Second batch in a row that's over carb'd

Hey gang,

My last Porter, I had to dump, gushers as each was opened and had one bottle bomb. I know for a fact that I measured the priming sugar as my brother even remembered me doing it and knew the amount, 5oz for 5 gal. The only thing I can think of is my scale wasn't zeroed when I measured.

My Red Ale just 2 weeks in the bottle is also way over carb'd. It tastes fantastic at this point. I twice measured the sugar, 3/4 cup then straight to the scale at 4oz spot on. Both brews were 4 weeks in the fermentor before bottling.

Both finished up at 1.018 and I use Beer Smith for priming calculations

Where to start looking for the over carb issue?

Toy4Rick

Are you boiling the sugar first, then racking the beer into it in the bottling bucket, or using it dry?

How high do you fill your bottles?

Why in the world would you DUMP an overcarbed batch? Chill them to near freezing, pry off the cap, and recap. If you want to take that a step further, pour them gently into a bottling bucket, then rebottle. Excess co2 means they'll re-equalize after you cap.

I think Raenon may have a point. What is your bottling process? Could there be concentrated sugars in the bottles you popped? What type of beer? 1.018 means sugar left in the beer unless its unfermentable. But you know that.

raenon said:

are you boiling the sugar first, then racking the beer into it in the bottling bucket, or using it dry?

How high do you fill your bottles?

Why in the world would you dump an overcarbed batch? chill them to near freezing, pry off the cap, and recap. If you want to take that a step further, pour them gently into a bottling bucket, then rebottle. Excess co2 means they'll re-equalize after you cap.

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this^^^^

Either deep clean the spigot mechanism on your bottling bucket or buy a new one. I had a batch that produced a gusher iinfection and i asked for advice and someone relayed a story about having a problem with their spigot. After they replaced it the issue went away. Coincidentally i replaced my bottling bucket after that batch before i asked for advice and i haven't had a problem since.

Huh. I never heard of an infection that did not produce off flavors or aromas. But YES! the spigot MUST be disassembled, cleaned and sprayed with sanitizor after use. Then it must be disassembled, cleaned and soaked in sanitizer before the next use. Too many nooks and crannys there to take any chances of infection. It sits around with all those surfaces, even if rinsed, for too long and will inevitably be a primary source of infections. Your bottling bucket spigot is NOT!!! your friend.

From what I know, bacteria is not going to produce those kind of results in such a short time

smarek82 said:

From what I know, bacteria is not going to produce those kind of results in such a short time

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Wild yeast.

Hey gang,

As for bottling process, I boil the sugar for 5 mins or so, rack to bucket, add sugar and gently stir before bottling.

This is like batch 15 or so and never thought the spigot could be an issue. Not even sure how to take the spigot apart. I always rinse it in hot water after use then soak it in StarSan at next use.

I would have to use a bottling bucket for sure, once I pop the tops, they would gush out immediately and don't stop. If I go this route to re-bottle them, how to be sure it won't happen again or end up with flat beer?

Thoughts on how to disassemble?

Toy4Rick

barneygumble said:

Huh. I never heard of an infection that did not produce off flavors or aromas.

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"Gusher" infection doesn't seem to ever taste bad, but the bottles get worse and worse with time.

Toy4Rick said:

Hey gang,

As for bottling process, I boil the sugar for 5 mins or so, rack to bucket, add sugar and gently stir before bottling.

This is like batch 15 or so and never thought the spigot could be an issue. Not even sure how to take the spigot apart. I always rinse it in hot water after use then soak it in StarSan at next use.

I would have to use a bottling bucket for sure, once I pop the tops, they would gush out immediately and don't stop. If I go this route to re-bottle them, how to be sure it won't happen again or end up with flat beer?

Thoughts on how to disassemble?

Toy4Rick

Click to expand...

My spigot just easily comes off, and disassembles easily. I can even screw the top off of mine to clean it inside. Yours must be different than mine. It still should come off, but if you can't easily disassemble it, you could try soaking it in bleach and.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the feedback.

I was able to get the spigot apart finally and did find some minor stuff inside. Took my buddies apart and his had a bit more inside. They are just press fit together, very difficult to get apart.

Had a few more bottles yesterday, 1 was over carb'd a ton, the next 4 were perfect. Seems like the spigot is the culprit since I am sure the priming sugar was mixed well in the bucket before bottling.

Looks like I need to be more careful

Thanks again
Toy4Rick

Just a small suggestion - I typically boil the sugar & dump into the bucket. THEN siphon the beer into the bucket. The swirling action of the incoming beer does a great job of mixing with the sugar water. I wonder if your "gentle stirring" distributed the sugar evenly?