bottling / carb question

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IreRye

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i know this is premature... i bottled a week ago. i know you should prob have to wait over 2 weeks before you can / should drink one. but i got the itch to open one up.

opened a bottle and it shot everywhere. what is wrong?
 
i know this is premature... i bottled a week ago. i know you should prob have to wait over 2 weeks before you can / should drink one. but i got the itch to open one up.

opened a bottle and it shot everywhere. what is wrong?

Probably 1 of 3 things:
  1. It was bottled too early. If it wasn't done fermenting, then the yeast is still eating.
  2. It was overcarbed with too much priming sugar. You can use a calculator like this one to determine the target volume of CO2 and priming sugar: http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
  3. Once bottled, it was stored too warm.
 
Was the beer warm? Try chilling one for a while (I'd say at least overnight) and see if it does the same thing.
 
Probably 1 of 3 things:
  1. It was bottled too early. If it wasn't done fermenting, then the yeast is still eating.
  2. It was overcarbed with too much priming sugar. You can use a calculator like this one to determine the target volume of CO2 and priming sugar: http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
  3. Once bottled, it was stored too warm.

1. this might be it, but it did ferment for over 3 weeks. seemed done to me..
2. the beer was from a kit so i used the priming sugar they supplied.
3. been stored at around 65*
 
1. this might be it, but it did ferment for over 3 weeks. seemed done to me..
2. the beer was from a kit so i used the priming sugar they supplied.
3. been stored at around 65*

Most kits give you a 4.5 oz or 5 oz pack of priming sugar which can be double what you actually need for a style like IPA. It is probably a little bit of #2 and ditto what zachattack said about opening it warm.
 
yeah it was warm. i have one chilling now. will try it tonight

Why? You already wasted one. You KNOW it won't be carbed, or conditioned, why would you waste another? Wouldn't you rather have 2 cases of READY beers? Why dwindle the supply when they're not ready yet?

We don't tell new brewers that it takes 3 weeks to deprive them of beer, we tell them that, because we want you to enjoy ALL your beer, when it's ready.

If you watch Poindexter's video on time lapsed carbonation, you will see that in many instances, before a beer is carbed it may gush, that's not from infection, or mixing of sugars, but because the co2 hasn't evened out- it hasn't been pulled fully into the beer. Think of it as there's a lot of co2 being generated and most of it is in the headspace, not in the beer, so there's still "over pressure" in the bottle, so it gushes when it is opened.

But when the beer is truly carbed it all evens out, across the bottles.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlBlnTfZ2iw]time lapse carbonation - YouTube[/ame]

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.

And just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean it still doesn't taste like a$$ and need more time for the off flavors to condition out. You have green beer.

Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience." ;)

Additionally once the three weeks or so has passed, chiling them down for a few days (not just a few hours or over night as most new brewers want to do ;)) will help the carbonation settle.

So the correct answer is, WALK AWAY for 2 more weeks.
 
Why? You already wasted one. You KNOW it won't be carbed, or conditioned, why would you waste another? Wouldn't you rather have 2 cases of READY beers? Why dwindle the supply when they're not ready yet?

We don't tell new brewers that it takes 3 weeks to deprive them of beer, we tell them that, because we want you to enjoy ALL your beer, when it's ready.

If you watch Poindexter's video on time lapsed carbonation, you will see that in many instances, before a beer is carbed it may gush, that's not from infection, or mixing of sugars, but because the co2 hasn't evened out- it hasn't been pulled fully into the beer. Think of it as there's a lot of co2 being generated and most of it is in the headspace, not in the beer, so there's still "over pressure" in the bottle, so it gushes when it is opened.

But when the beer is truly carbed it all evens out, across the bottles.

time lapse carbonation - YouTube

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.

And just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean it still doesn't taste like a$$ and need more time for the off flavors to condition out. You have green beer.

Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience." ;)

Additionally once the three weeks or so has passed, chiling them down for a few days (not just a few hours or over night as most new brewers want to do ;)) will help the carbonation settle.

So the correct answer is, WALK AWAY for 2 more weeks.

thx
 
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