Glass shards everywhere!

[batfishdog37]

Ok, maybe not everywhere, but everywhere inside the case of bottles. I have been brewing for a while now and have had 2 batches do the same thing recently. When I open a bottle, it foams over for a while. I lose a quarter of the beer into the sink. A few have even exploded while in the case. The first few bottles were fine, but as I got further into drinking the case, more were foaming over and some exploding. I apologize for not having the OG figures, I do not have my brewing notes with me. It was a pale ale, pretty straight forward extract batch. If anyone has any suggestions of what may be causing this I would appreciate it greatly. Maybe a few options for various reasons why it could happen would help me solve it. Thanks everyone!

 

[remilard]

Possible causes.

1. Too much fermentable sugar in the beer at bottling time.
1a. You did not wait for fermentation to finish (confirmed by hydrometer readings taken several days apart) before bottling.
1b. You used too much priming sugar.
2. You have an infection (wild yeast, bacteria) that can consume carbohydrates in the beer which the beer yeast can not.

 

[The Pol]

#1. Bottling too early (ie still fermenting and creating CO2 in bottle)
#2. Too much priming sugar
#3. Infections?
#4. An attempt by a terrorist organization to kill off American brewers one bottle at a time.

 

[EdWort]

In addition to those possible causes listed above, you also want to make sure your priming solution is thoroughly mixed with your beer before bottling. The best way is to put it in the bottom of your empty bottling bucket and then rack your beer on it. Then take a sanitized spoon and gently stir it while being careful not to aerate it. This will insure uniform mixing of the priming solution for all bottles.

 

[madewithchicken]

I am pretty sure it must be a gnome invasion. They come to your house and open your beer bottles and put more sugar in them.

At my house they come shine bright lights at my carboy.

I would get a cat to fight them off.

Okay the other guys pretty much had this covered with one exception. It is possible that your priming sugar did not mix all that well. That would mean that some beers would be over carbonated and some would be almost flat.

If ALL of the beer in this batch is way over carbed then this is not the case.

***EDIT***
Darn gnomes! Ed Wort beat me to it. And I think he works for the gnomes.

 

[Fat Guy Brewing]

I remember a thread where someone had a scratch on the inside of their plastic primary fermenter. The scratched plastic was housing an infection that could not be cleaned away and every batch was getting ruined.

 

[BrewTaster]

I dont think it would be an infection, though I wouldnt rule it out. Sounds like you either are bottling beer that isnt fully fermented or are adding too much sugar at bottling time.

Could you give us the measure of sugar you are adding per 5 gallon batch at bottling, and the amount of time you are fermenting for before bottling?

 

[homebrewer_99]

It wasn't gnomes...it was zombie ninja's escaping from their traps...

 

[gabeweisz]

If you put the beers in the freezer for awhile, so they are really cold (but NOT frozen), you might be able to open them and pour them out) without them foaming so much.

 

[Homercidal]

An infection will usually show up with some residue (I think that gushers do this anyway), so look for that. The others have already suggested the other possibilities.

The only gusher I ever got was from infection., but I have had batches with inconsistent carbing. Cause? Priming each bottle individually. Once I started adding the entire priming solution to the batch, and then bottling, I got great results.

 

[batfishdog37]

Now that you mention it The Pol, your #4 reason makes sense........then again it could be gnomes......(pondering). Anyway, to answer the question above I used a hair over 3/4 of a cup of priming sugar in a 5 gallon batch. Thanks again everyone.

 

[Ernie3]

Are you possibly overfilling the bottles?? I believe if you overfill you are risking bottle bombs.

 

[Kilgore_Trout]

Are you possibly overfilling the bottles?? I believe if you overfill you are risking bottle bombs.

This is not the case. You want to fill them as much as you can to make sure no oxygen is left in there.

 

[blacklab]

At my house they come shine bright lights at my carboy.
I would get a cat to fight them off.

My gnomes just drink all of my beer!

 

[carnevoodoo]

Ok, maybe not everywhere, but everywhere inside the case of bottles. I have been brewing for a while now and have had 2 batches do the same thing recently. When I open a bottle, it foams over for a while. I lose a quarter of the beer into the sink. A few have even exploded while in the case. The first few bottles were fine, but as I got further into drinking the case, more were foaming over and some exploding. I apologize for not having the OG figures, I do not have my brewing notes with me. It was a pale ale, pretty straight forward extract batch. If anyone has any suggestions of what may be causing this I would appreciate it greatly. Maybe a few options for various reasons why it could happen would help me solve it. Thanks everyone!

How long are you leaving your beer in the fermenter?

If you've not had issues before, but you do now, it could be an infection. Or it could be that the weather is cooling down and you're not fully fermenting and your bottles are blowing up because of it.

 

[Ernie3]

This is not the case. You want to fill them as much as you can to make sure no oxygen is left in there.

I am new to this but from everything I have read here and in books you need to leave a little room in the bottle. Approx. 1" or so..due to the pressure that is built up during carbonation. I hope someone else will chime in here as well because I think you may be mistaken.

 

[wilserbrewer]

my guess would be wild yeast or bugs of some sort have continued the party. This is precisely why I love kegging...once the brew is chilled down to keezer temps, all (most I guess) activity ceases.

I had issues like this years ago, also had issues w/ inconsistant carbonation, but NO moree thanks to the sankes.

Mike

 

[yeoldebrewer]

BTW, how does the beer taste? I've had one bottle so far that was a super gusher in a batch that was otherwise lightly primed and it tasted downright nasty.

 

[Zul'jin]

I mix the beer and cornstarch together in the bottle bucket and leave about half the neck of each bottle empty when filling. No problems.

 

[lordbeermestrength]

I am new to this but from everything I have read here and in books you need to leave a little room in the bottle. Approx. 1" or so..due to the pressure that is built up during carbonation. I hope someone else will chime in here as well because I think you may be mistaken.

Actually....

I agree, but I have not had problems when I overfilled, other than you might spill some when opening. But yes, I prefer to have about 3/4" headspace when bottle filling.

 

[lordbeermestrength]

I mix the beer and cornstarch together in the bottle bucket and leave about half the neck of each bottle empty when filling. No problems.

Cornstarch?

I feel like being an ass but I'll just sit here quietly with a dorky grin on my face

 

[Zul'jin]

That's right! I put foot powder in my beer.

Corn sugar. Yeah, that's what I meant.

:cross:

 

[JPicasso]

I'd vote for infection.

I had same thing for two batches. It would foam all over hell but the flavor wasn't affected. It was some very mild tasting bacteria or wild yeast.
I burped some bottles and kept them for a few months, the flavor degraded slowly and started to leave a ring in the bottle.

I replaced all my hoses and it went away. Drink that batch fast, before you get any bottles exploding.




(And I'll third leaving 3/4 to 1 inch in the bottle when filling.)