So this happened to me twice so far. I am opening a bottle of beer that has been in my refrigerator for the last week standing upright and upon opening, the beer just explodes in foam. What would cause this? This happened to 2 great beers that I had an Orval and a Triple Karmeliet.
That it happened to two different beers is really odd. Exploiding foam is the result of unwanted fermenation taking place in the bottle.
Stupid question but could the thermostat have gotten bumped and it's too cold. Somehow we bumped ours to way too cold and things froze.
This happens with a lot of Jolly Pumpkin beers...if I know a bottle to be a gusher I often remove the beer from the fridge and place it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before opening.
Frozen beers do foam up, but the gushing "explodes" in foam points to "extra fermentation" or infection as the likely culprit.
I recently was gifted with a 10 month old Goose Island sampler (I drank them because they are still cold, refreshing, and alcoholic - and really, only the IPA suffered much flavor loss) 8 of the 12 erupted upon opening - not a violent explosion (yours?) but a gentle overflowing that makes a big-ass mess. Only the harvest ale succeeded in remaining in the bottle. Honkers and IPA foamed like mad.
I've had it happen on a few different beers. I'm ready for it now... always have a towel handy in case it starts to blow. a couple times the cap shot off and hit the ceiling. I forget the brews this happened to. Seems like one was H.O.T.D Adam.
There are times when the result of a gusher is NOT due to infection, or bottle-conditioned fermentation going on causing over carbonation. I have had mass produced, not bottle conditioned beers "gush" on me after taking them out of the fridge and opening them. I can't find the thread on a different site, but it had to do with temperature, pressure and some other reason that the c02 very quickly came out of solution. I'll spend hours looking for the thread, but doubt I will find it.
Happened to me with an Idle Hands corked bottle a few weeks ago. Cork went flyin' off the ceiling. That was that though, no major foam issues or anything. I would imagine there are numerous possibilities as to why it happens: temperature, age, infection, etc. Is it possible that this happens more with Belgian types? You mentioned it happen with Orval and the Idle Hands one that blew on me was their Triplication (belgian style). I read that Belgian ales are known for having a lot of pressure in their bottles and even use thicker glass to withstand that pressure. See 5th paragraph: https://byo.com/stories/item/1207-on-the-yeast-guide-to-bottle-conditioning (Sarcasm incoming: Good thing I read this today as I just bottled my 5-gallon homebrewed Belgian Pale Ale in "normal" 12oz glass bottles yesterday! Glass explosions for me? )
Recently happened to me on a EvilTwin Even More Jesus - made quite a mess and didn't taste very good.
A total shame---an excellent brew! I have actually taken the beer back and gotten money back for it (6 packs mind you) that had awful rotten vegetable flavors. It helps to have a working relationship with your supplier since they would want to know they have potentially bad product on the shelf. Sometimes they get too hot and the yeast activates, shaken and jostled about, or the brewer had a dirty bottle. Happens more often in homebrewed beers from a good friend of mine----quite a mess when the bottle actually EXPLODES!
Wow ... happened to me recently with this .... It was like it couldn't wait to get out of the bottle.
