Huge head on latest brew

[GhostShip]

I'm currently drinking Dark Rock Nectaron Pale Ale and really enjoying it. The only issue is that the head is uncontrollable! No matter how carefully and slowly I pour, the head ends up being half of the glass.

I've opened a couple of bottles and then left them for 10 minutes before pouring to see if they settle, but although the foam starts creeping out of the top of the bottle (which I then remove before pouring), the end result is still the same.

Does anyone know what might cause this? I did nothing different to any of my other brews, yet this one is a real issue to pour. Is there anything I can do?

 

[Baldylocks Brewery]

Are they chilled as it will calm them a bit.
How much priming sugar did you put in each bottle?

 

[Agentgonzo]

Sounds like it's over carbonated. If you added the same amount of sugar as normal, it's likely it hadn't quite finished primary fermentation and so there was still sugar left when it got added to the bottle

 

[Agentgonzo]

You can open the cap a little crack. This will allow CO2 to escape gradually over the course of a few hours. Best do this in the sink as they may dribble. Leave for a few hours, then just recrimp the caps

 

[Galena]

I have this problem with one of my beers but in cornies not bottled, definitely not over carbed in fact very low carbonation, no idea what's caused it though.

 

[Sandimas]

Chances are you didn't do anything wrong, it's due to the time of year: I get this from time-to-time with summer brews. Not sure if it's an infection or just the brew re-starting.

Some of us stop brewing June/July/August due to this. I've never had a problem outside of these months so could be some sort of wild yeast I guess?

What temperature were the bottles stored at? Mine are in the garage and, after putting a thermometer in there, I realised it gets a lot warmer in there than I expected.

 

[GhostShip]

Are they chilled as it will calm them a bit.
How much priming sugar did you put in each bottle?

They sit in the shed for a month or two (which could get warm at this time of year), but are always in the fridge for a day or two before drinking. I used one sugar stick per bottle (about 4g, I think), which is what I always do and I've never had this issue before.

Chances are you didn't do anything wrong, it's due to the time of year: I get this from time-to-time with summer brews. Not sure if it's an infection or just the brew re-starting.

Some of us stop brewing June/July/August due to this. I've never had a problem outside of these months so could be some sort of wild yeast I guess?

What temperature were the bottles stored at? Mine are in the garage and, after putting a thermometer in there, I realised it gets a lot warmer in there than I expected.

I have a brew fridge and the beer was kept at 20.5ºC for both primary and secondary fermentation.

 

[Sandimas]

They sit in the shed for a month or two (which could get warm at this time of year), but are always in the fridge for a day or two before drinking.

I think that is your issue, the shed temp (combined with a possible infection). You'd be surprised how hot a shed can get, mine can get 10 degrees higher than outside, especially if it was in that hot period in late June. Stick a max/min thermometer in there if you want to check. I often bring my beer into the house for storage in the summer months, as the house is actually cooler.

As an experiment, leave one bottle from that brew in there the rest of the summer - suggest putting it in a plastic crate, I reckon it'll keep on going and possibly explode, or decorate the ceiling when you open it (been there....).

I've never managed to track mine down over many brewing years, but one factor is definately hot storage during summer allowing further fermentation in the bottle.

 

[GhostShip]

I think that is your issue, the shed temp (combined with a possible infection). You'd be surprised how hot a shed can get, mine can get 10 degrees higher than outside, especially if it was in that hot period in late June. Stick a max/min thermometer in there if you want to check. I often bring my beer into the house for storage in the summer months, as the house is actually cooler.

As an experiment, leave one bottle from that brew in there the rest of the summer - suggest putting it in a plastic crate, I reckon it'll keep on going and possibly explode, or decorate the ceiling when you open it (been there....).

I've never managed to track mine down over many brewing years, but one factor is definately hot storage during summer allowing further fermentation in the bottle.

Thanks for that - you make some good points. I'll maybe start building up my stocks prior to summer and then take a break and resume brewing again in Autumn.

