Krausen in bottle?

[BrewingTravisty]

I just bottled my hefeweizen a couple hours ago, primed for 3.4 volumes and I just looked at a bottle and saw what looks like krausen. Is this something to be worried about?

View attachment 1450053039912.jpg

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I also just popped open a grolsch bottle and it was fairly carbonated. Should I be worried about bottle bombs?

 

[Gavin C]

Carbonation within hours and foam inside the bottle.

Yes you should be fearful of bottle bombs. This almost sounds like a certainty.

I have never seen anything of interest in my bottle conditioning beer/cider. Total snoozefest to optimal carbonation.

This looks dangerous. Looks like fermentation was not complete when you bottled.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

The fermentation was definitely finished, when I bottled. The gravity was stable. Should I crack the bottles open, to let out pressure?

 

[Gavin C]

No.

If your sure fermentation was complete you have nothing to worry about assuming your bottles a re strong enough to hold up to this high level of carbonation.

If you've ruled out incomplete fermentation, don't second guess yourself. Things are fine.

This looks very abnormal to me and entirely consistent with incomplete fermentation but you have the data, you're the brewer so if you trust your data and the visual signs you had of completed fermentation that should be good enough.

 

[arnobg]

Off topic from your question but expect lots of foam when you open/pour. How much priming sugar did you use and how much beer did you mix it in? 3.4 vols is pretty high, those priming calculators are overboard in my opinion.

Sure the foam isn't just starsan sanitizer? It always goes to the top when bottling and if you don't fill the bottle to the point of a little beer pouring out of the top then foam will be left over on top of the beer which is no issue at all.

 

[GHBWNY]

Carbonation within hours and foam inside the bottle.

Yes you should be fearful of bottle bombs. This almost sounds like a certainty.

I have never seen anything of interest in my bottle conditioning beer/cider. Total snoozefest to optimal carbonation.

This looks dangerous. Looks like fermentation was not complete when you bottled.

Agree with this^. First thing I'd do is put the bottles in the fridge to slow yeast activity. Or if you don't have room, a heavy-duty plastic tub with a snap lid. Take the bottles in order of appearance of greatest activity and sponge or spray some StarSan around both the cap and bottle opener, and slowly open each cap (to release pressure --- you may get some gushers at this point) and replace it with a sanitized one. And you might have to repeat as necessary. Better to sacrifice extra caps than beer and/or deal with broken glass and mess.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

Off topic from your question but expect lots of foam when you open/pour. How much priming sugar did you use and how much beer did you mix it in? 3.4 vols is pretty high, those priming calculators are overboard in my opinion.

Sure the foam isn't just starsan sanitizer? It always goes to the top when bottling and if you don't fill the bottle to the point of a little beer pouring out of the top then foam will be left over on top of the beer which is no issue at all.

I used 4.7oz of sucrose for a 3.5 gallon batch, which is what the calculator went by... Its never led me astray before, but I guess I was never aiming for so high volume before. Also, I don't use starsan, I use iodophor.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

Agree with this^. First thing I'd do is put the bottles in the fridge to slow yeast activity. Or if you don't have room, a heavy-duty plastic tub with a snap lid. Take the bottles in order of appearance of greatest activity and sponge or spray some StarSan around both the cap and bottle opener, and slowly open each cap (to release pressure --- you may get some gushers at this point) and replace it with a sanitized one. And you might have to repeat as necessary. Better to sacrifice extra caps than beer and/or deal with broken glass and mess.

I already opened them and changed them out on each bottle. Every single one of them was a gusher, though nothing major. If I was quick enough I was able to keep them from overflowing. Am I going to need to do it again?

 

[BrewingTravisty]

No.

If your sure fermentation was complete you have nothing to worry about assuming your bottles a re strong enough to hold up to this high level of carbonation.

If you've ruled out incomplete fermentation, don't second guess yourself. Things are fine.

This looks very abnormal to me and entirely consistent with incomplete fermentation but you have the data, you're the brewer so if you trust your data and the visual signs you had of completed fermentation that should be good enough.

Honestly, with how quickly it carbonated, I'm starting to second guess everything with this brew xD I let out pressure just to be safe, because while some of the bottles should handle it just fine, others I wouldn't trust so much. I'm glad I did too because I poured me a bottle just to see and this is what I got

View attachment 1450056224841.jpg

 

[Gavin C]

Honestly, with how quickly it carbonated, I'm starting to second guess everything with this brew xD I let out pressure just to be safe, because while some of the bottles should handle it just fine, others I wouldn't trust so much. I'm glad I did too because I poured me a bottle just to see and this is what I got

After a few hours. This looks dangerous. There should be almost zero carbonation at this time after bottling. Flat beer. The only Co2 should be only that which remained in suspension following fermentation. A tiny amount. Not enough to produce a foamy head like that.

I'm not a fan of performing heroics to correct errors. The beer is bottled now, there is little can be done other than venting all bottles while things ferment.

One heroic solution

• Vent all bottles +/- airlock on each one for days-week (ish)
  
• Let ferment to completion (use 1 beer as the yard stick for SG readings)
  
• Reprime each bottle with aliquots of priming solution
  
• Cap
  
• Allow to carb at normal 3 weeks at ~70F timeframe

Lazy and safe solution

• Dump all to prevent bombs

Gamblers solution

• Let them ride and hope for the best, storing in secure plastic tote and wearing appropriate protective clothing and eyewear while opening each one outside.

Your choice

 

[Brew_G]

What should *you* do? Your beer, your call.

What would *I* do? I'd dump them. Now.

Out of curiosity, what were your FG readings that led you to believe that the beer was done fermenting? That you have so much carbonation after a few hours just screams incomplete fermentation to me. Is there a chance that there was an infection of some sort? But even so, it's wild that you'd have that result in such a short time.

