Fixing an overcarbonated batch

[brewhaha]

So I have a bottled batch of an Earl Grey pale ale that I'm due to enter into a competition mid July but after 2 weeks carbonating in the house & a week in my conditioning fridge at 13C it's horrendously overcarbonated.

Now I'm trying to get to the bottom of why it is but actually what's more important is seeing if I can fix it before the competition.

I'm thinking of just flipping the caps to vent the headspace & then recapping. Would that do anything?

Does anyone have any other methods they've tried or am I stuck with it?

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[MyQul]

Yes, venting them by flipping the caps would get rid of some of the carbonation

 

[Drunkula]

And then if they're still overcarbed shake them a bit at a time, wait, then release more. Try to have them at the temperature they'll get drunk at, and aim for a level at that.

 

[brewhaha]

Yes, venting them by flipping the caps would get rid of some of the carbonation

And then if they're still overcarbed shake them a bit at a time, wait, then release more. Try to have them at the temperature they'll get drunk at, and aim for a level at that.

Excellent cheers guys. Will try that & see how I get on.

The why is still eluding me. Suspect either the tea "dry hop" kicked off some secondary fermentation that has carried on in the bottle or maybe a wild yeast? It tastes exactly as I would expect it to. I'm going to degas a bottle later & recheck the FG which should give me an answer one way or the other.

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[aamcle]

Or pour them into a jug let it settle a little then into a glass.

Aamcle

 

[brewhaha]

Or pour them into a jug let it settle a little then into a glass.

Aamcle

That's what I ended up doing but I need to fix it in the bottles as I need to send off 3 of them for a competition.

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[Slid]

My suggestion is to open four bottles, very chilled, and de-gas them using the jug / small FV method above. Then refill three of the bottles once the foam subsides. Make a decision on whether you need to re-prime the three for the competition and drink the remainder.

 

[brewhaha]

My suggestion is to open four bottles, very chilled, and de-gas them using the jug / small FV method above. Then refill three of the bottles once the foam subsides. Make a decision on whether you need to re-prime the three for the competition and drink the remainder.

Will try this as well if simply venting doesn't have enough effect. I'll probably leave one & reprime the other 2 to see which is best & then apply that to the remainder. Fortunately I've got time on my side.

I am a little worried of oxidation with your method though Slid. I can blanket everything with CO2 from a soda stream bottle but did you have any issues with introducing oxygen?

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[brewhaha]

Right, after leaving a hydrometer sample to degas overnight, my FG now sits at 1.009, 2 points lower than when I bottled. I'm convinced now the tea "dry hop" has kicked something off in the bottle. It still tastes great so I don't think it's wild yeast or similar.

A quick calculation now puts my carbonation at 3.5 vols as I primed to 2.5 plus the extra 2 points. I'll check again in a week to see if SG moves any further (hopefully not!).

Anybody else had similar experiences after using tea in a dry hop?

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[Slid]

Will try this as well if simply venting doesn't have enough effect. I'll probably leave one & reprime the other 2 to see which is best & then apply that to the remainder. Fortunately I've got time on my side.

I am a little worried of oxidation with your method though Slid. I can blanket everything with CO2 from a soda stream bottle but did you have any issues with introducing oxygen?

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The beer I used this method with was the last Xmas Barley Wine @ 10%. I had to use a 15L fermenter to de-gas 8 or 9 500ml swing top bottles. The amount of foam was incredible. Place looked like a Club 18-30 Beach Party.
And, no, I did not notice any oxidation issues and the whole 15L bucket was flooded with CO2. Many. many times over!

 

[brewhaha]

The beer I used this method with was the last Xmas Barley Wine @ 10%. I had to use a 15L fermenter to de-gas 8 or 9 500ml swing top bottles. The amount of foam was incredible. Place looked like a Club 18-30 Beach Party.
And, no, I did not notice any oxidation issues and the whole 15L bucket was flooded with CO2. Many. many times over!

Good to know. Cheers Slid.

