A few questions from a newbie.

[Racketeer]

Hey guys,

First post here. About a year ago I started to have an interest in brewing beer I ordered a kit roughly a year ago, and while some financial trouble kept me down after my first brew, I'm now ready to start again. My first batch tasted pretty good at first, but it had issues with after-taste.

The real issue with it was that it was almost explosive. My father had the misfortune of opening the first bottle, and having it pour foam all over the floor. Every bottle had this issue. This leads me to my first question.

What could be causing this?

I have thought that it could be too much priming sugar when bottling. I think I may have over-boiled the batch before fermenting it, and was left with less than one gallon when fermenting.

Now, I'm also looking to upgrade my equipment a bit, because I've realized that one gallon does not go very far... I'm looking at upgrading to a 3 gallon set up, as I am in a very small apartment. I currently have a 15 litre(3.96 gallon) pot. Would this be sufficient for most 3 gallon brews, accounting for boil-off?

Thanks a lot, guys. I'll be checking in often.

Also, if anyone has a good Christmas beer recipe, I think I'm going to try that as my next brew.

 

[Captain Damage]

"Gushers" are often due to an infection. Yes, there could be other causes, such as too much priming sugar. How did you measure your priming sugar and add it to th ebottles?

For your next batch, make sure you follow meticulous sanitation practices. Anything that touches the beer must be sanitized. If you're not sure whether you sanitized it already or if you even need to sanitize it - SANITIZE it! Yes, bottle caps need to be sanitized; new bottles need to be sanitized; the container you use to add top-up water needs to be sanitized; etc.

You'd need to know the boil-off rate for that pot to know how large a batch you can safely boil. Just put a couple gallons of water in it and measure how much is left after boiling for an hour. In any case, I recommend using foam control such as FermcapS to prevent boilover.

 

[Racketeer]

Cool, thanks a lot. I thought it could have been an infection as well, but I sanitized the crap out of everything when making it.

I will never rule out the possibility of an infection, though.

 

[Calder]

Too much priming sugar, infection, or not finished fermenting. Those are the main reasons for gushers. The third is most likely.

Move up to 5 gallon batches rather than 3. I don't think it will take up much more space.

A 4 gallon pot is OK. I use a 5 gallon pot for 7 gallon batches.

Christmas brew? Look at other posts around. A suggestion would be a Porter with some vanilla and chocolate. Might not be enough time. Today I did my Christmas ale. I'm not one for spices. It's a highly hopped IPA, with Rye Malt to give it some spiciness and a little chocolate malt to give it some complexity.

 

[jonnyp1980]

Over carbed. Or infected. Both will give an off taste. Over carbed will give a metallic bite to it. Infected is an obvious sour. I've done both. You can fix to an extent an over carbed beer. Just purge the bottle by lifting the cap letting the gas out..It won't be perfect but it will be much more drinkable.

 

[jonnyp1980]

If it's over carbed. We did a review of joes beer that he put what ended up to be too much priming sugar.


http://youtu.be/-UFN9cvv13A

 

[flars]

Hey guys,

First post here. About a year ago I started to have an interest in brewing beer I ordered a kit roughly a year ago, and while some financial trouble kept me down after my first brew, I'm now ready to start again. My first batch tasted pretty good at first, but it had issues with after-taste.

The real issue with it was that it was almost explosive. My father had the misfortune of opening the first bottle, and having it pour foam all over the floor. Every bottle had this issue. This leads me to my first question.

What could be causing this?

I have thought that it could be too much priming sugar when bottling. I think I may have over-boiled the batch before fermenting it, and was left with less than one gallon when fermenting.

Now, I'm also looking to upgrade my equipment a bit, because I've realized that one gallon does not go very far... I'm looking at upgrading to a 3 gallon set up, as I am in a very small apartment. I currently have a 15 litre(3.96 gallon) pot. Would this be sufficient for most 3 gallon brews, accounting for boil-off?

Thanks a lot, guys. I'll be checking in often.

Also, if anyone has a good Christmas beer recipe, I think I'm going to try that as my next brew.

