Did I Catch The Gusher Bug, or It Something Else??

[dstranger99]

Even when chilled I can pour a 12oz bottle and get more foam than beer ?

I Use Star San with Vinator for bottle cleaning, etc.

Everything is kept pretty sanitary I thought, unless I missed something ?

I opened another chilled one on Sunday 8-18 and it still gushed ?? However I hear the nice "Pssssh", nothing forceful to indicate a bomb, but then after the cap is popped, foam is all over the place........

Thoughts ?

Here was my schedule for a Double IPA

Brewday 6-16 (fermented in the mid 60's)
Dry Hopped 6/22 - 6/30
Bottled 6-30 using 4 ounces of sugar / Bucket was at 4 gallons after racking.

SG 1.056 (terrible, should have been 1.070)
FG: 1.020

 

[DrNecropolis]

I know virtually zero, but the time from brew to bottling seems shorter than my understanding of it should be, perhaps it wasn't finished fermenting and adding the priming sugar increased the already active yeast and over carbonated the brew..


I'm about 97.76% sure I am wrong, but I'm sure someone will correct me..

Hell, at least then we can both learn..

 

[boydster]

1.020 is a very high FG for a beer that started at 1.056. What was your recipe? My initial suspicion is that the beer wasn't actually ready to be bottled and still had another ~8 gravity points to drop. If it continued fermenting the rest of the way in bottles, plus also fermented the priming sugar, that would create the gusher issue you are seeing.

Edit: I see you did a 2-week fermentation. So if fermentation really wasn't complete, there must have been something that caused the yeast to stall. Definitely interested to know recipe & process. That will help immensely.

 

[BrewLocal365]

I had a similar experience making a big IPA. It was my first big beer, and I missed my starting gravity (many lessons learned!). It fermented in early April without a fermentation chamber, and the temperature was in the low to mid 60s. After I bottle conditioned there was a big jump in temperature to the low 80s. My stalled fermentation kicked back on in the bottles. I had two bottle bombs. Since the bottle conditioning was complete I got the rest of the bottles cooled down and left them there. No more bombs. Over time the extra head (which was, as you say, much bigger than the beer) started to decrease and now those beers are great. My guess is that the lower temps crashed the yeast for good and eventually allowed the gas to be absorbed into the beer. As always, patience is the answer.

 

[dstranger99]

It was a Midwest All Grain Kit, I do BIAB -Done in a 7.5 Turkey fryer, and a 5 gallon BK for the 1 hour Mash.

Ingredients: 14 lbs. Domestic 2-Row barley malt, 4 oz. Aromatic, 12 oz. Caramel 60L, 8 oz. Victory, 1 oz. Chinook, 1 oz. Cascade, 1 oz. Centennial, 1 oz. Crystal and 2 oz. whole hops (dry hop), priming sugar, and yeast.

90 minute boil I think, then It was cooled down to about 70 with wort chiller, then pitched the yeast.

This was racked to secondary to Dry Hop for 1 week as well....

 

[boydster]

Did you take a couple gravity readings before transfer to secondary to make sure it was at a terminal gravity? I wonder if perhaps it wasn't done at the time of transfer, and when you racked it off the cake it stalled out, then started back up again when you introduced the priming sugar and bottled it up.

 

[Rockn_M]

1.020 is high. Did you check the gravity twice 3 days apart to see if the gravity hadn't changed? Maybe I missed it but how long did it ferment for?

 

[dstranger99]

^

Fermented 1 week, dry hopped 1 week.

 

[dstranger99]

Did you take a couple gravity readings before transfer to secondary to make sure it was at a terminal gravity? I wonder if perhaps it wasn't done at the time of transfer, and when you racked it off the cake it stalled out, then started back up again when you introduced the priming sugar and bottled it up.

^

I can't remember but I think it was 1.020 on racking day??? The kits FG had 1.016-1.018, but since I goofed so bad on the SG I figured 1.020 was about right.

And on bottling day, I only added 4 ounces of the 5 ounce package.

 

[boydster]

I wonder if perhaps it wasn't done at the time of transfer, and when you racked it off the cake it stalled out, then started back up again when you introduced the priming sugar and bottled it up.

