Consitency between bottles?

[lwcm]

The last small batch i brewed was a GF beer to try out the recipe and see if it worked out well. Well it did and the first bottle was awesome. It was clearish and tasted somewhat close to Blue Moon. The second one foamed up over the top of the bottle soon as I opened the blasted thing; lost about 1/3 of beer to foaming over. Now there is quite a layer of yeast sediment in most of the bottles due to my learning that filtering might be a good idea and bits of hops left over for the same reason. This was also a REALLY fast beer (8 days primary, 7 bottle conditioning) so might that have some effect? And soon as I open any of them the carbonation starts to come out and all the yeast sediment floats up to the top and mixes back together. So I had one bottle that poured out looking like a good hefeweizen and the others look like....... chicken gravy.

Anyhow, the drastic changes from bottle to bottle really puzzle me. Any ideas?

Next time I brew this up I'm using hop bags, a filtered funnel and Irish Moss which I hope should help. Oh, and getting a clue on how much priming sugar to use would also be a good idea .

Thanks in advance!

 

[downtown3641]

Sounds like an issue with time. Eight days from kettle to bottle is not very long, and seven days is probably not long enough in the bottles. Give it a couple more weeks then try again.

The amount of priming sugar could also be a problem, as you mentioned.

Leaving the beer in the fermenter for a longer time will help with the sediment being transferred.

 

[phenry]

How well did your priming solution mix with your beer when bottling? If it wasn't well mixed, then you could very well have unevenly carbonated bottles. Also, filtering yeast out of the beer will result in beer that won't carbonate at all if that's what you're planning on doing.

Giving your beer more time in the primary/cold crashing will result in a lot tighter yeast cake and the yeast dropping out of the beer, so you won't have a huge cake at the bottom of each bottle.

Another thing, 7 days in the bottles really isn't nearly enough time to make any judgement on a beer. Give it at least 2 more weeks before you start analyzing things.

You don't need hop bags, filters, or anything to produce clear beer. I dump all of my trub into my fermenters, yet I almost always have crystal clear beer. Long primaries, careful racking to the bottling bucket, and giving the bottles enough time in the fridge is all I do.

 

[unionrdr]

Time is def the issue. Did you check for a stable FG at 8 days? Mine take longer to finish,plus 3-7 days to clean up & settle out more. They're clear or just slightly hazy at bottling time. By the amount of dregs you mentioned in the bottles,it sounds like it wasn't settled very well.
Hefe's should be a bit cloudy,but not that much.
And 7 days in the bottle no where near enough to carb & condition. Conditioning takes a bit longer than carbing. The bottles also need more than a couple of hours chilling to get co2 into solution. Mine take 1 week to 2 weeks,depending on gravity & how dark it is. Patience wil get you better quality. You can't rush the yeasties,they have their own time table.

 

[lwcm]

The priming sugar was well mixed into the bucket before I bottled so hopefully that wasn't the issue.

I did think that the primary was pretty fast but as I was hoping to have it done before my GF friend dropped by to visit it wasn't as long as I'd like. It was a 2.5 gallon batch with a full pouch of US-05 so it fermented out quick. Hit a stable FG after 5 days.

They are currently conditioning in 12 pack boxes in a closet at around 68F, no other room for them so that's what I'm stuck with. So, it also sounds like I should leave them the heck alone in the bottles for another week or two. This Monday will be 2 weeks since bottling.

Thanks for all the input!

 

[unionrdr]

3 weeks should be good. 4 might be better,but you'll have to pop one to see for yourself when it's good. It's all part of the plan...

 

[downtown3641]

For what it's worth, vigorous fermentation does not always mean complete fermentation. Unless you're in a hurry, four weeks fermenting and four weeks bottle conditioning is a good policy. You'll get better beer and stress less if you go into it expecting to wait two months.