Opened bottle keeps foaming

All-

Quick question. Made a cherry wheat and a raspberry wheat and for some reason there are some bottles, that when opened, they just keep foaming out of the top of the bottle.

It looks like a volcano just oozing over the opening. It doesn't happen with every bottle in the same batch, jsut some of them.

If I pour it into a glass there's no issue and its a nice head, but if I keep in the bottle, it keeps on foaming out.

any thoughts on why this is happening?

I would say it's how I bottled it in conjunction the with sugar priming, but wouldn't that affect every bottle and not just some?

Getting ready to make another batch and don't want the same thing to happen.

Thanks,

BTW....these were kits and not made from scratch brews.

Rich

If it happens with some bottles and not others it means that 1. Your priming sugar wasn't mixed in properly, so some bottles are more carbonated than others or 2. That some of the bottles weren't cleaned properly and you are getting an infection issue.

There are 3 reasons this could be happening.

1) You're opening the beer too soon, and carbonation hasn't totally locked in yet.

If you watch Poindexter's video on time lapsed carbonation, you will see that in many instances, before a beer is carbed it my gush, that's not from infection, or mixing of sugars, and it's not really carbed yer, but because the co2 hasn't evened out- it hasn't been pulled fully into the beer. Think of it as there's a lot of co2 being generated and most of it is in the headspace, not in the beer, so there's still "over pressure" in the bottle, so it gushes when it is opened.

But when the beer is truly carbed it all evens out, across the bottles.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlBlnTfZ2iw]time lapse carbonation - YouTube[/ame]

What you consider over carbed is more than likely actually NOT really carbed yet.

2) If you've waited at least 3 weeks, and all the beer were fully carbed and conditioned for awhile, THEN they started gushing, you more than likely have a late onset infection. Either your batch is infected, or you have some issues with bottle sanitization or your bottling process, and you need to deal with the infection. Check your spigot and bottling setup for issues. Or in your fermentation process.

3) How you primed with sugar. If you added dry sugar to each bottle it really is impossible to get even carbonation across the board. You cou can't accurately measure sugar granuals from bottle to bottle, and should measure dry ingredients by weight, not by volume. For example if you added 1/x of a tsp to each bottle some are going to get a few grains more than others, some of the grains could even stick to the spoon and you get significantly more grains than another, and therefore over primed.

Also if for example you just dumped dry sugar into your bottling bucket and tried to mix it to the beer, you will get different carbonation levels in different bottles, that's why it's best to bulk prime bottles by boiling the sugar in 2 cups water and letting it mix with the beer as you rack the beer into a bottling bucket.

The fourth thing I guess is that you're opening bottles warm? But most folks don't do that.

A couple of other thoughts.

How did you add the fruit? If you racked the beer onto the fruit and did not give it enough time, you may have bottled before the yeast finished eating the sugar from the fruit.

How long were the bottles in the fridge before you opened them? Give them plenty of time for the CO2 to be absorbed into the brew. Opening warm beer will almost guarantee a gusher.

All-

Thank you for the feedback.

The bottles were sitting for longer then a month. Longer then 3 months actually. So I don't think that it's a carb issue.

As for the priming sugar, I melt some corn sugar in a cup of water andn then pour that into the bottling bucket when I start to siphon from the fermenting bucket. The instructions say to do it this was so that it evenly distributes as the fluid goes from one bucket to the other.

I'm leaning towards an infection in my bottles. I put them through the dishwasher and drying cycle prior to bottling, but I have noticed that some bottles aren't perfectly cleaned sometimes. That maybe there's some oap that dried in the bottles and the glass looks a bit foggy in places. Not alot, but like an inch or two or three.

Again, it's not every bottle that foams, jsut some. Guess that I need to inspect each and every bottle coming out of the dishwasher when done.

As for sanitizing, I do and I believe that I'm doing that the correct way.

When I pureed the fruit I had sanitized the blender for 10 minutes prior to using. I sanitize every thing that I use when making a batch.

If it's dirty bottles that then cause it, then I'm thinking that's probably it.

Thanks for your responses.

For infected beer, they still tasted really good though. I didn't get sick after drinking them, nor did my wife. When we say infected, how bad is that? Should I drink them?

dugan said:

All-

Thank you for the feedback.