This. I really think this is the issue.

 

[Rockn_M]

^

Fermented 1 week, dry hopped 1 week.

It may not have finished fermenting and continued when you added priming sugar and bottled.

 

[dstranger99]

^

Since it's been almost 2 months, sitting in a box @ room temp as I only chill a few at a time, I wonder if I'm safe from bottle bombs ? Could racking it off the yeast cake to dry hop in a secondary have at least taken some of that threat away ??...........

 

[boydster]

You should be safe. Racking it early increased your chances of bottle bombs, but if it hasn't happened yet you should be in the clear.

 

[Rockn_M]

^

Since it's been almost 2 months, sitting in a box @ room temp as I only chill a few at a time, I wonder if I'm safe from bottle bombs ? Could racking it off the yeast cake to dry hop in a secondary have at least taken some of that threat away ??...........

If its been almost 2 months your probably ok. How long do you keep them in the fridge before opening. Maybe let it sit for an additional 24hrs

 

[dracus]

Recently had the same thing happen to me, only many of mine did explode. Sounds like your temp control might have slipped. This is the number one thing that causes a stalled fermentation.

 

[dstranger99]

^

I'm also thinking maybe I've been fermenting to cold? I use a cooler 1/2 full of water along with a 1 gallon frozen jug that I swap out twice a day, It's been down to the lower 50's in there, but fermentation was active as the airlock was bubbling away.

 

[Brewnoob1]

If you were fermenting in the 50s, then it was a slow moving fermentation and that is why it stalled out (airlock isn't a good indication of fermentation by the way). Ale yeast thrive (taste and quality wise in the mid 60s) 50s...you're talking lager yeast should have been used. As with everyone else...I think it wasn't quite finished but was down enough to not have bombs. Just chill for a longer and drink em up. Chalk it up as lesson learned and move on to brewing more beer

 

[KepowOb]

If you were fermenting in the 50s, then it was a slow moving fermentation and that is why it stalled out (airlock isn't a good indication of fermentation by the way). Ale yeast thrive (taste and quality wise in the mid 60s) 50s...you're talking lager yeast should have been used. As with everyone else...I think it wasn't quite finished but was down enough to not have bombs. Just chill for a longer and drink em up. Chalk it up as lesson learned and move on to brewing more beer

Ale yeasts often that can handle the 50s, but it's generally well below their optimal range.

I use a similar method to control my temperatures. I get my water bath as cold as possible to start, because it's easier to have it warm up than cool down once things kick off.

I just started another batch Sunday. Water bath was at 40 to start, which is about normal for me since it's full of ice... but I also use that to help me get my wort temp down, my immersion chiller gets it to 80 in about 20min, and I can get it to 70 from there, but it'll be a long time... so I prefer just to get it in the carboy or bucket and then stick it in the ice bath to cool down the rest of the way.

But by the next morning it's usually up to 56-58. Once I hit that temp range I rotate frozen bottles twice a day and it keeps the water around 58-60 and I haven't had my beer get above 66. Once active fermentation is finished I'll wait a few days, then stop putting in the ice bottles and the temp creeps up to 70. After a few more days I'll take it out of the water bath and it'll climb up another few degrees, normally to 74-75ish.

If you're keeping your beer in the 50s by switching in your frozen bottles twice a day, try bringing it down to once a day and see what happens. I found I was able to dial in my process really quickly by keeping a close eye on things the first few times, and since then it's gone really, really well. I still want to build a fermentation chamber though, heh.

 

[2005STi]

Keep your ferm temps in the mid to low 60s for a clean ipa

If you're going to rack over in less than 3-4 weeks, check that gravity has stopped dropping for 3 days straight. If it is still really high, +1.018, then realize the yeast will get going again when you add sugar to carb and possibly add less than typical amounts to account for this.

 

[JuiceyJay]

Wow, fermenting for 1 week and than dry hopping for one week is wwwaayyy too soon. Should let it ferment for at least 3-4 weeks and THAN dry hop.
Specially with something like an iipa