You could go up to 5 gallon brews. Take a look at the Northern Brewer site. Look at an extract kit that interests you. I would recommend and average gravity brew though. About 1.042 to 1.048. Below the description of the beer you will see an "additional tab'. The recipe is located there. Almost of the extract kits are partial brews. Meaning you boil 2.5 gallons to end up with 5 gallons in the fermenter.

If you are not using Starsan as a sanitizer, I would recommend this product. Very effective and diluted properly is easy to use.

How did your gushers taste? Was it an infection?

Good luck with your future brews.

 

[Puddlethumper]

The real issue with it was that it was almost explosive. My father had the misfortune of opening the first bottle, and having it pour foam all over the floor. Every bottle had this issue. This leads me to my first question.

What could be causing this?

My guess is you bottled before it was fermented completely. Infection would lead to a lousy taste. If it tastes OK but was over-carbonated you just bottled it too soon. No worries. A mistake we all make.

Try another batch. Check the gravity of the beer with a hydrometer. The recipe should tell you what to look for but most beers will be at 1.045-1.055. Let it ferment for 10-14 days then check the gravity with a hydrometer. It should be at 1.010-1.012. If its higher than that it may need to go a little longer. Once the gravity has settled to a consistent level (measured over three days' consecutive readings) you"ll know your beer has finished fermenting. Then, and only then, should you bottle your beer.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,my first thought was that it wasn't done fermenting yet. Then adding priming sugar drove it over the edge. But leaving those bottles in the fridge for two weeks would help settle them down a lot if it's not over-primed too much.

 

[Racketeer]

Well, I did this brew in March, and I opened one yesterday and it just turned to foam.

If you want, I can make a video of one. They have been sitting in bottles since April.

 

[jonnyp1980]

Well, I did this brew in March, and I opened one yesterday and it just turned to foam. If you want, I can make a video of one. They have been sitting in bottles since April.

Try purging the bottles. Gently lift on the cap to release gas. Don't take the cap of. Just gently lift to release then put in the fridge. Try it a few hours later. If it needs more. Purge the bottles 2-3 times. See if that works. I'm assuming the beer tastes fine?

 

[Racketeer]

I can guarantee that won't solve the problem. It just turns into a foam that rises out slowly. If you pour it it just turns into foam.

As for the taste, it's good initially, but the aftertaste is bitter, and just off. I can't quite describe it.

 

[RM-MN]

What I did to salvage my beer that had that problem was to pour it into a quart size bowl so it could foam up there, then pour carefully into the glass. It will fill the quart container pretty much to the top and when you pour that whole quart into your 16oz glass it magically all fits.

 

[Puddlethumper]

I can guarantee that won't solve the problem. It just turns into a foam that rises out slowly. If you pour it it just turns into foam.

As for the taste, it's good initially, but the aftertaste is bitter, and just off. I can't quite describe it.

A couple batches I made last spring did exactly the same thing. Also, several batches of the over-carbonated beers had that residual bitterness you describe. Like you, I'm just getting up to speed on this hobby (I started about a year ago). From the input of others on this forum I found that I simply wasn't monitoring the progress of my beers effectively.

I suspect it will be difficult for you to sort out the bitterness issue until you get the carbonation issue addressed. It may be somehow connected to the carbonation issue. Or, it could only be a matter of a recipe calling for a hops addition that doesn't suit your pallet.

An example of that is an oatmeal stout that I got over-carbonated. The recipe called for Chinook hops. I like my oatmeal stouts somewhat malty. I've learned that I definitely don't care for the harsh bitterness of Chinook hops and would never again use them in an oatmeal stout. (I made another batch recently with the same grain bill but subbed Willamette hops instead and it is delicious.) So your bitterness issue may have more than one source.

I now use a hydrometer just before pitching yeast to establish OG. Then I test the beer at about 10-14 days. If its close to final gravity I'll check it a couple more times over the next couple of days to be sure it is done. Then, I move it to secondary and let it warm up for a week or two before bottling. Following a priming sugar calculator on line I very carefully weigh the sugar at bottling. The result has been perfectly carbonated beer every time.

 

[Racketeer]

Truthfully, I probably won't do this recipe again. It was for an amber ale, and while I can appreciate it, it's not my favorite.

Regardless, I'm just trying to take in as much info as I can on here.

Thanks for all the help, guys. If you have any more suggestions feel free to post up. I just have to get everything ready for my next brew.