The bottles were sitting for longer then a month. Longer then 3 months actually. So I don't think that it's a carb issue.

As for the priming sugar, I melt some corn sugar in a cup of water andn then pour that into the bottling bucket when I start to siphon from the fermenting bucket. The instructions say to do it this was so that it evenly distributes as the fluid goes from one bucket to the other.

I'm leaning towards an infection in my bottles. I put them through the dishwasher and drying cycle prior to bottling, but I have noticed that some bottles aren't perfectly cleaned sometimes. That maybe there's some oap that dried in the bottles and the glass looks a bit foggy in places. Not alot, but like an inch or two or three.

Again, it's not every bottle that foams, jsut some. Guess that I need to inspect each and every bottle coming out of the dishwasher when done.

As for sanitizing, I do and I believe that I'm doing that the correct way.

When I pureed the fruit I had sanitized the blender for 10 minutes prior to using. I sanitize every thing that I use when making a batch.

If it's dirty bottles that then cause it, then I'm thinking that's probably it.

Thanks for your responses.

For infected beer, they still tasted really good though. I didn't get sick after drinking them, nor did my wife. When we say infected, how bad is that? Should I drink them?

Click to expand...

The dishwasher is not always the list effective at cleaning because it is difficult for the water to actually get up into the bottle.

You should really use PBW or OXY and a brush. When you drink the beer rinse the bottle out well with hot water and allow to dry and the next time all you need to do is rinse and sanitize.

For sanitizing the bottles use Star San, it is no rinse, don't fear the foam, just spray some into the bottle and drain. To make things easy get a bottle tree and vinator. Don't forget to sanitize the caps as well.

Infections will cause gushers and sometimes there may be a sour smell/taste but nothing that will kill you

It sounds like you are priming properly but I would add that once all the beer is racked over use a sanitized spoon to gently swirl everything to ensure a good mix. Be sure to sanitize your bottling bucket, spigot tubing and racking cane and filler as well.

For now you might want to fridge all bottles for a few weeks to be sure the CO2 is fully absorbed by the beer.

Fruit purée can be tricky because when you add it to secondary because it starts a new fermentation and while vigorous at first can be slow to finish (maybe because sugars are locked in small bits of fruit? Do you carry any purée over to the bottles? Perhaps some bottles have more sugary bits.

My very first batch was a blue moon wheat knock off with no fruit and I had the same foaming problem. I did put those bottles through the dishwasher as well. I think that is my problem. As a way to overcome I will do two cycles. One with soap to clean and then just with water and heat dry.

I will fully inspect each bottle as well for any "stains".

Thanks everyone for your help and knowledge.

It still doesn't hurt after the wash to dunk the bottles in sanitizing solution. BBrite, or StarSan work well. It kinda sucks to brew an entire batch and then have things go south because you didn't take an extra 15 minutes to ensure sanitary bottles/kegs.

MuddyCreek said:

It still doesn't hurt after the wash to dunk the bottles in sanitizing solution. BBrite, or StarSan work well. It kinda sucks to brew an entire batch and then have things go south because you didn't take an extra 15 minutes to ensure sanitary bottles/kegs.

Click to expand...

Star san is your saviour for sure.if even a tiny bit of leftover yeast in the bottle or some other contaminate you will get a reaction of some sort like off taste or no carb at all for instance.don’t skimp on prep. Use the starsan

My Tin response is:

1. Infection
2. Primed incorrectly (not mixed, too much)
3. Not finished fermenting
4. Temperature during fermenting.

A lovely look into the past.

dugan said:

All-

Quick question. Made a cherry wheat and a raspberry wheat and for some reason there are some bottles, that when opened, they just keep foaming out of the top of the bottle.

It looks like a volcano just oozing over the opening. It doesn't happen with every bottle in the same batch, jsut some of them.

If I pour it into a glass there's no issue and its a nice head, but if I keep in the bottle, it keeps on foaming out.

any thoughts on why this is happening?

I would say it's how I bottled it in conjunction the with sugar priming, but wouldn't that affect every bottle and not just some?

Getting ready to make another batch and don't want the same thing to happen.

Thanks,

BTW....these were kits and not made from scratch brews.

Rich

Click to expand...

Dirty bottles