. I always prime at racking-off stage, at 2.4 volumes and have never had a gusher or bottle bombs. But I occasionally make a New Zealand pale from a kit. The latest was primed at 2.2 volumes and is incredibly lively. Deffo a summertime problem that occurs during storage. I have 5 litres in a mini keg and that has pushed the tap out and the top plug is bulging. That's now in the fridge before something violent happens!
 
I have had it too. Mine affected the whole batch.

It must be caused by extra sugar being made available to the yeast in the bottle. If the beer is finished, I guess it is infection or enzyme activity?
I am in the school of easy brewing too, ½ tsp here.
 

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