Home Brew won't stop carbing...

[bottlebomber]

Yeah im gonna have to tap out of this one... if you are fermenting to completion, you are adding a less than average amount of priming sugar, and you are conditioning long enough, it has to mean infection. That means you have to start replacing hoses and either replace or seriously disinfect your bottling gear and fermenters to see if you can find the problem. Don't give up on brewing though, problems like this really aren't that common.

 

[cervezarara]

Is it possible your fermentations are stalling? You're reading, say, 1.017 and inferring that it is done, even if it has a few points to go. Two gravity points is all it takes to give 2+ volumes of CO2. Why might it be stalling? Are you fermenting at cool temperatures?
Maybe the yeast is floccing before finishing the fermentation.

I once had a Belgian Ardennes that "ended" at 1.016. I thought that was a little high, but figured, "What the heck, it's stable." So I bottled it and had exactly the scenario you are presenting. The bottling process and adding simple priming sugar must have roused the yeast enough to create volcanoes in the bottle.

Maybe you can measure the gravity of one of your bottled gushers. Just let it sit a while in the sample tube to off gas most of the CO2. Compare that to your measured finishing gravity to see if it has dropped a few points. If this is the case, you will need to take measures to ensure fermentation has really stopped. Swirling the fermenter and warming up the beer are two ways to accomplish this.

If you had an infection, you would probably be able to detect it with your taste buds.

 

[Taypo]

Stalled fermentation sounds as good as anything else at this point, the obvious has been pretty well eliminated already

 

[OldStyler]

Possibility... I don't think it's an infection either. Before the latest got all overcarbed I had 9 of them in a day - I wouldn't drink 9 of anything if it tasted like crap... which is what I imagine infected beers pry taste like...

 

[OldStyler]

So to determine if it's stalled - how do I determine that before I bottle??? Maybe use something like hopville.com to account for my yeast and see what final gravity I should be getting? If being 2 gravity points off would cause some annoyances in the beer, how is anyone ever certain the yeast is completely done?

 

[KevinW]

How do you sanitize/clean your bottles?

I use oxyclean free and very hot water then soak for at least a day, rinse very, very well just before bottling!

Just wondering!!

 

[ACbrewer]

So to determine if it's stalled - how do I determine that before I bottle??? Maybe use something like hopville.com to account for my yeast and see what final gravity I should be getting? If being 2 gravity points off would cause some annoyances in the beer, how is anyone ever certain the yeast is completely done?

An answer then a question .

The basics here are you need your OG and yoru FG and the yeast type. Assuming 100% fermentables making up your OG, your yeast will have an attenuation range (gernerally 3-77% but some have a high range at like 80 to 84% and others low at 65%). Anyhow OG- OG*Attenuation% =FG.

Thus OG of 1.040 with attenuation of 75% is 40-30 [40*75%] = 10 or 1.010 expected FG. Some steeping grains won't ferment and they can change this up a few points. (so thae OG might start at 1.044 and go to 1.014)

But that is the idea of how to calculate it.

Question is this - you say over carb, does it keep the over carbonation? or does it settle after you have poured and let it sit for a bit? Mine often do this, especially if I neglecte the 48 hour fridge rule.

 

[OldStyler]

That's all fine and good - but the yeast that's used has an attenuation range doesn't it? So I could potentially be stalled out at the low end of the attenuation range, bottle, yeast gets excited again and there I am again? Overcarbed? Is that potentially right?

 

[BigB]

That's all fine and good - but the yeast that's used has an attenuation range doesn't it? So I could potentially be stalled out at the low end of the attenuation range, bottle, yeast gets excited again and there I am again? Overcarbed? Is that potentially right?

Right... there is no way you are going to know for sure if you are fully fermented because of the reasons you stated... plus pH, temperature, mash variables, pitching rate, etc.... But what I believe the poster was trying to get at is that if you are fermenting too cold and its stalling out, then you will have a problem later... in other words, just make sure you are comfortably within the ideal fermenting temperature range for your yeast and you are pitching proper amounts of yeast. Take care of those two and you will be generally fine.

 

[cshamilton]

Are the beers just really foamy and then behave like normal - or just super fizzy all the way to the last ounce. When I dry hop, I'll often get a hop particle or two in a few bottles and they really foam up.

 

[cervezarara]

Do these batches all use the same yeast? Are they dehydrated yeast like Nottingham or Windsor? Do you taste your gravity samples for residual sweetness? I really can't explain why this might be happening to you, if stalling is even the issue. The kits you mentioned using are usually designed to be pretty foolproof. Maybe try a batch with some Safale US05?

 

[jonmohno]

do you know what temps your beer was sitting at? What is the lowest temp you had them during fermentation?
Well it seems its either a stalled ferment because of temps or Uneven mixture of priming sugar- which you should check some of the bottles you either started bottleing or finished. I always drink mine last bottled first and backwards down to the first bottled and only ever have had a few bottles slightly overcarbonated. Or an infection. Infected batches dont always taste bad as someone has posted.

 

[OldStyler]

The beers will eventually die down for the most part - but waiting 20 minutes to drink it is a pain in the rump...

 

[jonmohno]

Well its a porter right? and they are intended to drink at that temp anyway, looking at it from the full glass point of view

 

[ACbrewer]

That's all fine and good - but the yeast that's used has an attenuation range doesn't it? So I could potentially be stalled out at the low end of the attenuation range, bottle, yeast gets excited again and there I am again? Overcarbed? Is that potentially right?

Yeah. I had a beer once that I racked off to let it settle some more (don't remember if it was needed or not) but it started up again and dropped like 2 or 3 points. So it is possible that the yeast with range fo 73-77 stoped at 73, got stired up, co2 was released and then went to 77.

I've never figured out if yeast restarting is simply from going back into suspension, or if it is from co2 coming out when racking/moving to bottling (both?) a ph or temp change, etc all of those could be driving this. I'd say be sure you get atleast the expected fg result and if you don't try perhaps doing something to nudge it just a little. Personally I'd try a gentle thump on my ale pale to release co2 and kick up yeast, but that is just my method, others here (on the forums) suggest other ideas.