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[brewhaha]

Update - uncapped & recapped 4 bottles last weekend. Tried one last night & still far too carbonated for style. Taste is still where I'd expect it to be (I even tried a side by side with the beer that inspired it, Yeastie Boys Gunnamatta) so no closer to working out the cause.

Next up is trying Slid's degassing method. Glad the competition isn't till mid July!

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[brewhaha]

Update 2 - emptied 6 bottles into a small FV that I filled to the brim with CO2! Let it stand for a few minutes then rebottled 4 bottles (3 for the competition plus 1 tester to open the day before submission).

Was left with about a pint of dregs which I'm tucking into now. Still tasty but murky from the yeast & a little flat from multiple transfers.

The 4 bottles have gone back into the conditioning fridge for 2 weeks so keeping my fingers crossed!

The competition aspect has certainly added a lot of stress to my brewing recently!

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[Petrolhead]

Don’t want to hijack Brewhaha’s thread but I over carbonated a Canadian Blonde, whatever you’re thinking it won’t be as good as the Pamela Anderson comment I had when that was the title of an earlier thread of mine!, anyway back to the subject.

My beer was in 500ml bottles so after having the usual volcano effect I put some bottles in the freezer to chill right down, then I would take a bottle and in a quick movement open it and invert it in an upright pint glass. That is a pint glass on the worktop with the mouth of the bottle on the bottom of the glass.

The gas would go up to the bottom of the bottle and hence force the beer out through the upside down neck but the beer already in the glass slowed down the volcano effect.

It wasn’t perfect but did work better than any other method I could discover and I managed to work my way through 40 odd pints in this fashion without to much damage or wastage.

It took a day or two obviously

Clear as mud but I hope it helps someone.

 

[mgrds]

I'd chill out a bit on oxidatiion fears - if the beer is over carbonated it will want o give off gas not absorb it!
If you pour it into a clean sanitised vessel it will immediately vent off a layer of CO2 which will cover & protect it.

 

[brewhaha]

Update 3 - tonight is a final taste test before dropping off my beers for the competition.

I don't know whether it's because I know but I can taste a difference between the rebottled beer & the original. The original tastes better to me so I'm actually going to enter that one over the rebottled one & hope the overcarbonation doesn't cost me too much in the judging.

I've actually been allowed to enter a 2nd beer (a saison) so keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks to all for their help & I'll post for a final time in this thread on Sunday evening after the judging.

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[brewhaha]

Final update - results are in from the competition & whilst I didn't win, it was great to receive feedback from 3 judges. One in particular was very detailed & gave me food for thought (picked up on a "hot" alcohol flavour that I'd also detected).

The overcarbonation was a side issue but definitely affected the perception of bitterness. All the bottles from this batch are getting a deep clean which should hopefully deal with any wild yeast issue.

Scores were 28, 29 & 30. Really happy with that as my 1st competition (& 1st brew of this beer) & has given me the bug to enter more in the future.

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[MyQul]

Oven the buggers. Ive been doing this for a few years now and have never had a problem with overcarbonation from infected bottles

Congrats on the scores

 

[brewhaha]

Oven the buggers. Ive been doing this for a few years now and have never had a problem with overcarbonation from infected bottles

Congrats on the scores

Think that might be the way forward. Whilst it doesn't taste "infected" i.e. it tastes pretty good, I'm wondering whether this hot/fusel alcohol flavour is in fact the result of the infection. I cannot see how the original fermentation could have caused it as I use a fridge for temperature control.

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[MyQul]

Think that might be the way forward. Whilst it doesn't taste "infected" i.e. it tastes pretty good, I'm wondering whether this hot/fusel alcohol flavour is in fact the result of the infection. I cannot see how the original fermentation could have caused it as I use a fridge for temperature control.

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Mmm. Not sure. Perhaps if your OG was quite high, you used an agressive yeast, used some simple sugars, mashed low or fermented near the top end of the yeasts temp range (or a combination of some of these), the exothermic reaction of the fermentation could have maybe pushed the fermantation temp into fusil territory?