Extreme over carbonation

Okay, I just had a bottle of home brewed S.S. Minnow Mils that was extremely over carbonated. I don't mean the carbonation took a long time to go down, this was a geyser and didn't stop. It just kept going and going. I had other bottles from the same batch that were just fine. Does anyone have any idea of what would cause this?

msppilot said:

Okay, I just had a bottle of home brewed S.S. Minnow Mils that was extremely over carbonated. I don't mean the carbonation took a long time to go down, this was a geyser and didn't stop. It just kept going and going. I had other bottles from the same batch that were just fine. Does anyone have any idea of what would cause this?

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Sounds like you didn't fully mix the priming sugar. Hopefully you don't have more than one .

I don't claim to be an expert on the matter, I only have a couple brews under my belt but my very first brew encountered similar problems.

I used swing top bottles and when I would swing the fasteners open the lid would explode off, it sounded like a gun going off. I took a bottle of it into my local home brew supplies store to get their opinion and they said it tasted fine but if its unusually carbonated or pressurized I probably didn't do a thorough job sanitizing.

My second batch I was very meticulous with sanitizing and it seemed to fix it. The beer tasted better too!

Feldmann said:

I don't claim to be an expert on the matter, I only have a couple brews under my belt but my very first brew encountered similar problems.

I used swing top bottles and when I would swing the fasteners open the lid would explode off, it sounded like a gun going off. I took a bottle of it into my local home brew supplies store to get their opinion and they said it tasted fine but if its unusually carbonated or pressurized I probably didn't do a thorough job sanitizing.

My second batch I was very meticulous with sanitizing and it seemed to fix it. The beer tasted better too!

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Could happen but usually over carbonation is a result of over priming or not letting you beer finish. If you only have some bottles explode, you probably had some of your sugar not completely mix into solution.

I have had it happen. I even racked on top of my priming sugar mix and I had a few bottles over carb and few under carb. Now, I gently swirl it with a sanitized spoon on every batch and I haven't had it happen in 50 batches.

Gushers and bottle bombs are most likely caused by poor sanitation at bottling. You probably caught a bug in a bottle or two that fermented some normaly unfermentable sugers. It happens to the best of us.

ffd520 said:

Gushers and bottle bombs are most likely caused by poor sanitation at bottling. You probably caught a bug in a bottle or two that fermented some normaly unfermentable sugers. It happens to the best of us.

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This. Be sure to really hit go at them with a bottle brush if you're using recycled bottles that weren't immediately rinsed and allowed to dry after pouring your beer. Also, I would toss any gusher bottles to be on the safe side.

divrguy said:

Could happen but usually over carbonation is a result of over priming or not letting you beer finish. If you only have some bottles explode, you probably had some of your sugar not completely mix into solution.

I have had it happen. I even racked on top of my priming sugar mix and I had a few bottles over carb and few under carb. Now, I gently swirl it with a sanitized spoon on every batch and I haven't had it happen in 50 batches.

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When you say "not letting your beer finish" do you mean in the final stage when its in the bottles or in the fermenting stage?

He means the fermenting stage. Not letting the bottles finish priming would lead to under carbonation

Bamsdealer said:

He means the fermenting stage. Not letting the bottles finish priming would lead to under carbonation

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Yes I should have been more clear. Thanks.

When I hear someone had some bottles explode, some undercarb its usually sugar not mixed. When they only had one or two exploding bottles and all the rest correctly carbed, its sanitation.

I'm starting to worry that my latest batch (easy extract hefeweizen) wasn't finished. I did the unthinkable and bottled without a steady reading. I rushed it because of everything I've read about hefe's being done fast and best when young.

Brewed on 1/16 with a starting gravity of 1.056. Took a reading of 1.015 on 1/27 and thought surely it was close if not done. Forgot to check again the following days, then took a reading of 1.012 on 2/1 while racking onto priming sugar. I figured there was no turning back at that point so I went ahead with bottling (4.2 oz corn sugar / 5 gallons). The sugar was already boiled and in the bottling bucket when I took the reading while racking to it or I would have dropped the amount.

4 days later I couldn't sleep thinking about it so I chilled one down and popped the top the next day. I was surprised at the amount of head on the pour however, it doesn't seem to have much retention and doesn't seem overcarbed on the tongue (no tingles). I immediately moved my case of 12oz bottles to a cooler in the basement and there it sits at 52 degrees. I've got another case of 16oz swing tops still trucking along in the closet at 64-66 degrees (cold house). I moved one to the fridge last night and just popped the top. Lots of pressure, 3 inches of head but again, not much retention and doesn't "feel" over carbed.

The good news, it's delicious. Are my worries justified or did I simply interfere with the process? I normally have a test bottle from every batch at the 1, 2 and then 3 week mark. Never have had this much activity so soon. I've also never used this much corn sugar because I have a terrible fear of bottle bombs.

Thoughts?