Gushers indicate sanitation problems at what phase of the brew day?

[yarrr]

I've been kegging all of my batches for the last few years and haven't experienced any indication of infection. Lately I've been brewing 6 gallon batches and bottling what doesn't fit in the keg to age.
I recently sampled a bottle that was approximately a year old and it was extremely carbonated and got me worried about gushers.
I brewed a batch of NB/Lakefront Bridgeburner in December, and decided to bottle the batch rather than keg. Sampled two today that were over carbonated and seemed to have lower body than at bottling.
What phase of my brew day should be targeted for improved sanitation to prevent gushers?

 

[veritas524]

I would start by making sure you're priming with the proper amount of sugar. If that checks out and the kegged beer is fine I would be suspect of your bottling bucket/wand or your sanitation process of the actual bottles and caps.

 

[cockybitz]

remember that as the yeast produce the co2 that it fills the headspace of the bottle. As it integrates itself back into the liquid it takes time for the carbonation size to dissipate, or so it seems to me. I believe that if it has not been bottled for long enough that the gas dissolved may not be stably integrated until a later date, causing the beer to gush out as the bubbles that are suspended are too large to remain in solution.

 

[yarrr]

I suppose bottling bucket/wand makes the most sense. Bottles received the usual treatment (Oxyclean soak, bottlebrush scrub, soak/dunk/rinse with Onestep).

I guess I was just curious when the wild yeast/bacteria find their way into the beer- like if it was something to do with transfer to secondary.

I will throw out another question about bottle conditioning: I keep my house is pretty cold during the winter, so there really didn't seem to be any carbonation activity for the first two weeks after bottling. The third week I raised the temperature of the cases to 70-75 with a heating pad, and this seemed to kick up the carbonation. Since that point, the beer has been in the basement at around 55 degrees, as this seems to be the perfect drinking temp.

Is it necessary to chill beer after or during conditioning? I've read lots of posts about chilling reducing perceived carbonation- but would prefer not to consume this particular beer at 40 degrees.

 

[Lennie]

No its not necessary, 55F is a good temp for a nice ale.

Are you using a calculator like tastybrew to determine your priming sugar addition? Theres a lot of carbonation remaining in a beer that was fermented in the low to mid 60's.

 

[yarrr]

I used 5 oz of priming sugar. FG was 1.020. I'm inclined to believe that the increased temperature for a week woke up some yeast and lead to over carbonation.

But, the reduction of body and flavor seems to point to gusher. Underlying question: do I consume the batch quickly before the gushy nasties do, or vent/recap/age as originally intended?

 

[BrewKnurd]

I used 5 oz of priming sugar. FG was 1.020. I'm inclined to believe that the increased temperature for a week woke up some yeast and lead to over carbonation.

May seem like a silly question, but are you sure it was done fermenting before you bottled?

 

[yarrr]

If it wasn't done, it was stalled out pretty good. Don't have my notes in front of me, but it was in primary for over three weeks, then 6-8 weeks in secondary.

Interestingly enough, when I transferred to secondary I recorded 1.014... Sloppy reading I would guess.

 

[veritas524]

I suppose bottling bucket/wand makes the most sense. Bottles received the usual treatment (Oxyclean soak, bottlebrush scrub, soak/dunk/rinse with Onestep).

I guess I was just curious when the wild yeast/bacteria find their way into the beer- like if it was something to do with transfer to secondary.

I will throw out another question about bottle conditioning: I keep my house is pretty cold during the winter, so there really didn't seem to be any carbonation activity for the first two weeks after bottling. The third week I raised the temperature of the cases to 70-75 with a heating pad, and this seemed to kick up the carbonation. Since that point, the beer has been in the basement at around 55 degrees, as this seems to be the perfect drinking temp.

Is it necessary to chill beer after or during conditioning? I've read lots of posts about chilling reducing perceived carbonation- but would prefer not to consume this particular beer at 40 degrees.

Cleansers and sanitizers are different things. Sounds like you're contaminating your gear. Pick up some starsan or iodophor.