Brew in Primary very bubbly on bottling day!

[LaughingMan]

So I took final gravity readings two days in a row and it was identical (OG was 1039 and FG is 1011 for two days in a row). I opened up the primary fermenter to add my sugar for bottling (I've done it this way before with good results), but before adding the sugar I gently stirred and got a crap tonne of CO2 release! There is also a very slight foam to it. I'd imagine this means that fermentation isn't finished?

It's a Coopers 86 Day Pilsner, which I added 1kg of light dry malt to. It's a week and 2 days of fermenting at 22 C. My last brew with an English Bitter was in primary for 1 week, and I bottle conditioned for another week and it turned out great.

 

[ike8228]

No your fermentation is done if the FGs were the same. Did you use a blow off tube? Did you get foam and crude make its way up the tube? If yes then I bet it was clogged and the CO2 release was not escaping thus carbonating the beer. You essentially bottle conditioned the carboy/fermenter. You have to have a good seal everywhere for it to happen. I did it once.

You might be ok just bottling as is if it is that carbonated. Or use less priming. But you have to be very careful. You could over carb and bottle bombs follow. You can not degas well without oxygenating the beer either. You could stir it and shake it to get the carb out, flatten the beer. But this introduces oxygen and will make your beer taste not so good.

Others may have a better solution if this is indeed the case.

 

[LaughingMan]

It's a simple bucket with cork and air seal, the one you add water to and has a red cap. It's been happily bubbling away, and if I put very gentle downward pressure on the lid CO2 bubbles out the airlock, so no clogs at all. I've no blow off tube, I never had a huge amount of foam nor do I now, as I said there is a very marginal foam. However, my last batch didn't have any noticeable foam when I bottled. The concern was when I stirred I could hear CO2 escaping. When I poured for the FG readings it was carbonated but not enough to bottle with.

Over carbing is my concern, and the fact that my FG readings indicate fermentation is largely over has me confused. Am I better off waiting a while and checking again? Can it go bad if I leave it too long?

 

[rburrelli]

Stirring released CO2 and that is what you are seeing. Let it settle a little before bottling. You should be fine as your gravity readings seem to indicate it is done fermenting.

 

[LaughingMan]

Cool, I'll leave it a few days and see how it is then. Thanks.

 

[Stormcrow]

Yep. A lot of CO2 gets trapped in the yeast and trub. I've even noticed that if I put some water in an empty bottle of homebrew I just poured and shake it with my thumb over the top, there is a violent little release of gas when I remove my thumb. I'm assuming just from the yeast in the bottom of the bottle.