I brewed a Belgian Tripel in June, bottled in late September. At the time, I was a little surprised to find it nicely carbed and delicious three weeks after bottling. Since then, however, that beer has tended to foam after each bottle is opened. Not. A gusher, exactly, more like the beer overflows 1-2 seconds after the bottle is opened. It still tastes great (maybe a little more banana ester than desirable, but nice maltiness) but as time goes on the foaming seems to be more aggressive with each bottle (stored and served at 50 degrees).
I decided to dump the batch, afraid that if the foaming is increasing then I might be risking bottle bombs.
Then I thought that I've seen this sort of foaming with other batches bottled since then. I opened a DIPA bottled in October, which sat for 5-6 seconds and then foamed over, and a steam beer bottled in November, which foamed pretty aggressively. I've been drinking these beers and have been happy with the flavor all along.
Do I have an infection that is carrying over from batch to batch but that I can't taste or have I been overcarbing?
I usually aim for the high end of the carbonation guidelines and let the beer carb in my furnace room, which is usually 70 degrees but can spike near 80 when the furnaces are going. I do countertop partial mashes and have about 15 brews of experience. The one change in my brew process that began with the Belgian Tripel in June was that I built a copper immersion chiller instead of using ice baths to cool the wort. I have probably been taking more gravity readings during fermentation as I gain experience but am good about dunking my siphon in starsan before taking readings.
So if I do have an infection should I dump all three batches? How should I
clean the bottles? I usually soak overnight in oxyclean, about 1.5 scoops per 5 gallons of soak water, then rinse and starsan.
Thanks for the help. I am confused.
I decided to dump the batch, afraid that if the foaming is increasing then I might be risking bottle bombs.
Then I thought that I've seen this sort of foaming with other batches bottled since then. I opened a DIPA bottled in October, which sat for 5-6 seconds and then foamed over, and a steam beer bottled in November, which foamed pretty aggressively. I've been drinking these beers and have been happy with the flavor all along.
Do I have an infection that is carrying over from batch to batch but that I can't taste or have I been overcarbing?
I usually aim for the high end of the carbonation guidelines and let the beer carb in my furnace room, which is usually 70 degrees but can spike near 80 when the furnaces are going. I do countertop partial mashes and have about 15 brews of experience. The one change in my brew process that began with the Belgian Tripel in June was that I built a copper immersion chiller instead of using ice baths to cool the wort. I have probably been taking more gravity readings during fermentation as I gain experience but am good about dunking my siphon in starsan before taking readings.
So if I do have an infection should I dump all three batches? How should I
clean the bottles? I usually soak overnight in oxyclean, about 1.5 scoops per 5 gallons of soak water, then rinse and starsan.
Thanks for the help. I am confused.