Beer fountain

So, I brewed a Belgian style wheat a few months ago...20 days in primary (a little long, I suspect), 6 weeks in secondary, two months in bottle. I bottled 3 gallons of brew in 750 ml bottles with @ 12 oz beet sugar, dissolved and boiled for 10 minutes. Opened the first one last weekend at a friends house and it went straight up. When it finally petered out, we had @ 4 ozs of beer left. The beer was probably @ 55 degrees, and though it had been in my car for a while, it hadn't been rolling around. I suspect chilling it would reduce the effect, but I don't like my beers real cold, nor do I think a Belgian should be chilled, so I was wondering if anyone had an idea why this happenned?

The beer tasted fine, at least the little I got, so it hadn't gone critical in some freaky fashion...

Luckily, we were in his kitchen, right next to the sink. The portions that hit the floor was lapped up by the dog with little complaint.

I don't know the effect of beet sugar compared to corn sugar but 12 0z. sounds is a lot. I'm wondering if that is the problem.

I think, seriously over-primed. You used four ounces (beet sugar = sucrose) per gallon, where 1-2 per gallon is more typical.

Bright side: They didn't explode

I don't have the package anymore, but I thought it said that I should use 1 lb per 5 gallons. I'll have to check the package next time I hit the LHBS.

But, yeah, if that's the sityeeashun, I am quite glad there were no bombs.

You only need 4 oz of corn sugar for 5 gals of brew.

Ever heard of using beet juice in the boil?

Ouch. 2.5 volumes of CO2 in 3 gallons is 2.43 ounces corn sugar. Corn sugar is dextrose, or glucose. Beet sugar is sucrose, which is glucose and fructose linked by (I believe), a condensation bond.

I have no idea how much sucrose = how much dextrose though....but I agree 12 oz sounds like a lot.

Shoot, some research came up showing that sucrose is MORE fermentable than dextrose:

Types of priming sugar
The above calculations are based on using fully fermentable sucrose (cane/beet/granulated sugar). Icing sugar should be avoided because of the small amounts of cornstarch added to prevent clumping.

Many homebrewers prefer glucose or dextrose (corn sugar) because of the 'cidery' flavour supposedly imparted by sucrose, although, if present, this 'flavour' can probably only be detected in lightly hopped lagers.

Dextrose is also fully fermentable but its chemical composition means that an extra 15% (by weight) is needed to get the same carbonation level as with sucrose. It's easiest to do the basic calculation for sucrose and then add 15%. In the above example requiring 6 g/l (0.8 oz/US gall) sucrose, you would need 7 g/l (0.9 oz/US gall) dextrose.

Click to expand...

So 0.85 * 2.43 = 2 oz / 3 gallons if you use beet sugar.