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too much head...

Posted: Saturday Mar 10, 2007 4:06 pm
by homebrewers
We are finding that some of our beers froth so much when opened that sometimes we only get a mouthful, it is so energetic! Is there a general reason for this? has anyone else had this happen and what have you done to fix this problem.
We have been using carbonation drops to carbonate and always make sure that everything is as sterilised as it can be. We first had the problem with fruit beers and put it down to the "floaty bits" that you get sometimes but it is now happening more with other beers. We just poured a "Little Creatures Pale Ale" and it continued to froth up and over the glass after pouring!!
If anyone has any answers, theories or suggestions that could save our beer we would greatly appriciate it.

Posted: Saturday Mar 10, 2007 4:22 pm
by lethaldog
I would say that it could be one of three things:

Bottled to early
To much sugar used to carb
Infection ( havent had this myself so cant really comment on the characteristics)

Usually its from bottling to early :lol: :wink:

Posted: Saturday Mar 10, 2007 4:31 pm
by homebrewers
thanks for the ideas, some of the brews are bottled at 2 weeks so that would probably cover that one, but my b.friend leaves his for at least 3/4 weeks and his froth over as well!! But i will defiantly be a bit more patient with mine and bottle after longer!

Posted: Saturday Mar 10, 2007 5:16 pm
by BierMeister
2 weeks is normally fine, especially if the hydro readings are consistent. What type of beers do you normally brew? If it's darker beers then over time the yeasties eat the longer chained malts in darker beers, but we're talking a few months. More probable is the amount of priming sugar you've put in. What sort of amounts do you use per bottle/20L?

A way to overcome the overcarbonation is to get all the beers that are overcarbed and pop the tops to release excess gas and reseal. (You can use new caps or if you're careful then only slightly pop the caps and then test once you've resealed by turning upside down to see if liquid coming out)

Posted: Saturday Mar 10, 2007 6:27 pm
by homebrewers
we have been using 1 carbonation drop (coopers brand) per 375ml bottle which is recommended on the packet for the drops!! We have found this the easiest way to brew..
Most of my beers are dark, but my my BF beers are lighter coloured beers and his are over frothing aswell! :shock:

Posted: Tuesday Mar 13, 2007 9:58 am
by rwh
Or chill them down more. The colder the beer the less it should froth.