First batch way too carbonated

[triktrail]

Hi all,

Last night I opened my first bottle from the first batch and the fizz came gushing out. It was around 85% foam. I believe up to 45% too much priming sugar was used (7 tsp of cane sugar total for five 22oz bottles) but was this really enough to cause such a rupture?

This was a pale ale recipe that came with the crappy Sharper Image homebrew kit that I received as a Christmas gift. I had replaced the yeast and hops but used the year-old milled pale row malt (around 2.2lb) and crystal malt packet.

The second thing I messed up was letting all the trub get into the bottles. What happened was the auto-siphon didn't fit into the 1 gallon carboy that came with the kit, so I poured all the beer into a stock pot and immediately siphoned the cloudy liquid into the bottles - no time for settling to happen.

Half of a yeast packet was used for the 1 gallon batch because I don't have a scale yet to weigh ingredients.

Here's what it looks like after filtering with a strainer:



Very milky.


My question is, was the extreme foam/fizzle likely caused by the extra priming sugar, the trub in the bottles, or too much yeast being used to begin with? Thanks everyone.

 

[BigCrazyAl]

Assuming you used the recommended amount of sugar, I think the issue was the transfer to a stock pot then into bottles.

I know to get my one gallon kit to bottles, it recommended using a length of vinyl tubing to siphon onto the priming sugar mixture, then into bottles. The auto siphon didn't fit so it stated to fill the hose with starsan and place one end into the carboy and the other below the carboy. Remove clamp/finger from the end of the hose that's below the carboy and the siphon starts. Discard the starsan portion into a sink and then collect the rest until you're down to the trub.

I'd recommend letting the bottles carb at room temperature for at least 3 weeks if you haven't already. Then refrigerate a bottle for a solid week to cold crash it and compact the trub. Then open and pour carefully but immediately.

 

[r4dyce]

The amount of sugar sounds high but not super gushing high.
How long did you let the bottles carb for?
How long did you refrigerate them before opening? A less obvious thing about co2 is that it will stay dissolved in solution better in cold beer. I refrigerate a minimum 24 hours before opening. This will also help the sediment settle.
How long did you wait before bottling? The other thing to consider is it might not have been done fermenting before you bottled. I.e. if there was still fermentable sugar in the beer when you bottled you're going to end up with lots more co2 since the yeast will eat through the remaining sugar from the wort and then the sugar you just added.
Also if you didn't really well stir the priming sugar and beer you might have had some bottles get more sugar than others

One last thing just to consider for next time. I've always hated batch priming. I ended up with some bottles that were good, some that were undercarbed and many that were way over carbed. For most of my bottled beer now I've moved on to using small sugar cubes in the bottles. There is some disagreement over this in the forums but I love it. Just drop a cube into each bottle and rack the beer into each bottle. Every bottle is perfect and you don't have to worry about all the risks and mess of transferring the beer. The downside is you can't customize the carb level. The cubes will get you to right about 2.5 vols. For most of your americanized regular every day styles: IPAs, wheats, pale ales, browns, reds, etc this is perfect. If you're trying to make certain belgians or a stout or something you probably will still want to go batch priming. You can search for more info on either method though.

 

[PADave]

How long did you let it ferment it for?

 

[ESBrewer]

It is likely that the fermentation of the wort continued in the bottles and thus excess co2 was formed. The trub (and possible nonflocculant yeast) may also cause some of the experienced milkiness. Did you measure the final gravity (and original gravity) of the beer before bottling (and before fermentation, respectively) to see the attenuation? If not so you should certainly buy a hydrometer or refractometer and a mini siphon that fits in your carboy. The scale will also be necessary.

 

[ncbrewer]

Pouring the beer into a stockpot probably oxidized it. The yeast activity during the conditioning will eat up some oxygen, but there might be too much for the yeast to handle. Just avoid this next time.

And welcome to HBT.

 

[RM-MN]

In brewing time is critical. How long did you let it ferment? Long enough for all fermentation to stop? I'd suggest a minimum of 10 days and using a hydrometer to be sure that fermentation truly has stopped.
Time in the bottles is critical too. If you open the bottles while too much yeast/trub/hops are still suspended they will form nucleation points where the CO2 will come out of solution quickly and cause the beer to foam out the mouth of the bottle and stir up any settled yeast/trub. The recommended time is 3 weeks in the bottle although one sample at the end of the first week may be OK but the beer will improve with more time.

 

[triktrail]

Thanks, everyone, for the replies.

It fermented for three weeks and then two weeks in the bottles. First bottle was refrigerated for just a few hours before opening. There is still one bottle left in the refrigerator so maybe after a week or two it will be less fizzy. There's a large milky cloud suspended in the middle, currently.

I now have a carboy to fit the autosiphon and the second batch was bottled on Sat. Trub was left in the carboy. Will wait three weeks to try this time, purchase a scale, and look for more 1 gallon recipes.

For most of my bottled beer now I've moved on to using small sugar cubes in the bottles. There is some disagreement over this in the forums but I love it. Just drop a cube into each bottle and rack the beer into each bottle. Every bottle is perfect and you don't have to worry about all the risks and mess of transferring the beer.

This sounds very convenient. In the second batch I was hesitant to stir after priming lest too much oxygen be introduced.

Thanks again!

 

[r4dyce]

This sounds very convenient. In the second batch I was hesitant to stir after priming lest too much oxygen be introduced.

Thanks again!

Yup, understandable. Im by no means an expert but I'd also say for your first few batches oxygen isn't your biggest concern. Perfect is the enemy of good as they say. Yes, you should be careful, but it takes a good thorough stir ... as long as you're not stirring like you're making whipped cream, you should be fine.

If you decide to try the cubes it is the domino sugar cube "dots". They're smaller 2.5g cubes. You can also look for "carbonation drops" at any brew store. Essentially the same thing but made from formed corn sugar. Not a huge expense either way but the sugar cubes were easier for me to buy in large quantities, plus if I get invaded by a flock of grandmothers I can use them for tea time.

 

[GHBWNY]

IMO, incomplete fermentation and/or infection. 85% foaming does not correlate to the amount of priming sugar used. I've experienced gushing both from over-priming and from infection, and this to me looks more like an infection issue. My infected bottles turned into bottle bombs and 85% gushing as per OP. My over-primed gushers were minimal enough to pop the cap, let it overflow in the sink to the tune of maybe 5-10% loss, and re-cap.

OP, did you taste/smell the beer?

 

[shortyz]

a milky cloud suspended in the middle.... something aint right.