Bottling problems for a gift brew

[nathan1330687]

I brewed two batches as a gift. I left in primary for 1 month. they had troubled carbonation and the head was weak (after testing it at 2,3,and 4 weeks) finnally at the 5th week i liked it and put them in the fridge for 48 hrs. This was all in Jan, and Feb. After I thought i killed the yeast months ago I put a few in the fridge because I was thirsty(although the gift is not due until may 20) and one gushed on me. It was the weirdest thing though because the Amber gushed but my pale ale was only slightly over foamy.

I know that as long as I am forced to bottle i will win some and loose some. I don't mind the amber going belly up because I have a few other batches I can give.

The real question: Given the small amount of information here what should I do with the pale ale. Put it in the fridge for a week to make sure I kill any traces of yeast?? or leave it out another month and risk the same thing that happened to the amber batch.

I understand bottling is not something a top experienced brewer deals with everytime(i want to keg myself), but please enlighten me if you have the time and I would really appreciate it.

 

[JollyIsTheRoger]

As a fairly new person to brewing here are my thoughts:

Putting your bottles in the fridge won't kill the yeast, it will just put them in hibernation, that is why wyeast packs are refrigerated and can be reactivated when they warm up, same thing with chilling starters. Or when people harvest yeast from commercial beers that have been in bottles and refrigerated for a long time. Yeast should only stop fermenting when they run out of sugars, die due to alcohol content, or are heated up(pasturized).

But again I'm no expert those are just my thoughts

 

[bad coffee]

First of all, welcome to HBT!

Do you know why your beer is overcarbing? Did you measure your priming sugar correctly?

If you've got the beer done and it's carbed to your liking, you could pasturize it.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/

B

 

[zepolmot]

How long were they in the fridge before you opened them?

 

[tesilential]

If you wanted the flavor to stay near the 5 week level you needed to keep them all in the fridge this whole time. 2 days in the fridge did nothing but make them cold...

 

[erikpete18]

How long was the gusher in the fridge for before you opened it? It will take a little bit of time in the cold for the beer to absorb the CO2 pressure from the headspace, so if you opened it after only a couple of hours that could be your problem. I think most people say at least a day in the fridge, if not a few, before opening them.

For your pale ale, if its fine now more than likely its not going to change any more, so you can continue storing them where they are at. For your amber, the excess foaming could be a host of problems: incomplete fermentation, too much/poorly mixed priming sugar, infection in the bottle, etc. Its hard to know which one it might be, but I'm sure you can at least rule some of those possibilities out.

 

[nathan1330687]

Thanks for all the responses. I had heard from someone at one point that refrigeration kills yeast. I guess I didn't think that yeast usually COMES refrigerated. Glad to clear it up as this is the first time my beer has lasted long enough to have to worry about OVER carb.

Anyways the pale is fine and I brewed a belgian ale last week that will hopefully cover the ruined amber ale. I will be sure to refrigerate for a while before gifting to allow all co2 to absorb into the beer.

Thanks again