Hyper carbonation

[fogcitycory]

My batch of Torpedo IPA clone has turned around 180 degrees and is now hyper carbonated. It was completely flat a month or two ago. In fact, I'm afraid I now have 18 little beer bombs sitting in my closet. When I bottled this batch, the last bottled was on top of the pile, first bottled was on the bottom, so I'm now drinking some of the first bottles capped. I'm thinking either this batch took a long time to ferment or I didn't mix the priming sugar well enough. Thoughts?

Thank you,
Cory

 

[fogcitycory]

Here's a pic of the bottle I opened tonight and the resulting beercano. About 2/3 of it was lost as foam.

 

[BuckSwope]

Did you taste the beer at all? If it tastes metallic, you may have picked up an infection along the way.

 

[EFSbrew]

what was the fg? fermentation temp? Bottle storage temp?

 

[fogcitycory]

BuckSwope, I did taste it. It was really good, in spite of the overcarbonation. I didn't notice a metallic taste, but I'll keep an eye out for it next bottle.

EFSbrew, FG was 1.010. Fermentation and bottle storage temp was about 67 F. It's all stored in an interior closet in my house.

Thanks for the interest and help, guys. I'm thinking I should maybe drink all I have on hand so the bottles don't explode all over my clothes.

 

[BuckSwope]

No worries. Do you remember how much priming sugar you used? What was the final batch size and how many volumes of co2 were you aiming for? Just trying to pinpoint where the problem is.

 

[fogcitycory]

It was a 5 gallon batch and I used 4 oz priming sugar dissolved in 1 cup water. I'm still fairly new at the home brewing thing, so I wasn't aiming for a particular CO2 volume.

The first 12 pack of this batch I opened (the last ones bottled) had practically no carbonation. The closer I get to the first bottles in the batch, the more carbonation I find. I bottled using the spigot at the bottom of the fermenter.

The assistance is much appreciated.

 

[BuckSwope]

It was a 5 gallon batch and I used 4 oz priming sugar dissolved in 1 cup water. I'm still fairly new at the home brewing thing, so I wasn't aiming for a particular CO2 volume.

The first 12 pack of this batch I opened (the last ones bottled) had practically no carbonation. The closer I get to the first bottles in the batch, the more carbonation I find. I bottled using the spigot at the bottom of the fermenter.

The assistance is much appreciated.

Anytime man. That's what's great about this place - helping people brew the best beer that they can.

If that's the case of having no carb in some and tons in others, sounds like the priming sugar wasn't properly mixed. Next time give a good few mins swirling with a sanitized spoon, but don't splash. Also, I'd recommend using a priming calculator so you know exactly what carb is needed for a particular style as well as the correct amount of sugar based on the beer's temp. I don't have it handy, but google Tasty Brew priming calculator or Northern Brewer priming calculator. Can't go wrong with either one. Any questions, fire away here or thru PM

 

[Calder]

Next gusher you get; pour some in an hydrometer and when it is flat measure the gravity. If it is close to your measured fg, you didn't mix the sugar. The gravity probably dropped a point or 2 due to the priming sugar anyway, so you are probably looking for a change of 4 or 5 points or more if you had sone kind of infection.