Beer Geyser

[Charon]

Today, after weeks of waiting and wondering I finally was ready to open my first bottle from my first batch of brew, an all grain Irish red ale. My girlfriend and I sit down in the living room with two pint glasses eagerly waiting to try it. I pop open the first bottle cap to an explosion. Beer shoots over everything. The TV, couch, magazines, coffee table, me. Within a second all the beer was gone.

Does anyone have any clues as to what might have caused it? Im hesitant about opening any of the other bottles with this batch just yet.

The second batch, an Apple and Cinnamon holiday brew, did not have this issue and came out fairly tasty.

I do not have hydrometer readings. This will be next on my purchasing list before I begin brewing more and larger.

 

[Dalarast]

Your gravity might of been to high to bottle. Whats the recipe you used and how long did you ferment and how long in bottle before you popped the cap?

 

[Revvy]

Well since you didn't take any hydro readings there's really know way to know what caused it...You could have bottled to early and the beer is over carbed...or it could be that you opened it before the co2 had actually gone fully into solution....sometimes if you open too soon at that point, they gush. Or you could have an infection.

How long did you chill the beer before openning it? And when you say "weeks of waiting" how many weeks was the beer actually in the bottle before openning it? All the weeks in primary/secondary means very little when it comes to carbing/conditioning....the only length of time that matters now is how long in the bottle?

Take a read of the blog here and look at the video...you may simply be experiencing "early carb" where the beer's just starting to absorb the co2, but not enough to be held in suspension, like in the video when the first bottle was openend.

Revvy's Blog- Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

 

[Yooper]

One other question- how long were the bottles chilled? Usually, when they are first carbed up they should be refridgerated overnight or longer so that the co2 in the headspace dissolves better into the beer. If you quickly chilled it, in anticipation of drinking it soon, the co2 may not have had a chance to dissolve well into the beer.

Otherwise, you might have bottled too early.

 

[TipsyDragon]

my guess. you either bottled while fermentation was still going on or you added to much priming sugar. at what temp did you let the bottles sit after you bottled it.

 

[Charon]

Thanks for the quick responses. I dont have the exact recipe as it came as part of a kit. I was hesitant to get too mentally or financially committed to the hobby. (Not anymore)

What I do know is that the recipe consisted of:
- 1lb of some quality grain
- Some amount of East Kent Golden Hops (Half at the start of boil, the other half 30 minutes in)
- Some amount of Cascade Hops (added 55 minutes into the boil)
- blackberry and sugar mixture

Two weeks in the primary, two weeks in the bottles at between 60-70 degrees. Cooled in the fridge about 4 hours before opening.


Ive done much more research since ive first started out and will make appropriate changes and additional attention to detail for the next one. Revvys blog entry really sheds some light on what I may have done wrong

 

[Yooper]

I assume the blackberry and sugar mixture went in before fermentation, or was it part of the bottling process?

My guess is that the bottles haven't been chilled enough before opening. I'd suggest taking one now, and putting it in the fridge and open it on Wednesday night. If it still foams, it means that you bottled too soon or used too much sugar when bottling. I think it should be ok, though, based on what you said.

 

[Revvy]

Two weeks in the primary, two weeks in the bottles at between 60-70 degrees. Cooled in the fridge about 4 hours before opening.

Well that's sums it up for me....Too early to open, not stored ABOVE 70 degrees and NOT long enough in the cold to further absorbe the excess co2...Your beer IS probably exhibiting the "false carb" fizz but no integrations of co2 into the beer...compounded by not long enough in the fridge....

And if it's between 60 and 70 and not ABOVE 70 then at 2 weeks your beer is exhibiting the same characteristics as the beer in the video stored above 70 degrees, AT 1 week...the lower the temp the longer it takes.

if you read my blog I recommend a minimum 48 hours in the fridge for that very reason to lock in the co2 into solution...but a week in the fridge before openning is even better.....

Patience grasshopper.....Leave them at least another week above 70, then chill one down for 48 hours before testing it.



If you come back in two weeks, after having chilled one for 48 hours and STILL you have gushers, we can explore other possibilities, but until then I am sticking to my assessment that it is still way too soon....

 

[BBKing]

The things one can learn at HBT. Good thread brought on by anothers crappy experience.

Stick with it man.

 

[Charon]

Thank you guys.

It doesnt sound like anything that I cant fix by waiting.

It was an experience to say the least, humorous looking back on it.

 

[Rick500]

If it happens again, be sure to take pics.

 

[sper]

I've experienced a similar problem. Are you using the kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop?

I just made their Belgian Tripel recipe, and ever beer was well over carbonated. I fermented for two weeks (60-70 degrees), carbonated for 3 weeks at 60-70 degrees. Some of the beers were chilled for about 2 hours, but some were chilled for 3 days. All exploded. My initial thought was that I added too much sugar to carbonate, but my other theory is contamination during the siphoning.

 

[RogueVassar]

I've experienced a similar problem. Are you using the kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop?

I just made their Belgian Tripel recipe, and ever beer was well over carbonated. I fermented for two weeks (60-70 degrees), carbonated for 3 weeks at 60-70 degrees. Some of the beers were chilled for about 2 hours, but some were chilled for 3 days. All exploded. My initial thought was that I added too much sugar to carbonate, but my other theory is contamination during the siphoning.

I'm a newb but I would think that you'd have to ferment a Tripel a lot longer than that since it's such a high alchohol beer. Did you take hydrometer readings on it? It's one of my favorite beers but I've heard it takes about 6 months to be ready to drink so I'm holding off until I've got enough IPAs, etc to hold me over for that long...

 

[Revvy]

I've experienced a similar problem. Are you using the kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop?

I just made their Belgian Tripel recipe, and ever beer was well over carbonated. I fermented for two weeks (60-70 degrees), carbonated for 3 weeks at 60-70 degrees. Some of the beers were chilled for about 2 hours, but some were chilled for 3 days. All exploded. My initial thought was that I added too much sugar to carbonate, but my other theory is contamination during the siphoning.

I have a feeling that if you bottled your triple after only two weeks in the fermenter, you bottled while they were still fermenting, hence the bottle bombs. When you think of tripels and quads, you thing about fermentation in terms of MONTHS not weeks.

Most of us don't do anything to our beers in primary for a month, and in terms of a tripel THEN you would want to bulk age it for at least a month in primary before bottling.

Did you even take a grav reading before bottling?

 

[BubbaK]

I would also suggest opening the next bottle over the sink...

 

[Charon]

I've experienced a similar problem. Are you using the kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop?

Yes. This was exactly what I was using. Their Irish Red Ale kit. I followed the instructions exactly and had this carbonation problem as well as it seemed that I burned too much off during the boil.

 

[bce22]

As the other members said, I don't think its a problem with their kits. It's a patience issue. You'd most likely have the exact same problem (everything being equal) with same recipe kit purchased at ANY other location.

 

[ic3scrap3r]

I would also suggest opening the next bottle over the sink...

Beat me to it! That was my exact thought when reading this thread!