Krakatoa!!

[Krrazy]

Thanks first for all of the good information contained within. I just cracked my first (and second) bottle and have a question for the forum based on my results.

My first batch is an all grain

Tripel

from

Brooklyn Brew Shop

(http://brooklynbrewshop.com/)

After three weeks in the carboy and just shy of three weeks in the bottles I eagerly cracked the first one last night. Visually the bottle of beer looked nice and clear (using Grolsch bottles) with about a quarter inch of sediment at the bottom. Upon breaking the seal I heard a nice carbonation pop sound and breathed a sigh of relief that everything worked right. After a short delay the beer quickly foamed up and erupted out of the bottle as if I had shaken it up before opening. I hated to see my creation go down the drain so I tried to collect it and after it stopped erupting I poured my first glass. The nice clear beer was no longer and all of the sediment was redistributed in the liquid. I didn't really mind at first (although I'm looking for tips on clarity for future batches -- it did start getting to me after two bottles) and gave it a taste test vs a commercial Tripel. I felt that the alcohol content and the taste were really close and I enjoyed that. The main difference I noted (other than the clarity) was that it seemed with my brew, after that initial surge, most of the carbonation was gone when compared with the way the off-the-shelf beer kept bubbling in the glass and maintained its head until I put it all in my belly.

From the group, I'd like some input on what is happening here with the carbonation of my brew. I didn't receive any directions on bottling, so I've since learned (from this forum) that I should have filled each bottle up to about 1" of the top. I had filled each bottle up to about the bottom of the neck, so I've probably had about 2" of head-space in my bottles. My priming sugar came from honey in the bottling bucket. I didn't dissolve it or heat it up to boiling and was initially worried about that in addition to the amount that was actually incorporated into the beer since I had a lot left over in the pot after bottling but it seems from my results of taste and eruption that the yeast did get enough sugar to fuel them during the bottle phase.

Thanks in advance for the feedback, I look forward to hearing from the group before I try my next batch!

 

[JefeTheVol]

I would guess that you bottled too soon. If you bottle an unfinished beer with a gravity too high you will overcarb in the bottles and experience a volcano or a bottle bomb.
What was your FG when you bottled? And how much honey did you use?
-Jefe-

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

How cold was the bottle you opened?

If you open up a bottle that's most of the way through conditioning, the CO2 can be partially dissolved which will make it gush out. If the beer is warm it will also accentuate that.

Leaving a bottle in the fridge for 24+ hours will really help get that CO2 from the headspace dissolved in the beer and prevent that.

Three weeks in the bottle is also a bit short for big beers, so giving them a few more weeks would probably be really beneficial. The quarter inch of non-compacted sediment also indicates that bottle conditioning hasn't completely wound down yet.

 

[whoneedsabeer]

I agree with both the above posts.

If I were you, I'd put these bottles in rubber maid tub with a lid, just to be on the safe side. You might start having eruptions.

 

[Krrazy]

Thank you for the replies. This is my first brew and I appreciate your posts. I had the bottles inside something from day one ever since reading about 'exploding bottles'. I'm using Grolsch swing-top bottles so that should be a pretty sturdy container.

I had the bottle in the refrigerator for probably about 10 hours before I drank it -- based on some of the feedback and some other postings about "gushers" I think I'll wait another week and try one after refrigerating for a few days...and then just to through a process like that of waiting and refrigerating until they're just right.

I got the ingredients for a stout up next and I've had a batch of apfelwein going for just about four weeks now so I've got plenty to do to keep me busy.

 

[Krrazy]

I'll report back on my own thread for anyone else who runs into this issue and may find this useful. I waited another week and refrigerated two more bottles for 48 hours this time...so that was two weeks in the carboy and four weeks in the bottles.

It still erupts out of the bottles and goes everywhere -- I do notice that there beer itself has more carbonation in it though. It seems to taste even better this week. I'll leave my remaining five unrefrigerated bottles to sit for another few weeks and give it another try. In the mean time, I've got a stout in progress and have a hydrometer now!

Let's get scientific!

 

[Krrazy]

...continuing to reply to my own post should it help anyone else. Perhaps some stronger beers like the Tripel I brewed have this happen to them. I bought a few off the shelf Tripels to compare to my first brewing effort. I just drank a belgian "Gouden Carolus" Tripel tonight (9%ABV, "Bottle Refermented") and it had a lot of carbonation like (not quite volcano like, but it took several pours to get the whole bottle into the glass) mine and a bunch of sediment in the bottom of the bottle.

