CO2 volumes and gushers

[Velnerj]

I've got a question regarding how much pressure (or volumes of CO2)a bottle can hold before it releases a gushing foamy river of regret across the kitchen counter and down the drain.

What are your experiences when bottling high pressure styles like hefes, triples, bruit IPA etc.? Have you found that a certain calculated volume maximises the chance to create gushers?

I understand that gushers often form from miscalculated priming, under attenuated beer, infections etc. But I'm not necessarily talking about these cases. I'm more concerned with the situation when you've hit true final gravity, you have pristine sanitation, healthy beer and calculated properly for the volume CO2 and you've reached a limited that creates gushing bottles of beer.

Here are some questions I'm pondering:
1) what volume of CO2 can you hit just before you're likely to have gushers? For example, 4.0 is OK but 4.3 often times is too much.
2) Does bottle size and shape affect the likelihood of gushers happening? Does the type of bottle affect it (crown capped, grolsch, PET etc)?
3) Does the amount of time affect it? Conditioning time (stored at room temperature) and chill time (stored in the fridge).
4) How does agitation affect it? Can I bring (thereby causing sediment to stir etc.) my high volume bottles to other people's houses without being embarrassed?
5) Are different strains of yeast more susceptible/averse to gushers?


I've had varying degrees of success and failure with gushers, and though I've never ruled out infection, I'd like to know if there's a limit to how much I am calculating and planning my CO2 volumes. And if there are some best practices (other than the obvious sanitation, properly mixed and calculated sugar etc.)

I'd appreciate hearing your experiences.

Thanks!

 

[RPh_Guy]

I bottle everything in 12-22oz glass with crown caps. I've never had a gusher.
The highest I've carbonated is 3.6 volumes.

From my reading:
Normal 12 oz beer bottles won't safely hold more than 4 volumes. Above 3.5 is risky, depending on glass quality and thickness.

Use high-pressure Belgian or champagne bottles if you want to safely push those limits. They're thicker, so less likely to explode.

Can I bring (thereby causing sediment to stir etc.) my high volume bottles to other people's houses without being embarrassed?

Yes, but give it some time in the fridge.
Chilling + time helps the pressure equilibrate -- CO2 gas goes back into solution.

Hope this helps

 

[lowtones84]

Yeah, I tend to not go much above 3 myself. Even then, it can happen. Chilling time definitely helps, as RPh Guy mentioned, and after traveling/agitation as well. If it's borderline overcarbed and you bring it to a friend's house, then open it right away or within an hour or so, you're definitely increasing your chances of having it gush out of the bottle. I try for at least 2 days in the fridge, if not like a week. That said, we all know that sometimes we don't look that far in advance.

I don't believe the size or shape of bottles is much of a factor, personally. As far as different yeast strains, that mostly has to do with attenuation. I've had some strains that I thought were at FG after checking over three days, but the agitation from the bottling process and extra sugar brought it to life. Such as English ales that was supposed to be carbed to 2 volumes, and ended up gushing out of the bottle unexpectedly. Happened a few times and my sanitation practices are dialed in after around a decade of homebrewing.