My first batch is an English Pale Ale from a Brewers' Best kit. I bottled it 3 weeks ago after 3 weeks in the fermenter. I opened a bottle after a week (I know, too early, just impatient) and flavor was promising. At that point there was very little carbonation. Now, the flavor's improved -- quite tasty, really -- but the carbonation is out of control. I opened a bottle just now and it literally foamed for a minute +. What's going on?

Other relevant info, maybe. It was in the basement, I put it in the fridge a few hours ago, and just pulled it out and opened it on this hot evening. Also, there's a bit of yeasty sediment in the bottom of the bottle.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

I posted a similar thread recently and one possibility is that it was some type of infection in the bottle or inconsistent mixing of priming sugar. I believe mine was a case of an isolated infection since the bottle I opened after that was fine. Plus, I had opened 3 bottles prior that had perfect carbonation and the fourth just gushed everywhere. I am still finding spots on the walls 3'-5' from where the beer landed.

Thanks! I found the prior thread soon after posting. This idea that priming sugar may not have been evenly dispersed through the beer pre-bottling seems believable -- after the super foamy bottle, I had one yesterday that was virtually flat. I thought it would be adequately mixed - the sugar solution was in the bottling pail when I siphoned into it, and figured the flow would be enough to mix. Maybe not??

Thanks for the suggestion. Is there a recommended stirring method to minimize addition of 02?

LOL

I had that happen to one of my brews, but ALL of the bottles would foam over like crazy upon opening. I learned that it is suggested to chill the beer after the first week or 10 days, in order to halt the carbonation process, otherwise if the beer has enough residual fermentables the yeast will just keep going. After chilling the beer can be aged for longer.

Also, my main problem was that the yeast settled out too soon without fully fermenting the ale in the carboy, and when I bottled there was plenty of sugar to work with, plus the priming sugar.

One method I've used when brewing from a Mr. Beer kit is to pre-measure the priming sugar for the entire batch, dissolve that in some water and then rack the fermented beer into a bottling vessel, mixing in the priming solution in the process, this way you'll get an even distribution and you'll know the sugar is fully dissolved. I posted the process and a suggested bottling vessel on my site:
http://cryptobrewology.com/?p=159