Why Do I Have Overly Frothy Beer?

[brettule]

I recently made a German style lager and bulk primed for bottling. I for my ales I usually prime with around 80-90g of dextrose based on around 21 litres, this time I primed with 120g so I could get a little more CO2 life into my lager, by my calculations that's about 2.6 volumes of CO2 which is just right for this style I think.

I opened my first yesterday after it's been conditioning for only 2 months and although the taste was spot on the head just grew and grew until it foamed over the pint glass. YES I do know how to pour a beer before anyone asks if it was self inflicted. I could see the Co2 activity in the glass was going nuts and seemed to be causing the head to foam up. After 10 mins in the pint glass it settled down but I'm now wondering what the issue is? Too much Co2? I'm sure I had the right figures. Too early on the opening? I cap in glass longnecks so I can't see how the Co2 activity will settle down over time.

Any thoughts beer gurus?

 

[Supra-Jim]

What was your final gravity reading? It is possible you bottled before the initial fermentation was complete.

Cheers SJ

 

[ben_sa]

no idea.... but why have you posted this 4 times?

 

[brettule]

FG 1016. It had been in the fermentor then racked to 2ndry over the period of about 5 weeks maintained at a temp of 12c. 1016 seems pretty good to me?

 

[argon]

120g sounds right. The last lager I did, I primed with 115g dex for a 20L batch and had no issues. What's it taste like? Possible infection? Wasn't finished fermenting, possibly? Did you have a steady gravity reading?

Unless you slipped and got the weights way off, this shouldn't happen with healthy beer. I assume you've tried a few samples. Hopefully just a couple of dirty bottles, rather than an infected batch.

Good luck with it.

 

[brettule]

no idea.... but why have you posted this 4 times?

Sorry, IE hung without confimation of the post and so I hit refresh four times before realising. Classic mistake, never do it with online payments! I've asked the mod to delete the other posts. Couldn't see how to do it myself. Any ideas?

 

[manticle]

In hot weather, I find bottles will froth up if not adequately chilled first. Is it overly fizzy or just frothy?

The other possibility is a gusher infection.

 

[brettule]

Taste was pretty good actually so I can't say it was an infection. I've not had an infection before so I couldn't rightly say but the word on the street is that when you do have an infection you'd know about it! I use electronic scales to measure the dextrose for bulk priming too so I don't think I'm off in the weights. Perhaps 1016 wasn't the end of the fermentation, I must admit I never took multiple readings before bottling I just assumed 4-5 weeks with racking at 21c would be more than enough.

 

[brettule]

In hot weather, I find bottles will froth up if not adequately chilled first. Is it overly fizzy or just frothy?

The other possibility is a gusher infection.

Ahhh! It was a damn hot day here yesterday and in my eagerness to test my German Lager I only had it chilled to the point where it was barely drinkable, perhaps this was the problem? I'll put another one in the fridge now and test it tonight.

It was frothy mainly, you could see the fizz going nuts though which settled down after about 10 mins.

 

[manticle]

I'd say that's it.

 

[Supra-Jim]

A chilled glass will also assist.

Cheers SJ

 

[brettule]

Last night I chilled the bottle in the fridge properly before pouring and what do you know? The head was perfect.

Thanks manticle, I never knew that would happen if the beer wasn't properly chilled. Commercial beers don't present this effect/problem do they? Not from what I recall anyway.

 

[manticle]

Last night I chilled the bottle in the fridge properly before pouring and what do you know? The head was perfect.

Thanks manticle, I never knew that would happen if the beer wasn't properly chilled. Commercial beers don't present this effect/problem do they? Not from what I recall anyway.

Some bottle conditioned beers will (in my experience).

Good to know you got it sorted.