Gusher?

Hey everyone! I have been noticing that our dunkleweizen seems to be more carbonated than it used to be (it has been in the bottle for at least 4 weeks. When I open a bottle, it slowly foams up and will overflow if I don't drink some. Is this the beginnings of a gusher infection? If so, how can I keep this from happening to my next batch? Thanks!

Mirage said:

Hey everyone! I have been noticing that our dunkleweizen seems to be more carbonated than it used to be (it has been in the bottle for at least 4 weeks. When I open a bottle, it slowly foams up and will overflow if I don't drink some. Is this the beginnings of a gusher infection? If so, how can I keep this from happening to my next batch? Thanks!

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Stop opening any more bottles. Take four of them and place them in your refrigerator. Let them cool down for 48 hours. No, not 47, 48.

Then stand by the sink and open one. Pour that non gusher into your glass and enjoy.

Repeat times three.

Lol, thanks for the input. I will try that. I really dislike the way our beers taste when cold though. I guess it is either deal with a possible mess, or drink beer that isn't very good. LOL, decisions, decisions.

INteresting. I've had a few very good non-infected bottles that gush.

Why would they do this and what does the extra cold do?

Cold didn't do anything to help with the gusher infection I had. I had some of them in the fridge for multiple weeks, and they still gushed. The only thing I was able to do was immediately pour some in the glass, at which point the glass would be 95% foam to the top of the pint glass, but at least it kept it from gushing out of the bottle entirely. Wait for the foam to subside, then pour some more, repeat. It usually took a few times of doing this to get all the beer into the glass.

I think there is a difference between a gusher infection and a gusher.

gusher infection is poured down the drain and a lot of hand wringing about the rest.

gusher is just a random bottle that gushes but tastes fine. I've had one bottle of each in 20 batches.

This is my second bottle that foams a lot. I don't really know if this is relevant, but every batch that we have brewed has a similar taste to each other. We changed the water for this last one (got store bottled water), and it is still there. I have heard of extract twang but I thought that only applied to LME. Oh well... Guess I need to wait and see if AG makes a difference.

you might not have completely finished fermentation...

Grinder12000 said:

INteresting. I've had a few very good non-infected bottles that gush.

Why would they do this and what does the extra cold do?

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Gas is more soluble in a liquid at lower temperatures.

Try a different DME. Are you sure you have the temps right? make sure your thermometer is accurate. MANY are not.

This next one is going to be a different DME. I think my thermometer is fairly accurate (within a few degrees) and the last batch (dunkle) fermented at like 63 the whole time. The next one is going to be a 60 Minute clone. Hopefully it will taste different.

sorry to resurrect an old thread but I have a batch that are all gushers; first time ever. It's a belgian strong ale that i only primaried and no secondary. i noticed that all of my bottles (it's been over a month since bottling) have a significant yeast cake at the bottom. when i crack open a 1 liter flip top bottle it makes a loud 'pop' then it gushes out with the yeast shooting out from the bottom. by the time it's done gushing out i'm left with about 12 ounces of beer if i'm lucky. aside from that the beer tastes phenomenal so I don't think it's an infection. I added, or atleast I was supposed to, 4.75 oz of corn sugar in a 5-5.5 gallon batch which has been stored in about 64-70F temperature for a target of 2.5 volumes; this was based on beersmith's calculations. Obviously I'm way over that. is the beer salvageable? I took a bottle just now and popped it open to relieve some pressure then recapped it. do you think that will help? is it possible i have an infection? i've made a couple batches since then using the same equipment and no problems whatsoever. did i just over carb it?

What was your FG?

Og: 1.067
fg: 1.015

Hmm...what yeast?
Wyeast 1388

I dont think you have a Gusher bug, I think you may have bottled before fermentation was complete. Either strain yeast, Wyeast 1388 or White labs 550 would have taken you to 1.010 or less. Recap/vent a few times to free the head space.

Try popping a bottle, pour it into a glass and leave overnight for the carbonation to dissipate. Then, take a gravity reading. If it's lower than your FG (and your FG was the same over the course of a few days prior to bottling), you likely have an infection.

Is there a white ring on the inside of the bottle neck?

NWMushroom said:

Try popping a bottle, pour it into a glass and leave overnight for the carbonation to dissipate. Then, take a gravity reading. If it's lower than your FG (and your FG was the same over the course of a few days prior to bottling), you likely have an infection.

Is there a white ring on the inside of the bottle neck?

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This beer sat in a primary only for about 6 weeks so I'm pretty sure fermentation was complete. All of the bottles that I have are crystal clear with a nice golden color but with significant yeast sediment at the bottom. I took one bottle last night, cracked it open then sealed the flip top again very quickly and stuck it in the fridge over night. I looked at the bottle today and there was a white ring on the neck at the surface level of the beer. Keep in mind that my other bottles are perfectly clear. Is that a gusher bug?

here's a video of my bottle gusher. Mt. St. Helens!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21440812/video-2011-11-16-13-43-03.mp4

bmason1623 said:

This beer sat in a primary only for about 6 weeks so I'm pretty sure fermentation was complete. All of the bottles that I have are crystal clear with a nice golden color but with significant yeast sediment at the bottom. I took one bottle last night, cracked it open then sealed the flip top again very quickly and stuck it in the fridge over night. I looked at the bottle today and there was a white ring on the neck at the surface level of the beer. Keep in mind that my other bottles are perfectly clear. Is that a gusher bug?

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The test I mentioned isn't to determine whether your fermentation was complete - it's done to determine whether you have an infection.

An infection bug will continue to eat the sugars in your beer after the yeast are done, lowering the gravity of the beer.

If your gravity is now lower than it was when you bottled, you probably have an infection.

Does your white ring look like this?

Based on your video, I'd take extreme care around those bottles. I had a bottle bomb even though there was far less pent up pressure than in your bottles:

http://www.onemansbrew.com/my-first-bottle-bomb/