How much to Fill Bottle

My friend and I have noticed some bottles seriously popping with some gas explosions when we open them (caps are NOT flying off on their own, thankfully), and I was thinking it might due to under-filling the bottle.

So my question is: How much of the neck of the bottle do you leave empty before capping it? We're filling beer up to the bottom of the neck, but not much higher than that.

Thanks!

If you're using a bottling wand properly and filling the beer til it starts to overflow then pulling the wand out, all the bottles should have the same headspace, which is between 1 and 1 1/2 inches from the lip.

If they are gushing out of the bottles when opened, there is a good chance of infection. Known as "Gushers".

IrregularPulse said:

If they are gushing out of the bottles when opened, there is a good chance of infection. Known as "Gushers".

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Or opening them too soon; before the co2 has totally assimilated into the beer.

Or openning then warm....the beer needs to be cold to absorb the co2 fully.

Also, how long did you let it sit in the primary? (Did it FULLY finish fermenting)
And how much priming sugar did you use at bottling time?
-Me

OK, we use a wand and we're certainly not filling it all the way until it almost overflows. That must be the trick.

Regarding fermenting: We usually let it ferment in the primary for 1-1.5 weeks depending on activity, and then we secondary for another 1-2 weeks. I don't think it's still fermenting.

Regarding Priming Sugar: It varies per recipe. Some are kits that have a set amount of sugar which are already premeasured, others have us use some light malt extract and we're pretty good with measuring that out.

Maybe the recipe or the kit has us putting too much sugar in, but I'm thinking we're going to start with the wand overflow trick and work our way from there.

Thanks all for your help :rockin:

Revvy said:

If you're using a bottling wand properly and filling the beer til it starts to overflow then pulling the wand out, all the bottles should have the same headspace, which is between 1 and 1 1/2 inches from the lip.

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I agree with Revvy. I've been filling them to just before they overflow and then remove the wand. The level looks to be about the same as commercial 22 ouncers from the store, so I figured it was a good level and it has seemed to work for me.