 

[RIBeer]

I've been having a similar issue with an Oatmeal Stout I made several months ago. For some reason I didn't take good notes on this particular batch. I don't recall that we rushed the primary, and we did a secondary on it as well. Every single one has done the "delayed gusher" thing that you described in your first post. The beer itself tastes ok - nothing spectacular, but drinkable, with no obvious off-flavors that would lead me to suspect some kind of infection. They have been in the bottle for at least 6 months now. I have even tried the fridge thing for two weeks, hoping that it would encourage more of the CO2 to absorb into the beer, with no difference. I'm chalking this one up to "something went wrong, but I don't have a clue". It's the only batch that I have ever had an issue with.

 

[passedpawn]

Some belgian yeast do continue to ferment in the bottle, and thus produce more CO2. Stan Heironymous mentions this in his Brew Like a Monk. The Wyeast site does mention this as well under the notes of some of their yeasts (see Belgian Strong Ale yeast - 1388, i.e.).

I've used 1388 without any problem in a Dubbel, but my friend used the exact same yeast and had gushers so bad on his dubbel that he couldn't enter it in competition. I tasted his and it was perfect (no infection).

3 weeks in the carboy is plenty. I don't think you bottled early. If that was fermented at typical Belgian temps, it would have been done after 1 week.

I'm guessing it is combination of too much honey and one of those crazy Belgian yeasts.

 

[NYCHomebrewer]

I've found that using honey as a priming sugar is extremely unpredictable, especially in small batches like those sold at the Brooklyn Brew Shop. How much sugar, exactly, is in the honey you used? Who knows? The same goes with maple syrup.

You generally have quite a bit of leeway with carbonation. The difference between properly carbonated beer and gushers is fairly wide; but when you combine a priming sugar of unknown concentration with a relatively low volume of beer, you stand a good chance of getting gushers.

You also haven't stated an OG or FG. Without being able to measure your FG you have no real way of telling whether your primary fermentation was completed or stalled out at the time of bottling. Just because the airlock has stopped bubbling there is no guarantee that you have actually reached your predicted FG. The temperature in your apartment could have gotten too cold and shocked the yeast into dormancy before completion etc. Then, with the rousing they get when bottling combined with new sugars they could have chomped their way through the honey and the remaining sugars from the wort - the combination resulting in overcarbonation.

Also, a quarter inch of sediment in the bottom of the bottle seems excessive to me. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if this contributes to your delayed gushing. Imagine your beers are slightly overcarbonated. This can result in excessive foam/head when you pour as the excess CO2 comes out of solution. But all that excess sludge in the bottom provides a billion new nucleation sites for the CO2, places where bubbles can form. So you open the bottle, CO2 starts coming out of solution, and then as the sludge on the bottom starts getting displaced with CO2 a ton of new nucleation sites are created causing even more CO2 to come out of solution --> delayed gushers.

Solutions:
1. Measure your starting and ending specific gravities. Its the only way to be absolutely sure that fermentation has ended.
2. Use a sugar of known concentration for priming and make sure that you know your final volume of beer. If your final volume of beer is 1 gallon, then you need to use the priming sugar for one gallon. if your final volume is less than one gallon and you use the same amount of sugar, you are likely to get gushers.
3. When bottling, first rack your beer off the yeast cake in the primary fermentation vessel and add your priming sugar. Make sure it is well mixed before bottling, otherwise you will get some bottles over carbed, and others under carbed.
4. Come to the NYCHG meeting tonight at Burp Castle in NYC and meet your fellow NY Homebrewers. We are always happy to help.

 

[Krrazy]

Latest update -- SUCCESS! In the bottle for six weeks, the last two were spent in the fridge and the bottle I poured two days ago was nearly perfect. The sediment is still in the bottom and some of it did dislodge when I opened the bottle and the beer started bubbling but there was no eruption of foam and the glass I poured was perfectly carbonated and tasted great....it's just so hard to wait for your first brew. I think this'll be the end of my posting to this thread, but I just wanted to catalog my journey for future brewers who have the same issue. Thanks for all the replies.