Early gushing bottles: Cause for concern?

[Spelaeus]

So... recently helped a friend with his first brew. He bottled just two days ago and wanted to open a few tonight for friends, being a bit eager. It was 4.6 gallons, FG had held steady for 1.5 weeks prior to bottling (a hair over 1.01). Being on the cautious side and neither of us being fans of high carbonation, I told him to use slightly under half a cup of sucrose for priming for roughly 2.3 volumes of CO2. The bottles were then allowed to sit upstairs in fairly warm temps (no AC and it's been hovering around 75F-80F) for the duration of those two days. I'd mentioned he should probably put them in his basement but... his decisions there. Anyway, opening the bottles today they were... not total gushing jets but they all fizzed over a bit. Though they don't seem super carbonated when drunk. I'm thinking that there may just be a bunch of CO2 out of solution due to the heat and lack of time that's causing this, but is this cause for concern? I've never had this issue with my own bottles, but I've never kept them so warm or rushed them so much either.

 

[TwiggyTwig]

I wouldn't be concerned. Sounds like they didn't have enough time to carb up.

 

[Spelaeus]

I wouldn't be concerned. Sounds like they didn't have enough time to carb up.

All right. I was just never sure if the suggested 1 week or so was because the yeast needed that much time to produce the carbonation, or because the CO2 needed time to go into solution.

 

[ong]

Were they chilled for at least a day or so before opening?


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[Spelaeus]

Were they chilled for at least a day or so before opening?

No, just sat at ambient temp for two days. No refrigeration.

 

[The_Bishop]

They need to be chilled down for a few days so the CO2 will go into solution.

 

[Grinder12000]

I would stop measuring by by cups and go by weight because cups you never know what you really get. Fluffy sugar? Packed sugar? It's pretty quick to see anything and personally I would be very concerned but what can ya do.

What was the temp of the wort before you bottled as that can be important for determining how much priming sugar to add (probably not a problem in this case) . Combined with not really knowing how much sugar you actually added . . . . .


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[HerbieHowells]

The timelapse carbonation video on Youtube is always worth a watch. This is how you would expect a beer which was opened a few days of bottling to act.

 

[HomebrewCraig]

The timelapse carbonation video on Youtube is always worth a watch. This is how you would expect a beer which was opened a few days of bottling to act.

And here it is!
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FlBlnTfZ2iw[/ame]

 

[Spelaeus]

The timelapse carbonation video on Youtube is always worth a watch. This is how you would expect a beer which was opened a few days of bottling to act.

And here it is!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FlBlnTfZ2iw

Exactly what was happening. I had a feeling but wanted to be sure, thanks a lot guys!

 

[boydster]

I realize people mention "CO2 needs more time to go into solution" a lot, and even the guy in the video said it, but having a bunch of CO2 in the headspace waiting to dissolve into your beer is a myth - the CO2 is already in solution. That's why you are getting foam; the CO2 is rapidly coming out of solution, making foam bubbles.

It's definitely important to wait, that part is very true. Once the yeast and any other particulates settle out, the carbonation will be more stable because it will have fewer nucleation sites. So +1 on the advice to give it a little more time in the bottle, and a few days of fridge time helps too.

 

[Spelaeus]

I realize people mention "CO2 needs more time to go into solution" a lot, and even the guy in the video said it, but having a bunch of CO2 in the headspace waiting to dissolve into your beer is a myth - the CO2 is already in solution. That's why you are getting foam; the CO2 is rapidly coming out of solution, making foam bubbles.

It's definitely important to wait, that part is very true. Once the yeast and any other particulates settle out, the carbonation will be more stable because it will have fewer nucleation sites. So +1 on the advice to give it a little more time in the bottle, and a few days of fridge time helps too.

That makes a lot of sense, I appreciate the thorough explanation.