Erupting Bottles After Opening

I have never had this happen before.

I recently bottled my IPA, and about 50% of the bottles, when opened, spew like a coke that has been shaken up. I only filled the bottles to the base of the neck and primed with corn sugar. I'm not shaking them, and none exploded on their own, its just when they are opened in order to drink.

Any thoughts, comments, similar experiences, etc?

What was your final gravity and what was your expected final gravity? How much sugar did you use? Are there any indications of infection?

Maybe you bottled too soon or with too much sugar.

A few causes (same as Kaleco listed):

• Was not done fermenting (and finished in bottle)
• Infection
• Too much priming sugar

Did you bulk prime (~1/2c to whole batch) or add the sugar to each individual bottle?

I did bulk prime it, there were no evident signs of infection (e.g., bad taste, etc), and some had been in bottles for a while before I opened them. Also, about 50-75% were fine and did not spew at all.

All good points, also, how long have they been carbonating? If only for a short period, the CO2 may not be distributed through the beer properly.

How were the bottles stored during conditioning? I am trying to think of what could cause some but not all of them to foam so badly, and since you bulk primed there aren't many variables left.

I'm specifically wondering if a heating vent was blowing across some of the bottles or something, not a bunch but enough to cause fermentation to proceed a little further or a little more aggressively compared to bottles that were at a slightly cooler/more stable temp? Or instead of a heat vent, maybe a nearby window that lets in sun for part of the day?

Oh! Were all the bottles cold when you opened them? This may be basic and obvious, but cold liquids are capable of dissolving mroe gas than warm liquids, so if one beer was at 40* and you open, enough gas would be dissolved it wouldn't foam, but the same beer only chilled to 60* might release much more CO2 upon depressurization.

Yes all the bottle were cold, however, even ones that did not spew were chilled at the same temperature. The bottles stayed covered with a towel no where near a window or vent, so the sunlight could not have done it. This is why I thought this was a post worthy question, because it does not make sense to me either. I'm at a loss, baffled. I do not want this to happen again, hopefully a fellow brewer has a solution.

I've had similar experiences with bottling when I didn't adequately mix in my priming sugar solution. Some bottles got more sugar (and fruit flavor concentrate, for that particular wheat beer), and gushed. Others didn't. Were you diligent about stirring the beer gently to mix in the sugar?

I've also had a batch that had sporadic, per-bottle infection from improper cleaning or sanitation of a few of the bottles I was using. That'll teach me to bottle in a rush!

I've had this happen even on commercial beers that were just sitting in my fridge for a few days. It seems random sometimes, but of course their must be a reason behind it somewhere.

Now that I think about it maybe my friends shake my beer bottles behind my back...

They can't be trusted anymore. I need new friends.

RensBerserker said:

I've had similar experiences with bottling when I didn't adequately mix in my priming sugar solution. Some bottles got more sugar (and fruit flavor concentrate, for that particular wheat beer), and gushed. Others didn't. Were you diligent about stirring the beer gently to mix in the sugar?

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+1 what RensBerserker said. Not mixing your priming sugar well enough is typically the cause of random gushers.

Also, you said you only filled them to the base of the neck. Are you saying it's like this:

If so part of the problem may be too much head space in the bottle. I tried filling a bottle once about 3/4 full (it was the last bottle and there wasn't enough to fill it but seemed lie too much to pour down the drain) and it gushed on me. So if that is what you're doing, you need to fill your bottles more.

Try storing them in a cooler place next time or leave them in the carboy longer, if I had to guess fermentation continued in the bottle.

How long was it in the primary/secondary?

I may need new friends as well...

I'm going to lean towards some bottles got more sugar than others, or that some bottles may have been infected. I thought I had thoroughly mixed my sugar, but its highly possible that I did not. I also did not detect any difference in taste among the spewing bottles, but it could have still been infected.

Thanks for the useful input guys.

That is very curious. Yes, that is where I filled the bottles. I have never heard that more space allows for eruption. Do you know why that is? It still leaves me to wonder why all did not spew...

Even bulk filling requires a gentle, but thorough mixing.

Do you note any rings around the neck? An infection might cause a gusher, yet not be very noticeable in the flavor. It's possible some bottles were not cleaned properly?

CEversole said:

That is very curious. Yes, that is where I filled the bottles. I have never heard that more space allows for eruption. Do you know why that is? It still leaves me to wonder why all did not spew...

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More headspace will cause overcarbonation. Next time, fill the bottles about 1/2 way up the neck. I don't know why they all didn't spew, but maybe they will with some time.

Yooper said:

More headspace will cause overcarbonation. Next time, fill the bottles about 1/2 way up the neck. I don't know why they all didn't spew, but maybe they will with some time.

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Yeah that's my understanding too. I usually fill almost to the brim, then when I pull the bottle filler out it drops so there's about an inch of headspace.

Sound's like we may have found my problem! Thanks guys.

So upon priming, I let the priming sugar in hot water (I always warm up my priming sugar), but this time I forgot about the priming sugar warming up in a sauce pan, came to a boil, and started becoming syrupy. So I thought it would not matter and added it to the beer before bottling. 13 days later, I shared the beer with friends...and some of them erupted violently! So, the priming sugar was not distributed well. My conclusion, never bottle with priming sugar that turns into syrup if left too long in heating.

Cheers!