spooky carbination

[MikeJordan]

I have two batches of beer that I'm finally getting to the end of. for some strange reason as I get down to the last couple of six packs I have had a few beers that have been over carbonated. Extra pressure when I pop the top and pouring only a couple of tablespoons in a glass will foam all the way to the top of the glass! any ideas why just a few bottles out of 53 would do this? it's hard to drink a beer that turns itself completely into foam!

 

[TipsyDragon]

There are a few possibilities.

1. Your bottling to soon and fermentation is kicking in again.

2. Your putting in to much priming sugar.

3. Your not chilling the bottles long enough.

4. Your picking up an infection somewhere.

All of these will cause over carbonation and the possibility of bottle bombs.

 

[MikePote]

Any chance you did a crappy job of stirring the priming sugar? Sounds like the simplest answer to me but who knows.

 

[Philistine]

How did you mix in your priming sugar? I've had similar results from letting the priming sugar mix just by siphoning beer on top without stirring. More sugar solution remained in the bottom of the bucket so the first few bottles drawn were over carbed.

Giving the bottling bucket a short gentle stir after racking on top of the priming sugar has given me more even carbing.

 

[fearwig]

Phil has it, I had ****ty carb consistency until I did a full on stir. I don't get why--I feel like racking onto my priming solution should make for like 100% even distribution--but somehow even if there are no granules in my solution, racking just doesn't mix it right. No bottle bombs, just some around 1.5-2vol and others up around 3.5.

I also mix up my bottle sizes sometimes (usually from necessity, too many batches in bottle). The carb difference between a 12 and a 22 and a 40 seems pretty significant, I need to start going all-in with one or the other size. Hard to decide what to put in 40s besides the lightest session beer though.

 

[MikeJordan]

How did you mix in your priming sugar? I've had similar results from letting the priming sugar mix just by siphoning beer on top without stirring. More sugar solution remained in the bottom of the bucket so the first few bottles drawn were over carbed.

Giving the bottling bucket a short gentle stir after racking on top of the priming sugar has given me more even carbing.

That makes sense. In fact the last couple of six's should be the first ones bottled. I guess it is not a good idea to assume that the priming sugar will mix evenly just by the flow of liquid being syphoned into the bottling bucket.

 

[Epimetheus]

Phil has it, I had ****ty carb consistency until I did a full on stir. I don't get why--I feel like racking onto my priming solution should make for like 100% even distribution--but somehow even if there are no granules in my solution, racking just doesn't mix it right.

You just saved me much time. I was planning to rack onto the priming solution exactly to test if that would help carbonation consistency. Thanks!

 

[fearwig]

You just saved me much time. I was planning to rack onto the priming solution exactly to test if that would help carbonation consistency. Thanks!

Yeah, I really think it's got to be an "I just don't see the granules" thing, but I had carbonation all over the place. It's fun so I can see what my beer is like at different carb levels, but it's not fun for pouring a bottle for company.

From here out, I really think I'm going to let it sit in the bottling bucket for a few minutes to help some solids dissolve, then give it a stir. Maybe all this is really on me for using different bottle sizes, but it seems all over the place, even accounting for that. (Makes me want to keg more than ever.)