I’m a newbe. Brewed the Carabou brown extract for my first beer. Came our perfect. Everybody loved it! Folowed the directions except I didn’t have a 2nd fermenter so I kept it in the original bubbler for the time required. I ordered the Carbou again and this time it came out extremly carbonated. You couldn’t even put it into a glass without a huge amount of foam!
The 2nd brew I did transfer to a 2nd fermenter. Before I placed it in to the bubbler I added about 15 seconds worth of oxygen I had that my wife uses for medical issues. Would adding the oxygen or having used the 2nd fermenter cause the over carb?
Well potentially it could have gotten an infection when transfering. Or it could have gotten an infection when bottling or you may have used to much priming sugar hard to say really.
1 Like
The most common cause of extreme carbonation, gushers, is early bottling. Your beer was not 100% finished fermenting. So when you bottled with additional priming sugar for carbonation you got all the carbonation you should have plus the extra of the unfermented sugars.
Sometimes an extended time at cold temps in your fridge will help some of that excesses CO2 get absorbed back into solution. Leave your bottles in the fridge for a minimum of 3 days before drinking. I have found this helps in this situation.
Next time take multiple hydrometer readings 3 days apart. If there is no change at all and you are at your expected final gravity (FG) you can bottle.
I also have found, when calculating how much sugar to use that the “highest temperature achieved during fermentation” rather than “Current” temperature gives me a better chance at getting the carbonation I was expecting.
I ALWAYS use this link to figure out how much sugar to use and never just go with the amount that came in a kit.
2 Likes
When you opened a bottle, did it rush/spill over out of the bottle? Or just substantial foam upon pouring? And how did it taste?
Gushers can be a prelude to bottle bombs so this is important to know…Getting them cold as @squeegeethree said is stabilizing but ‘bottling green beer’ as the old timers used to say can lead to trauma.
Neither the O2 nor ‘secondary’ would result in this issue. Make sure that after fermentation you keep O2 uptake as low as possible, like none! 
@brew_cat, @squeegeethree, and @voodoo_donut gave you possibilities. One I didn’t see mentioned was incomplete mixing of priming sugar.
When bottling add the sugar to the bottling bucket, rack your beer with enough line that it swirls in the bucket, and GENTLY stir your beer/primer. Start bottling and GENTLY stir every 6-8 beers.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you find some are over carbed and some under carbed.
Thanks for the advice. I’m going to try the brew again. No O2 and no secondary. I did order a conical carboy since I’m not going to transfer to a secondary. I’m also going to make sure everything I use is super clean and sterilized.
Sanitized… We can not sterilize in our simple world of brewing…
I like that you aren’t tucking the tail and running away…
Sneezles61
I like that you’re moving to a conical! You’ll be able to ‘secondary’ with little effort. I put it in quotes as it’s not truly a secondary as you’re not adding fermentables. It’s actually a brite tank.
Again, in regards to your over carbonation. It has NOTHING to do with O2 and ‘secondary.’ Continue to add O2 before fermentation (although not much is needed if using dry yeast) and dumping the trub.
Thanks. I’m a believer in “If at first you don’t succeed, (in my case second time,) try, try again!”
2 Likes
I agree with others that O2 and secondary are not your concern here. I believe you are not letting your beer finish it’s fermentation. If you hit your final gravity go ahead and leave it a few more days and recheck. If no change you’re good to go. I also like to increase my beers a few deg/day once they are finished up to 70 to ensure their done.
1 Like
New guy… Been brewing for a while? Welcome to NB forum…
Sneezles61
2 Likes
As far as priming sugar, for a 5 gallon batch I always use one bottle of spring water any kind is fine, and I dissolve my corn sugar in it and bring to a gentle boil for 10 min. Once my beer is racked to my bottling bucket I gently stir it in avoiding splashing. All my beers are consistently carbonated. It will not settle to the bottom!
I’ve stopped boiling my priming water. Pasturization at 161F happens in as little as 15 seconds. Since there is no benefit to boiling plain sugar or corn sugar, as there might be when boiling DME, simple pasteurization is enough IMO. Boiling water pasteurizes in a hundredth of a second.
3 Likes
When I add sugar to cider, wine etc I simply bring it up to 175° to dissolve the sugar and let it sit for a few minutes to pasteurize.
2 Likes
