Sorting out over carbonated beer

[Shanna]

HIi there

Did a couple of beers that have turned out to be completely over carbonated. I seem to have a problem with beers getting stuck at 1.020. The beers were a baltic porter (contained 500 gr lactose)  and a stout that contained about 10% oats. I bottled them at the time thinking they were finished fermenting and the high fg was due to  unfermentable sugars.  Well unfortunately not. Both beers have so much Co2 that once you crack the cap you get a gusher or in some cases a kitchen cleaner (as in you get to clean up the kitchen). I have tried cracking the cap and bleeding off the Co2 in stages but as you continue to crack it the beer leaving out erupts.  It may be the case that I need to crack ever so slightly and leave for a longer periid of time.

Not sure what to do here. I read some posts on other sites suggesting opening them, pour out,  wait till Co2 escapes and then reprime. Is this practical from a sanitation/carbonation point of view? Sad thing for me is that both beers are actually really nice just completely impractical in their current state. Would it make sense to crack the cap ever so slightly and let the Co2 bleed over a long period of time and then attempt to crimp the cracked cap closed again?

Don't want to throw them out so any advice people might offer would be appreciated?

Shanna

[Greg2013]

From a newbie i would suggest chilling the bejaysus out of the bottles first. Down to at least 2 celsius or lower, dont know if they are glass ot what but unless you leave them in there too long they should be ok ? At least this way it will HELP to kill some of that excess co2 temporarily so you can at least open them without redecorating the ceiling.

[Shanna]

Hi Greg

All the bottles are glass. Have had this problem with beers left in the fridge for days might be time to try the freezer for 1/2 hour.

Shanna

[DEMPSEY]

Good luck with this,did the same with a beer that I put into a corney and for some reason (brain freeze) set the co2 tank to 40 psi and the fridge to 1C. Left it a week and when I came back to it,well pure shaving foam or bubble bath . I have warmed it up to room temperature and shook and burped it loads of times but when I put it on the tap to serve it  : . With all the burping I have destroyed the lovely Amarillo hop flavour as the room smells of Amarillo but not the beer. Your only hope is to keep gently cracking the caps until you vent the co2 but I suspect that when this is done and you want to pour a beer you will get mostly foam. Only suggestion there is to decant into a large glass jug and as the foam settles you can pour into your drinking glass. The co2 release will scrub a lot of nice flavours though. 

[Shanna]

This home brewing is starting to wreck my head :-) will try the cracking  approach first maybe combined with b letting the temp.

Shanna

[Ciderhead]

Kegs;)

[Shanna]

Kegs;)

Swiftly followed by alcoholism and divorce can't give half of the keg away when things go South. On the other hand might be time to invest in a bottling wand.  Genius CH.

Shanna

[Shanna]

+1

Thought you had kegs?

Some technical issues are holding my up my adoption of them.  How to get it sorted in the new year.

Shanna