I made a pale ale. It was very carbonated after 5 days in the bottle. Tried one tonight that sat in the fridge for 48 hours, and it had been bottled for 15 days and still over carbonated. But, the carbonation didn't go away, and it was continually bubbling like soda. This leads me to believe its a more serious issue. I also tried to open a warm one and it continually foamed out of the bottle. Now I have read Revy's post on this issue, and how its just part of the bottling process. Its early in the process and it should go away with time. But, also looking into what John Palmer had to say on the issues is it could be infected. If I don't stick em in the fridge now, it will continue to carbonate and get worse, potentially dangerous. The whole bubbling continually like soda seems more like my issue here, and not the issue of no bubbling and lots of head.
John Palmer:
Gusher Infection However, the sustained bubbling is often due to "gusher type" infection. These infections can occur at any time and are due to wild yeasts or bacteria that eat the higher order sugars, like dextrins. The result in the fermentor is a beer that keeps bubbling until all of the carbohydrates are fermented, leaving a beer that has no body and very little taste. If it occurs at bottling time, the beer will overcarbonate and will fizz like soda pop, fountaining out of the bottle.
Cure: Improve your sanitation next time.
Wild Yeast: A gusher bug has gotten into the beer. Gusher bugs and wild yeasts are a real problem as they will keep on fermenting the beer until there is nothing left but fizzy bitter alcoholic water. The real danger with overcarbonation is exploding bottles. Bottle grenades can be very dangerous both from flying glass and from glass slivers left in the carpet.
Cures: Refrigerate the bottles and drink them while there is still some flavor left.
Here are the specifics:
OG: 1.043
FG: 1.013
Primary: 11 days
Secondary: 14 days
5 Gallons
Measured out 5oz brewers best corn sugar
I'm going to let it sit for a while and see if this issue goes away. I may be jumping the gun, I hope at least. On the other hand, I really don't want to have to deal with any bottle bombs. So I am hoping its just the issue of newly bottled beer and not a gusher bug. Thoughts? Revy?
Cheers!
John Palmer:
Gusher Infection However, the sustained bubbling is often due to "gusher type" infection. These infections can occur at any time and are due to wild yeasts or bacteria that eat the higher order sugars, like dextrins. The result in the fermentor is a beer that keeps bubbling until all of the carbohydrates are fermented, leaving a beer that has no body and very little taste. If it occurs at bottling time, the beer will overcarbonate and will fizz like soda pop, fountaining out of the bottle.
Cure: Improve your sanitation next time.
Wild Yeast: A gusher bug has gotten into the beer. Gusher bugs and wild yeasts are a real problem as they will keep on fermenting the beer until there is nothing left but fizzy bitter alcoholic water. The real danger with overcarbonation is exploding bottles. Bottle grenades can be very dangerous both from flying glass and from glass slivers left in the carpet.
Cures: Refrigerate the bottles and drink them while there is still some flavor left.
Here are the specifics:
OG: 1.043
FG: 1.013
Primary: 11 days
Secondary: 14 days
5 Gallons
Measured out 5oz brewers best corn sugar
I'm going to let it sit for a while and see if this issue goes away. I may be jumping the gun, I hope at least. On the other hand, I really don't want to have to deal with any bottle bombs. So I am hoping its just the issue of newly bottled beer and not a gusher bug. Thoughts? Revy?
Cheers!