Avoiding over-carbonation

[Mattyc88]

Hey, if i'm going to be aging a few beers and i'm worried about the possibility of over carbonating, what temperature is low enough that the yeast will go dormant and stop carbonating? I was thinking about taking them to my Dad's wine cellar instead of putting them in the fridge because I don't have room for 50 bombers in my fridge.

His wine cellar is temperature controlled in between 55-60 degrees I believe.

 

[BrewCrewKevin]

You shouldn't have to worry about over-carbing if you do it correctly, no matter how long it ages.

The key is to make sure fermentation is completely done before bottling. That's typically the cause of over-carbonation.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Hey, if i'm going to be aging a few beers and i'm worried about the possibility of over carbonating, what temperature is low enough that the yeast will go dormant and stop carbonating? I was thinking about taking them to my Dad's wine cellar instead of putting them in the fridge because I don't have room for 50 bombers in my fridge.

His wine cellar is temperature controlled in between 55-60 degrees I believe.

Did you add too much priming sugar? Did you bottle too early? If not, relax.

If you did, open one now and see how it is. If they are overcarbing, then you need to take action.

55-60F might stop some ale yeasts, but many still work fine in that temperature range. You really would have to get them all into the 40s to be assured of stopping them.

If you can't refrigerate them and you know for certain that they are overcarbonating, OPEN ALL OF THEM NOW, put sanitized saran wrap over the open bottles, and let them all ferment out completely for a week or so at 70F. Then get some carbonation drops, add them to each bottle and recap.

Be safe.

 

[Mattyc88]

No, I don't think I added too much priming sugar or bottled too early. Just had some over carbonations in the past that I let age that were no longer drinkable when I went back to them.

Hopefully they'll be alright. I use the northern brewer priming sugar calculator.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Misread your messages. If you are worried about excess carbonation ruining the flavor, the only remedy is adjusting sugar. If you put too much sugar in, you'll make too much CO2. No easy fix.

But if your sugar is correct, then what you might be experiencing is due to insufficient cold conditioning time. You don't have to put all of the beers in the fridge at once. Put a few in for a week, then try them. If they're good, keep replacing them with warm bottles as you drink them.

 

[BrewCrewKevin]

No, I don't think I added too much priming sugar or bottled too early. Just had some over carbonations in the past that I let age that were no longer drinkable when I went back to them.

Hopefully they'll be alright. I use the northern brewer priming sugar calculator.

What kind of beer? In my opinion, they do overcarbonate some styles. I would never go over 1 oz/gallon.

The one other thing to watch is your sanitation when you bottle. It sounds like you may have had a problem wit hthat as well. The longer the beer ages, the larger the chance that bacteria can build up in it, causing off-flavors and overcarbonation.

 

[TAK]

The one other thing to watch is your sanitation when you bottle. It sounds like you may have had a problem wit hthat as well. The longer the beer ages, the larger the chance that bacteria can build up in it, causing off-flavors and overcarbonation.

^ This ^

It sounds like what you've experienced in the past was a wild yeast or bacteria infection. If you're sure that you used the correct amount of priming sugar and after a couple months you're getting over carbed beers or gushers, it's probably a bug that went to town on the longer-chain sugars. That could be sanitation issues anywhere down the production line.

 

[Mattyc88]

I'm pretty much a stickler when it comes to sanitation, I think they were fine in that respect. I pretty much always used to use the 5 oz pre-packaged priming sugar packets at my LHBS before recently. My guess is that, that amount of sugar was too high for those styles of beer at the time. Hopefully these will be more okay.

 

[TAK]

No offense intended, but I'm a stickler for sanitation too, and have still had a couple cases of gushers. Infections can come from a lot of places. I think mine where due to aeration. Unless you're using an inline air filter or an O2 tank, the air you're putting in the wort comes strait from the room and it definitely contains wild yeast and bacteria. These won't always take hold, and even if they're there, the yeast you pitch will probably be dominant and fermentation will be normal. However, after a normal fermentation even just a couple bugs present can slowly do their thing and show their effects only after a several months at room temp. That's just one example where really good sanitation may still not be enough.

 

[beergolf]

I'm pretty much a stickler when it comes to sanitation, I think they were fine in that respect. I pretty much always used to use the 5 oz pre-packaged priming sugar packets at my LHBS before recently. My guess is that, that amount of sugar was too high for those styles of beer at the time. Hopefully these will be more okay.

In most cases the 5oz of priming sugar is too much. It works for most brewers because the brews carb up fast and are all gone before they really overcarb. I had they same problem with certain beers when I first started. IPA's with a lot of hops or brews with a lot of crystal malts do not need as much sugar to fully carbonate and keep a good head. Some styles, like Belgians and Saions can take more carbonation without being overcarbed.

For example an IPA with some crystal malt may only need about 4 oz of sugar to carb up and give a nice head. Some of my Saisons i use 6 oz of suagr and they are highly carbed but are not overcarbed.

Sanitization is also key. Make sure your bottles are spotless and then some starsan will get them where they need to be. I always give my bottles an Oxiclean soak, rinse very well, then on bottling day a good squirtbof starsan and they are good.

I have beers in my cellar that are years old and no problems at all.