I’ve recently successfully made my first batch of beer (an English PA), the flavour is exactly as anticipated, the body is full, and it pours for the most part well.
It doesn’t pour perfectly though, which brings the question.
When pouring from the side, some bottles I’ve noticed produce a significant amount of foam needing to settle prior to drinking, and from the bottle (might sound like a very inexperienced question) I can see the pure liquid prior to turning into a foam bomb.
Is this just a natural result or has it been over primed?
I think it is over primed if you are pouring gently from the side and you get more than a 1-2 inches of foam in a pint glass. Some beers have more head than others, but if it doesn’t pour similarly to the variety of commercial bottles you no doubt have poured before, there is a problem.
I also believe it’s overprimed. When I bottle condition I use a bottle condition calculator which takes into account the carbonation already in the beer due to the fermentation process. Sometimes, a beer is up to 50% carbonated already even before bottle conditioning.
I do think it is overprimed (although an infection is possible, overpriming is more common) and agree using a priming calculator is the answer. Those will also take into account the style of beer and an English Ale would normally be lightly primed.
But mainly I am posted because I am diasapointed that the foam bomb hasn’t been referred to as an “F Bomb”.
I have had this same issue on a few occasions. My bottle conditioning calculations are correct 99% of the time. So, I have attributed the condition to bottling before fermentation is fully complete. Then adding priming sugar “reinvigorates”, if you will, the yeast. This is just a theory. But when 99% of my batches are perfect and only one present is over carded, my theory makes sense.