Elevation affecting carbonation?

Hi all,
Since living here in AZ at an elevation of about 4,000 feet, I've made three batches (5gal), all of which have turned out as gushers.

I became suspicious of the elevation after the first batch, so I asked the employee at a LHBS in Tucson, who told me there is no effect.

Second batch, also using corn sugar in correct amount (can't remember off top of my head) over carbed. Third batch, I tried carbing using DME (1 1/4 cup) and still no good.

Any thoughts regarding whether or not elevation has anything to do with it?

Edit: I've been out of the game for a while. I guess I should have asked here to begin with instead of the LHBS employee

I brew at 700 feet, no problems. I have brewed at my friends house at 5,000 feet, no problems there (he doesn't have problems eirther), think of how many breweries there are in Colorado and California at the same elevation you are. Try using less sugar, or mixing it in better if they're not all gushers.

Or is it possible that you have an infection causing the gushers? How do the beers taste?

I'm just over 5600 Feet. Not an issue here, and we visited the Dillon Dam Brewery that is over 9000 and they don't have issues.

I've kept our house around 73 degrees, and the beer tastes fine, other than being overcarbed. In fact, I suppose if I just left it out for a while after opening it, I could then drink it. Who knows?

I'll open some more bottles this weekend and see what happens.

Are you sure fermentation had finished before you bottled them?

-a.

I brew at 7,000 feet in AZ. No issues with over carbing.

I wonder, could there be something in the water in Sierra Vista that would affect it. Are you using tap water? Would really high mineral content or perhaps something else add some effervescence that combined with a normal amount of priming sugar could cause an over-carb?

The only issue with brewing at elevation is if you take the finished beer from one elevation to another. If you bottled and carbed at, say, 5000 ft, let em get to normal pressure, then take it to sea level, then you'd get undercarbonation opening it up. Same with carbing at sea level then going into the mountains. What is a normal carb at sea level would be way overcarbed once you get higher up.

its not your elevation

I have friends in Denver at 5,300 feet and their beer ferments fine, doesn't gush, etc.

no, you shouldnt have any problems here.

EvilTOJ is dead-on.

relative pressure... you battled, carbed and opened at the same elevation = no effect.

Eric

I posted a recent thread about the bad luck I've had with my last three (yes, 3!) batches that turned out overcarbed.

MOD EDIT [Threads Merged)

It's sad that they're undrinkable and I had to dump them. Since I always drink a glass of the beer when I transfer from secondary to bottles, I figured I'd just not add any priming sugar at all next time, and see what happens.

The worst case, they end up not carbed at all. I can still drink them this way, and maybe I'll do a stout

Am I crazy, or has this been done effectively before?

Thanks for the replies, good to know it's not the elevation then.

You are Crazy.

If your beer was over carbonated, you could have just popped the caps, let them sit for 20 minutes or so and then re-capped. NEVER throw out beer....Remember?

Why don't you go for Minimal Carbonation and just add 1/2 cup of corn sugar.
Also...Make sure your beer is finished. 14 days in primary before bottling is my personal MINIMUM.

yeah, dude, you're crazy. The first time you decide to go with no priming sugar is the first time you would've had normal carbonation if you had just added the dextrose. Your problem is obviously underfermented beer. I don't feel like reading through that thread you linked to, so tell me: what are you attenuation rates? How about final gravity? Volumes?

I am with BigKahuna on this one. No reason at all to dump a batch for something that time can solve. It would have been very easy to bleed off some CO2 and recap.

BerserkerBrew said:

It would have been very easy to bleed off some CO2 and recap.

Click to expand...

I speak from experience on this one. I had a batch that not only did I add too much sugar to, but I forgot to calculate the available sugar of an adjunct I added at bottling (Malibu Rum). The bottles were 100% foam, I uncapped them, set a new cap on the bottle, and pressed it on about 20 minutes later....All is well now, and 4 months later, it's one of my favorite beers.

I vote Crazy...and you shoul be forced to drink room temp BMC for the rest of 2008 for dumping your beer...

You are either bottling too early, openning to early, or using too much sugar...

But not using any is overkill...

Even on your last thread you didn't give us many details...Like recipes, how much sugar you use, how you add your sugar, yadda yadda yadda...details would help us help you.

Back to the issue of gravity, what is your final gravity when you are bottling your beer? It sounds to me like the beer isn't done fermenting which is why you're getting overcarbonation.

Also, how did the beer TASTE? Gushers are often caused by wild yeast infections, which will change the flavour of the beer (often perceived as a plastic flavour). A more advanced infection will really over-carbonate the bottle, and make the beer thin and lifeless, with little mouthfeel, and kill the head retention.

Wild yeast infections are notorious for getting into plastic brewing equipment, and taking root (despite cleaning and sanitization), thereby infecting every subsequent batch. Chances are this is not your problem, but it is good to be aware of the possibility.

+1 on crazy, but with a twist.

Get some carb tabs then
Bottle 7, 12oz Bottles
1 - No Sugar
2 - 1 carb tab each
2 - 2 carb tabs each
2 - 3 carb tabs each

Let all three age for 3 weeks. Swirl them every 1-2 days for the first week.
Cool all of them for 1 week min.
Have a samplin' party and see which ones are carbed to your liking.
Now bottle the rest of the well aged homebrew with the "winning" ammunt of carb tabs.

Threads like this are rage fuel to me.

carnevoodoo said:

Threads like this are rage fuel to me.

Click to expand...

you mean yeast fuel!

Stop bottling green beer!

There's to need to start multiple threads surrounding a single question/issue.

Please provide more information about your brewing ingredients, process and fermentation protocol, and perhaps you'll get some meaningful answers.

my first beer i ever brewed had the over carbed problem as well... later on i found out that the hops i used were known to help retain the head on a beer... and that i had left them in the boil too long Doh! it was really hoppy goodness but it took like 10 min for each one to settle down after the pour into a glass. otherwise it was like a giant foam puff if you weren't careful.

i also brew at around 4500 feet... and i use 3/4 cup dextrose to prime per 5 gal.

Well, I'd love to provide details, but other than two weeks in primary, I don't really have any numbers.

I'll just assume that that is my problem and be more detailed in my process next time.

Actually, the current batch I have is pretty much complete. I'll try to recap them.

Thanks for all the replies!