Gushers

[Merleti]

What is the best way to tell if a gusher is from a bacterial infection vs over carbing?
When I open a bottle and set it on the counter it takes 10 seconds before it starts to gush. I noticed the lees on the bottom bubbles up in chunks too.
I used 1 3/8 cup of DME to prime 5.5 gals

 

[discooby]

Not sure about your ratio of priming to bottles (I keg) but infection should be noticeable with smell and taste.

 

[RM-MN]

What kind of beer is it that does that for you? I have had a couple like that, not high pressure like I would expect from overcarbonation or infection. In fact when opened there is barely a pfft from the CO2. Then it starts foaming in the bottle a little, then more and will spill over for quite a while. My beers that have done this have had some spices in them and I think the spices form a nucleation site for the bubbles. I tried swirling one up and then letting it settle out and it didn't gush when opened but foamed a lot when pouring. The first batch that did this just took longer for the spices to settle out and then it was fine.

 

[BrewerBear]

Also how long has it been in the bottle and at what temp? Did you put them in the fridge to chill?

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I had that exact same condition with my present batch. The first 3 bottles would gush out the bottle 10 seconds after opening, as the co2 came out of suspension. Strange, since the first 3 bottles were the LAST 3 that came out of the bottling bucket.(Dip tube touches the bottom of the bucket) I finally decided that I had a poor mix of the priming solution, since the rest of the batch is only lightly carbed. Smell will tell you if it's an infection. That's why the creator put your nose right above your mouth; so you have to smell everything before you taste it.

 

[Merleti]

It has no bad smell. It the best tasting beer I've made. Beer fermented at 70 deg. Beer is stored at 75 deg. Then placed in the fridge for a day or more. Bottle date 12/30/2011.
Coffee Porter
5lb pale (2 row) British
1/2lb Crystal (2 row) British
1/2lb Black (2 row) British
1/2lb Roasted (2 row) British
3 lb Dark Dry Malt
1oz Tettnanger
1oz Chinook
1 lb Demerara sugar
7 cups of coffee
Safebrew dry yeast -58

 

[AgentHubcap]

bumping this as I have a similar problem. Been in bottles for a couple of months, but some still gush out (mostly the 22oz bottles)

 

[smokinj]

Based on personal experience, if some gush and some don't, but they all taste good, then there's a good chance the priming sugar was not evenly dispersed at bottling. An option is opening them, letting the gush a bit, then recapping. That should let it even out some.

 

[ThePonchoKid]

hehe, you said gushers

 

[Homercidal]

Sometimes you will notice a ring of gunk in the neck where the top of the beer is.

Sometimes you can see small spots of gunk at the bottom from not cleaning the bottles out well enough.

Those are good signs of infection.

Otherwise, if your sugar water wasn't mixed well enough at bottling you could have too much sugar in some bottles for the amount of headspace ratio.

 

[RobMT]

Sometimes you will notice a ring of gunk in the neck where the top of the beer is.

Sometimes you can see small spots of gunk at the bottom from not cleaning the bottles out well enough.

Those are good signs of infection.

Otherwise, if your sugar water wasn't mixed well enough at bottling you could have too much sugar in some bottles for the amount of headspace ratio.

Could that ring not be residue left from a mini krausen kicked up by the bottle carbing process?

 

[Homercidal]

Could that ring not be residue left from a mini krausen kicked up by the bottle carbing process?

The odds of that being true, I think, are slim. Any amount of fermentation happening in the bottle that would cause a krausen would be so excessive as to burst the bottle. It takes a good amount of protein to make krausen. That stuff should have been left behind in the primary.

In my experience I've never seen a ring like that from normal fermentation, even when the FG was not reached before bottling. Most stuff will quickly settle to the bottom of the bottle, except very often the film created by certain bacteria will grab the glass at the fill line and forma ring.

I've had a gusher once that I ended up catching in a glass. I thought it was going to be bad, but it tasted just fine, if a bit thin feeling and cidery. Then when I want to rinse the sediment out of the bottle out dropped a nice chunk of gooey mass. Apparently I missed cleaning one of the bottles...

 

[PhelanKA7]

Gusher infections don't necessarily have any off flavors or odors.

 

[brewit2it]

Gusher infections don't necessarily have any off flavors or odors.

Then how do you know it's an infection, because it gushed?

I sometimes get gushes in commercial beers stored in my beverage frig. In those they are stored on their side because the shelf height is only 6 inches or something and I assume it is the compressor vibration.

I'm assuming all the homebrews folks are mentioning gushing on them were stored upright. Sometimes bombers are too tall and folks store them lying down which definitely increase the chance of a gusher in my experience.

