Over-carbonation CURE

[esarkipato]

I have a batch of cider/graf that was bottled and the FG must not have been low enough. There is waaaaay too much carbonation in there.

BUT, I thought to try throwing an orange slice in there and it literally seemed to eat up the head. I mean it almost looked like a chemical reaction (and I assume there was one).

Has anyone else tried this or have any idea why it might be so effective at making near-bottle bombs more drinkable?

 

[Yooper]

Sounds like you had some off-gassing by creating a nucleation point with the orange slice.

 

[MalFet]

Little bitty-bits of the orange are breaking off and providing the gas with nucleation sites. That causes the super-saturated gas to come out of solution faster than it would if left undisturbed. Something might be happening chemically, as well, though I can't speculate there.

If you don't like the orange, you can always pour it into a carafe and give it a good shake.

 

[Rivenin]

a fork maybe? just put it in swish it around a few times to flatten it out a bit more. I Had an operation on my throat and couldn't drink much easily, but when i wanted a soda i'd flatten it out that way to burn less on the incision

 

[Link81688]

The rind from the orange has a lot of citrus oil on it. The oil breaks the surface tension and kills the head. No chemical reaction, purely physical.

 

[Revvy]

How long have they been in the bottle...it may not make sense to you but openning too early can make them seem overcarbed, when in reality it's just that the co2 hasn't fully been absorbed in solution.

We get a variation of this question every few days, and about 90% of the time the poster is openning his bottles under 3 weeks.


Watch poindexter's video from my bottling blog.




Like he shows several times, even @ 1 week, all the hissing, all the foaming can and does happen, but until it's dissolved back into the beer, your don't really have carbonation, with tiny bubbles coming out of solution happening actually inside the glass, not JUST what's happening on the surface.


The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Anything less than 70 degrees, means a longer time to get carbed and conditioned...below the dormancy temp of the yeast (like at 45 degree) it's gonna take forever.

But until then the beer can even appear to be overcarbed, when really nothing is wrong.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

Let the beer set for a full three weeks at 70, then chill a bottle down, it should be fine then.

 

[remilard]

The rind from the orange has a lot of citrus oil on it. The oil breaks the surface tension and kills the head. No chemical reaction, purely physical.

+1

If you were actually reducing the dissolved co2 the symptom would be increased foam caused by the co2 exiting.

You can reduce foaming as you pour by wetting all sides of the glass at the start of the pour. If you actually want to remove co2 agitation works best but this will cause more foam. It seems like you just want less foam.

 

[wildwest450]

Aw nuts, I was hoping we could cure all the keg over carbonation that goes on here by suggesting you open the lid and toss an orange in.

_

 

[esarkipato]

Nucleation sites - awesome. It sounds like the same could be accomplished using a sponge or other porous material. Maybe I'll try an experiment (read=excuse to drink another beer).

Regarding oils on the rind, I wonder about that because I've seen the reaction to a finger, or even a quick swipe of ear wax (don't tell swmbo) and it's totally different.

@ Revvy, awesome video and I learned something or a few things to say the least. However, this cider/graf has been bottled for 3 months or more.

As another note, I tried the same technique with a brown ale I have that is also a bit over-carb'd (don't ask why I have a tendancy of over-carb'ing) and it didn't work so well. It must be something about the cider/graf and the orange.

I wonder if the cider takes that much longer for the co2 to become dissolved? Also, they are aging in my basement which is at ~55, so maybe it could actually take that long (3+ months) for the co2 to get into solution!?

 

[simont]

Out of ~30 or so batches I have bottle-conditioned, I have had two that were way over-carbonated. The first was a porter that I added vanilla bean to secondary, which I blamed for somehow contributing the extra sugar that caused foaming. But I recently did a black IPA with no funky additives at all, and each bottle has been very over-carbonated. Bottles from each batch were conditioned from 3 weeks to 6 months @ 65 - 70 F, chilled down to ~40 F, and all foamed consistently when opened. When I bottle condition I use the Tasty Brew priming calculator, dextrose and a digital scale, and generally have no problems. Which is why these two batches are really baffling. The only thing I can think is that these were also the only two batches in which I used debittered black malt (Carafa 2). Is it possible that carafa somehow creates excessive foaming?

 

[weirdboy]

I haven't noticed excessive foaming on any of my beers that use Carafa 2.