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Over carbonated IPA

arnold931

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Jan 30, 2014
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Location
Cedar Rapids, IA
I recently made an IPA that is way carbonated.  If I open a bottle and set it on the counter, it will eventually snake out the top and down the sides of the bottle.  If I manage to pour a whole glass, it still has a very carbonated mouth feel.  I have had several people in my homebrew club taste it and everyone agrees it tastes fine – nice and clean. 
It was a Brewer’s Best extract kit with specialty grains steeped in.  After the 60 minute boil, I poured through a strainer to a plastic bucket for primary fermentation.  OG=1.06.  After 2 weeks I transferred to a glass carboy for 2 weeks of secondary fermentation before bottling (at least another 2 weeks).  FG=1.018.  I re-hydrated the dry yeast.
Any help is appreciated.
 
How much sugar did you use when bottling?  And how did you go about adding it? Adding the whole packet from the kit can cause a brew to be overcarbonated for the style.

My other thought was infection, but I'm not sure if it's possible to have an infection without off-flavors. Anyone with more experience want to chime in on that?
 
My other thought was infection, but I'm not sure if it's possible to have an infection without off-flavors. Anyone with more experience want to chime in on that?

I've had gushers that otherwise tasted fine, but upon inspection found a ring in the neck of the bottle. That's a sure sign of infection.

Hold a bottle up to the light and look closely at the neck at liquid level. If you see a ring, that means something unwanted is growing in there.

There are no known pathogens that will survive in beer, so it's not going to kill you. It may make you run for the can. I dump mine when I know they're infected, but some people drink them anyway. As long as it still tastes good, why not?
 
I don't see any ring in any of the bottles, so I don't think there is an infection.  I don't know how much sugar I used.  It would have been whatever came with the kit.  But I may have inadvertently caused too much sugar by not adding enough water to bring the batch up to 5 gallons.  I was so worried about diluting the wort too much that I caused it to be too carbonated.  I will try that theory on my next batch.  Thanks.
 
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