Help! Someone Carbonated My Beer!

[phinnsfotos]

I've been brewing a dark ale. Coopers Dark Ale kit, 1kg light dry malt, about 300gm of speciality grains, about 20gm @ 20 minutes of hops, US-04 yeast at around 18-20 degrees

Well I got a bit busy and it ended up sitting in the primary fermenter for 5 weeks. I pored out a hydrometer reading and it was clearly fizzy, it even threw about a 1-2cm think foamy head. FG looked good (1.012) and it tasted pretty good, I could definitely feel a fizz when I tasted it.

Well I bottled it, although I had to stop filling short because of the think head (pulled 33 long necks out of a 23 litre batch). I primed with RAW sugar and scoop (used the 750ml end) which I'm a little worried about as there was obviously quite a bit of CO2 still in solution, but I figure I can burp the bottles (PET) to get it to a level I'm happy with.

Any hooo, I'm not really worried that much about it, I"m sure it will be fine. Just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. I was just so surprised because the head was really think and creamy, really do hope the finished beer is the same.

Cheers,
Finn

 

[mkstalen]

Don't worry about it. You pretty much always get some dissolved CO2 after fermentation and before bottling. (Well I do anyhow...)

 

[felten]

Like Stienberg said, there is always co2 dissolved in the beer. http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...;showarticle=79 has a good explanation of it, and how the priming calculator takes it into affect, unless you're using a sealed container...

Personally I crash chill and bottle when cold so there is little or no foaming.

 

[phinnsfotos]

Yeah, I know, it's just that this beer threw a thick persistent head in the hydrometer tube. Never had a beer do that before. Made bottling a bit difficult.

 

[dkaos]

Yeah, I know, it's just that this beer threw a thick persistent head in the hydrometer tube. Never had a beer do that before. Made bottling a bit difficult.

Are you using a lil bottler to do it? I've done away with mine and just come straight out of the tap. If you're getting heaps of head just reduce the flow a bit and try to do it on an angle.

Cheers

Clint

 

[manticle]

What was the FG? I often get CO2 bubbles even after reaching FG but since I sit the beer on the yeast for a bit longer then cold condition it doesn't wreak havoc with bottling.

 

[felten]

My current brew, it definitely makes it annoying to take hydro readings

lots of wheat and carapils

 

[Hatchy]

Can't you fill the tube up to the top, the push the hydrometer down to overflow the foam? That works ok for me.

 

[felten]

That is a great idea, I normally just take the minimum required

 

[bum]

I normally just expel air from my lungs via my mouth into the top of the tube to kill those mean little bubbles.

 

[Hatchy]

I normally just expel air from my lungs via my mouth into the top of the tube to kill those mean little bubbles.

I never thought of that. Saves wasting beer which can't be a bad thing.

 

[bum]

I dunno what effect saliva might have on your FG though so keep it tidy.

 

[bullsneck]

Why not expell air via bum?

 

[bum]

My beer does not need any further assistance in that regard, but(t) thanks for the cheeky suggestion anyway.

Arsehole.

 

[felten]

The head was like a meringue, couldn't get rid of it so I just drank it :icon_drunk:

I hope it sticks around like that through to the glass anyway