 

[Davvy]

As with other people's responses, I would check your sugar amount for priming...there are some good online calculators for batch priming if that is your usual method ?
You say that you keep the bottles in the refrigerator before drinking....I would check that your fridge is between 2-5 deg. Celcius.
Other possibles are the yeast that you use for fermentation, as some do keep on going in the bottle even after you think that primary fermentation has finished....I have used Saison yeast in the past, and yes the beer was much fizzier than expected !
All the best,
David.

 

[GhostShip]

You can open the cap a little crack. This will allow CO2 to escape gradually over the course of a few hours. Best do this in the sink as they may dribble. Leave for a few hours, then just recrimp the caps

I've done this tonight with a couple of bottles. They're screw caps (PET bottles), so I just let out some of the gas and then tightened them up again. I'll try these on Saturday night and just see if there's any difference. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[dad_of_jon]

Thanks for that - you make some good points. I'll maybe start building up my stocks prior to summer and then take a break and resume brewing again in Autumn.

If you can pinpoint this to warmer temps just use less priming sugar in the bottles that will be in the shed over summer. I usually use 3 different priming rates for a batch and put one two or no dots on the cap to determine which ones are drunk first to last

 

[Graz]

Funny though how you just get something that behaves a little differently from time to time. I have a Razorback IPA in a corny keg at the moment, force carbonated to the same pressure I do for every other ale but it pours with a lot of head. Must be something passivating in the beer line or associated connector somewhere but no idea why. Even with the flow reduced on the flow control tap it still does it. Very odd.

 

[MashBag]

Shed temp & time if year does affect yeast and carbonation AND beer volume!

And to add to it... Every beer can be potentially different, depending in what residual sugar is present at bottling.

I used one sugar stick per bottle (about 4g, I think), which is what I always do and I've never had this issue before.

What is a sugar stick?

4g is almost a teaspoon (5g). That is 80% of max priming dose for pint bottles.

What size bottles are you using?

 

[MashBag]

You can open the cap a little crack. This will allow CO2 to escape gradually over the course of a few hours. Best do this in the sink as they may dribble. Leave for a few hours, then just recrimp the caps

You can tap an ## OPEN ## glass bottle with somthing metal (dinner knife). The resonant frequently* will release some of the co2. This gives you some idea of the carbonation before pouring lively little numbers **

*Think Guinness frother gizmos.

** yup. I have had them to, more foam than sweety fuelled toddler in a bathtub.

 

[Dazzelknight]

This happens to me a lot and as stated I put it down to warmer storage temperatures that the summer months produce resulting in a little more active fermentation. What works for me is I use no priming sugar at all in my ales and they come out perfect. If you’re wanting a good level of carbonation I recommend using half the amount of sugar u regularly use.

 

[Bergenson]

I had the same problem with a few brews. I adjusted my amount of priming sugar I add at bottling time, downward to take into account the residual CO2 as I bottle straight from cold crashing at temperature near freezing. it turned out I needed a lot less sugar than when bottling from fermentation temperatures.

 

[Sandimas]

I'll maybe start building up my stocks prior to summer and then take a break and resume brewing again in Autumn.

That's what I usually do. I've still got bottles from March / April, they are fine, later ones are a bit frothy.

I bottled a brew a week ago and just had a look at it, each bottle has a little bit of white film on top of the beer at the neck of the bottle, I reckon it might have a lactobacillus infection. Maybe another victim of brewing in the summer.

 

[GhostShip]

Shed temp & time if year does affect yeast and carbonation AND beer volume!

And to add to it... Every beer can be potentially different, depending in what residual sugar is present at bottling.



What is a sugar stick?

4g is almost a teaspoon (5g). That is 80% of max priming dose for pint bottles.

What size bottles are you using?

This is a sugar stick;

Cheap as chips off ebay!

I'm using 500ml PET bottles.

 

[MashBag]

After I posted, I did wonder if you were a regulator at McDonald's