Jolly Pumpkin Oro De Calabaza over carbonated?

A lot of sour ales and wild ales tend to gush when you pop the cork. Funkwerks brett dream essentially turned completely into foam when I popped the top. Every hill farmstead I have opened with the exception of twilight gushed a bit as well. Part of the game I guess.

 

One possible explanation is, that since JP does more or less spontaneous fermentations, that you've gotten a few that are a little too wild. Get them nice and cold, and hope for the best.

 

Have these bottles been refrigerated for a while or are you chilling and opening right away?

 

I could be wrong but I feel that the majority of bottle-conditioned beers have the potential to do this. It's harder to control when the beer is not force carbonated. However, most breweries carefully monitor how much priming sugar they add, so usually it's not a problem.

On the other hand, some don't monitor as well. Most recently, the Weyerbacher Sour Black I opened had some of the most insane carbonation I've ever seen.

 

No probably not your fault. Ive had lots of jolly pumpkin gushers. Best is just to chill down as cold as you can and have a glass ready

 

It happens with Wild Ales and age. My Oro gushed hard too, but it was over 2 years old at that point. Also had a 4 year old bottle of Allagash Confluence in November, shot the cork to the ceiling and gushed hard, but I didn't lose a drop. Same with the 3 year Sofie I had a couple months ago(lost a bit on that because I wasn't expecting such a violent gusher). Be on the ready with these styles; expect the unexpected. Something I learned after having countless.

 

This seems to be a standard potential with JP brews. I remember it happening to me back in 2007 or so. (It seems the issue is here to stay.) I'd always have a glass ready to pour a possibly impending gusher into.

 

Only occasionally have issues with gushing with JP's brews, but they are normally about 2 years old when it happens. As mentioned above, your best bet is making sure there is no agitation then making sure it's been in the fridge for over 24hours before opening. Besides that it just comes down to luck with the bugs and bottle conditioning.

Good luck next time!

 

It's the wild yeast having a party before you do.

 

No I've not had that happen. But then I tend to leave the bottle condidtioned beers sit quietly in the cellar for 2-4 weeks after I get them home and then refrigerate them for a couple of days before opening.

 

This happened to me a couple of months ago with a bottle of Maracaibo. It was opened and 2 thirds of it foamed out of the bottle. It was a year old and I stuck it in the refrigerator for 45 minutes before opening. I will remember this and keep it in the refrigerator at least 24 hours before opening. Thanks for the info.

 

Basically, this.

From the time of bottling, those wild yeasts are going to keep chomping down on the remaining sugars in beer, and therefore keep producing CO2, until you open it. I've had plenty of "wild" beers gush the same way you described.

 

The beers are pitched with a commercial Belgian yeast strain and fermented, then the beer goes into the wood where it is inoculated with the bugs and critters in the wood. Not spontaneous, except for the Lambicus Dexterous (SP).

 

So I guess that makes it the "less" in my "more or less spontaneous" posting.

 

Not if you know what spontaneous fermentation means! Wild yes, spontaneous no.

 

Not just an isolated Oro de Calabaza thing....most Jolly Pumpkin beers have a tendency to gush. Doesn't take away from how awesome their beers are though!