Gravity Dropping In Bottles

So, I brewed my third batch, extract with specialty grains, and used a harvested yeast. The batch was brewed on November 23rd, left in primary for a month, and bottles on December 24th. OG was 1.065 and FG was 1.019, about 71% apparent attenuation. I added 5oz dextrose to the bottles to carb.

After 2 weeks it was great, but now every bottle is a gusher. When I get it off the yeast in the bottle it stops, but the head it out of control. I'm hoping to rule out my sanitizing method, since I have four other brews that have been fine this way, so I left a pint out overnight to test the FG again and see how much it had dropped in the bottle. This morning it was 1.007 (adjusted for temp), I lost 12 gravity points in the bottle!

Any ideas on why this is? Do I have bottle bombs waiting to happen? I've been letting the carbonation out slowly by loosening the caps, but only a little at a time because of the gushing. Just thought this was weird, and would appreciate any thoughts on it.

Thanks!

That's crazy. Which yeast? And I assume you bulk primed...not 5oz to each bottle?

was the FG stable at 1.019 for a few days?

NordeastBrewer77 said:

was the FG stable at 1.019 for a few days?

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I'm having the same problem, but my beer also has a horrible, astringent taste to it. I'm guessing I picked up a wild yeast or bacteria, because my FG was stable for 2 weeks before I bottled. I had to stick all of my bottles in the fridge, since I'm worried about bottle bombs. I had them bottle conditioning at room temp for 7 weeks. I'm going to keep them in the fridge for 2 weeks and taste them. If they are still gushing and still taste bad, I'm gonna dump 'em. In your case, if it tastes good just refrigerate them for a week or two and then try one. If they are still gushing you can always pour into a large glass, let the head settle and then drink it... Good luck!

Stauffbier said:

I'm having the same problem, but my beer also has a horrible, astringent taste to it. I'm guessing I picked up a wild yeast or bacteria, because my FG was stable for 2 weeks before I bottled. I had to stick all of my bottles in the fridge, since I'm worried about bottle bombs. I had them bottle conditioning at room temp for 7 weeks. I'm going to keep them in the fridge for 2 weeks and taste them. If they are still gushing and still taste bad, I'm gonna dump 'em. In your case, if it tastes good just refrigerate them for a week or two and then try one. If they are still gushing you can always pour into a large glass, let the head settle and then drink it... Good luck!

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that's what i was thinkin'. if the OPs FG was stable, but then started dropping in bottles, it could be he/she picked up a contamination during bottling.

You should start venting the bottles. It's a pita, but doable. Just get a bottle opener, and press down one the cap with a thumb while you're lightly lifting the cap, and release the pressure until the foam level reaches the cap. You've got to do it a lot of times, especially if you really lost 12 points (I'm guessing the 1.019 reading was off, though).

I've had a couple over-carbed batches recently, and have been able to recover by carefully venting them. It's real easy with flip-top bottles.

Safety glasses may not be a bad idea. Probably overkill, but I don't take chances with glass shards in my eyes.

FarmerTed said:

You should start venting the bottles. It's a pita, but doable. Just get a bottle opener, and press down one the cap with a thumb while you're lightly lifting the cap, and release the pressure until the foam level reaches the cap. You've got to do it a lot of times, especially if you really lost 12 points (I'm guessing the 1.019 reading was off, though).

I've had a couple over-carbed batches recently, and have been able to recover by carefully venting them. It's real easy with flip-top bottles.

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yeah, that'll work. we mad an english brown that got way over carbed last year. what we did is pop the tops after sanitizing all the bottles, let them vent and foam for a minute or two, and recapped. definitely helped out, it'll work best if the beers are warm, because they'll release more co2 from solution.

How long are you leaving your bottles in the fridge before you open them?

During carbonation at room temp, a good % of the carbonation has trouble absorbing into the beer, and just stays in the headspace of the bottle. It takes a good THREE days in the fridge at under 40F for the headspace carbonation to dissolve back into the beer.

If you open a beer before the headspace carbonation has dissolved into the solution, you get something like a gusher.

That could be your issue....

it could also be the yeast dropping out of suspension in the primary, before you reach FG. i had the same problem with wlp002 a while ago. the gravity was stable for a few days before bottling, but then dropped a little more in the bottles, and i was left with gushers.

Could it be the 5 ounces of sugar used?

If you lost 12 gravity point in the bottle there wouldn't be any bottle left. Adding 8oz of priming sugar (which would definetly cause bottle bombs), will only add 1.004 to you gravity. There is no way the bottles would hold up to a 12 point drop in the bottle. I think one of your reading must be off.

I would also cover those bad boys up and stick them in the fridge for a day or so before attempting to uncap them.

sagnew440 said:

If you lost 12 gravity point in the bottle there wouldn't be any bottle left. Adding 8oz of priming sugar (which would definetly cause bottle bombs), will only add 1.004 to you gravity. There is no way the bottles would hold up to a 12 point drop in the bottle. I think one of your reading must be off.

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I agree, there should be explosions everywhere with that kind of change. I am guessing that at least part of the problem was that the sample left out over night did not, in fact, de-gas sufficiently. CO2 in solution will give a false low SG reading. Take another sample and manually de-gas it by pouring it vigorously between to containers. Let it foam up and settle. SOP that I learned in production facilities was to do 30 back and forth xfers, amounting to 60 pours, to drive all the gas out.

Thanks for all the responses. I still have my latest gravity sample in the fridge and I plan to take another reading tonight, and for a few days. There may still be CO2 in there that's messing me up.

I've been venting the bottles over the past couple weeks, it's been a continuous problem. I have some refrigerated and some now, same thing happens regardless of temperature.

I wish I could go back to bottling and take another reading, I must have done it wrong if my most recent hydrometer reading is correct. I agree with the poster who said they would have all exploded by now.

The most obvious answer is infection, unfortunately, but the beer still tastes fine, so if I can vent them to get to a normal CO2 level then there's no point pouring them out!

Thanks for all the replies!

EDIT: Oh, and I harvested the yeast from Heady Topper, an awesome VT DIPA. I thought the original apparent attenuation was a little low at 71%, but the 83% I seem to have now seems a little high.

LowOG said:

Thanks for all the responses. I still have my latest gravity sample in the fridge and I plan to take another reading tonight, and for a few days. There may still be CO2 in there that's messing me up.

I've been venting the bottles over the past couple weeks, it's been a continuous problem. I have some refrigerated and some now, same thing happens regardless of temperature.

I wish I could go back to bottling and take another reading, I must have done it wrong if my most recent hydrometer reading is correct. I agree with the poster who said they would have all exploded by now.

The most obvious answer is infection, unfortunately, but the beer still tastes fine, so if I can vent them to get to a normal CO2 level then there's no point pouring them out!

Thanks for all the replies!

EDIT: Oh, and I harvested the yeast from Heady Topper, an awesome VT DIPA. I thought the original apparent attenuation was a little low at 71%, but the 83% I seem to have now seems a little high.

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That yeast is going to be beat up coming off of a DIPA.