 

[Revvy]

Although homercidal's never seen bottle krausens during carbonation, I and other's have. You really can't just blankely declare that infections. In facts if folks carb with DME you quite regularly see them.

 

[IXVolt]

In facts if folks carb with DME you quite regularly see them.

Hmm, that actually makes sense in a sobering sorta way.

 

[POAS]

I assume that priming with DME _without_ first boiling it in some water would be the way that you would get an infection, correct?

I've just had the same problem and can't really figure out where the issue is. The beer sat in the fermenter for 3 weeks, it reached FG as expected, and I primed with what beersmith said was the correct amount of DME (which I boiled with about 2 cups of water, cooled off and then added to the bottling bucket and mixed).

Is it true that there can be an infection that would cause this, but there not be any off flavors or smells? I believe that I have read this before.

 

[Revvy]

Noone's asked the most important question, but just jumped on the word gush. How long has the beer actually been in the bottles.

 

[POAS]

Mine was in the bottles for at least 3 weeks, probably 5 when last gushed.

 

[AgentHubcap]

Noone's asked the most important question, but just jumped on the word gush. How long has the beer actually been in the bottles.

In my post above, I noted that they were in bottles for a couple of months. Not all of them gush (maybe 1/4 or so), and I don't have any different flavors compared to the ones that don't gush.

 

[Merleti]

Here is an update on mine. Bottling date was 12/30/11. Looking at my notes I bottled the batch in question in two different batches. It was a 6 gal volume with a 5 gal bucket use to help bottle. Still some did gush and others didn't. I just opened one of the last few bottles. I poored it before the 10 seconds to see what would happen. It bubbled as much or more than soda. Thank you again for the input.

 

[jonmohno]

So its from.......?
Ive had some batches start to foam but slowly, i think i overcarbonated them. I will stick them in the fridge if i spot one out and drink that batch sooner than the rest.Havent had any shoot out.And plan on keeping it that way.

 

[Merleti]

jonmohno No ones seems to pinpoint that it is from a bacteria or over carbing. From what I have gathered my guess would be over carbing from a lack of mixing. But I can't say it for 100%.

 

[DoubleAught]

I've been experiencing random gushers in my last 3 -4 batches I've bottled. I think I have mine pinpointed down to improperly cleaned bottles. I use PET bottles and upon further inspection of the bottles that gushed I noticed a film on the inside of the bottle and in the small cracks along the bottoms. The ones that did not gush did not have the film.

I guess I have been haphazardly cleaning my bottles. I just figured a sink full of oxy clean and a bottle brush is all I needed, I was wrong. The last batch I bottled I soaked them in Oxy, used the brush in them, then put them in the dishwasher (no heated dry) with a 1/4 cup of bleach. These bottles had zero film inside them and so far I've not experienced any gushers.

It's something to think about.

 

[brewit2it]

I've been experiencing random gushers in my last 3 -4 batches I've bottled. I think I have mine pinpointed down to improperly cleaned bottles. I use PET bottles and upon further inspection of the bottles that gushed I noticed a film on the inside of the bottle and in the small cracks along the bottoms. The ones that did not gush did not have the film.

I guess I have been haphazardly cleaning my bottles. I just figured a sink full of oxy clean and a bottle brush is all I needed, I was wrong. The last batch I bottled I soaked them in Oxy, used the brush in them, then put them in the dishwasher (no heated dry) with a 1/4 cup of bleach. These bottles had zero film inside them and so far I've not experienced any gushers.

It's something to think about.

I don't bottle very often but when I do I just rinse with hot water then starsan. No brush, no soap, no oxyclean, no bleach, etc and never had a problem. I might just have gotten lucky.

 

[BrewByLos]

I use PET bottles and upon further inspection of the bottles that gushed I noticed a film on the inside of the bottle and in the small cracks along the bottoms.

The last batch I bottled I soaked them in Oxy, used the brush in them,

Could the bottle brush be scratching the interior of your PET bottles? Scratches could contain bugs. I soak my PET bottles and brush the glass.

Good luck on future batches.

 

[DoubleAught]

Could the bottle brush be scratching the interior of your PET bottles? Scratches could contain bugs. I soak my PET bottles and brush the glass.

Good luck on future batches.

I actually started using the brush after the first batch that gushered. I used to soak in oxy, rinse, then star san. After the gushers I started using the brush. When that didn't work I more closely inspected the bottles and noticed the residue.

 

[Merleti]

I rinsed my bottle immediately after drinking the beer. Before I bottle I use Star San.I boiled my DME for 15 min.
Do you think a bacteria infection would star gushing 10 sec after opening? This is the only odd thing I have found that someone has linked the over carb to, but not bacterial.