Good luck!

 

[GHBWNY]

Thinking it's about time to call up a couple dozen friends, open them, problem solved.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

What should *you* do? Your beer, your call.

What would *I* do? I'd dump them. Now.

Out of curiosity, what were your FG readings that led you to believe that the beer was done fermenting? That you have so much carbonation after a few hours just screams incomplete fermentation to me. Is there a chance that there was an infection of some sort? But even so, it's wild that you'd have that result in such a short time.

Good luck!

It was down to 1.009, and stayed stable there yesterday and today. I can't imagine it being an infection but anything is possible I guess. I really hate to dump them... I might just try to vent for the next couple days, and see how it goes. Obviously being very careful and wearing some protective gear.

Live by the beer, die by the beer!

 

[BrewingTravisty]

Thinking it's about time to call up a couple dozen friends, open them, problem solved.

I wish Christmas was closer lol will drink them up then, if I don't get killed by bottle shrapnel.

 

[SteveHeff]

It was down to 1.009, and stayed stable there yesterday and today. I can't imagine it being an infection but anything is possible I guess. I really hate to dump them... I might just try to vent for the next couple days, and see how it goes. Obviously being very careful and wearing some protective gear.

Live by the beer, die by the beer!

I have never trusted 2 days worth of gravity readings, unless they were several days apart. I had a saison "finish" at 1.014 (after starting at 1.062). I waited another 3 days before checking again, and I had more airlock activity. I popped the bucket open only to find that my yeast was roused, rolling around the bucket albeit gently. Another 4 days go by and it was down to 1.007'ish. It remained there for another 3 days. It was kegged the next day. I'm not saying that your yeast is doing the same thing, but I learned a valuable lesson in understanding yeast activity and yeast behavior.

Did you have any temperature issues during primary? Ferment too low? Where were/are you bottle conditioning? Is is substantially warmer than where you fermented?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Off topic a bit here, but I always carbonate my hefs to 3.2vols, and don't get gushers. My normal carbonation level (2.4vols for other ales) tastes flat in hefs.

2 hours in the bottle doesn't sound right, but I often start drinking hefs 2 days after bottling (with WY3068), it's a crazy fast bottle carbonator.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I have never trusted 2 days worth of gravity readings, unless they were several days apart. I had a saison "finish" at 1.014 (after starting at 1.062). I waited another 3 days before checking again, and I had more airlock activity. I popped the bucket open only to find that my yeast was roused, rolling around the bucket albeit gently. Another 4 days go by and it was down to 1.007'ish. It remained there for another 3 days. It was kegged the next day. I'm not saying that your yeast is doing the same thing, but I learned a valuable lesson in understanding yeast activity and yeast behavior.

Did you have any temperature issues during primary? Ferment too low? Where were/are you bottle conditioning? Is is substantially warmer than where you fermented?

Honestly, you're probably right about the fermentation not finishing out. I guess I got over confident with the past so many brews turning out perfectly. I'm gonna have to force myself to be more patient when it comes to the fermentation. And yes, it's a good bit warmer. Ambient where it fermented was 64 (ferment temp 68) and I bottled them and moved them to a different room where ambient gets to 70-72.

I figure I'll keep venting the bottles every few hours for the next day or 2, or until the carbonation levels out. Hopefully that works, and I still get a decent carbonation level.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

Off topic a bit here, but I always carbonate my hefs to 3.2vols, and don't get gushers. My normal carbonation level (2.4vols for other ales) tastes flat in hefs.

2 hours in the bottle doesn't sound right, but I often start drinking hefs 2 days after bottling (with WY3068), it's a crazy fast bottle carbonator.

I used 3068, I've heard it's a fast fermenter lol but this is crazy. This is the first time I've ever drank a beer a couple hours after bottling XD I might aim for 3-3.2 volumes next time.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

Having over carbonated beer is like having a new born baby -_- you have to get up every few hours during the night to make sure it didn't explode. *yawn*

 

[GHBWNY]

Off topic a bit here, but I always carbonate my hefs to 3.2vols, and don't get gushers. My normal carbonation level (2.4vols for other ales) tastes flat in hefs.

2 hours in the bottle doesn't sound right, but I often start drinking hefs 2 days after bottling (with WY3068), it's a crazy fast bottle carbonator.

I don't think this is really off-topic. In fact, I was going to suggest to OP that for high-vol beers, he might want to also consider bigger/thicker bottles. My hefe was also gushy and I'm very finicky about long ferm times (waited 2 weeks after ferm was done for krausen to drop), consistent FG's, etc.. All that and it's the only beer I've done that gushed. At 8 months, still gushes a little, but tastes great and no B-B's. Yet.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I don't think this is really off-topic. In fact, I was going to suggest to OP that for high-vol beers, he might want to also consider bigger/thicker bottles. My hefe was also gushy and I'm very finicky about long ferm times (waited 2 weeks after ferm was done for krausen to drop), consistent FG's, etc.. All that and it's the only beer I've done that gushed. At 8 months, still gushes a little, but tastes great and no B-B's. Yet.

The bottles I'm using are about half and half thick bottles and normal. I have a lot of belgian and hefeweizen bottles, and a few grolsch. The rest are just basic american bottles and those are what I'm worried most about. I have them all in an ice bath right now in the garage, and I vented them a few times last night and this morning. I think they should be ok now. They aren't major gushers anymore, though definitely have to pour them right away lol

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I decided to go ahead and drink the regular bottles. The others should be fine, most are belgian or hefeweizen and even a few champagne style bottles. Fastest grain to glass I've ever seen lol

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[GHBWNY]

Hope it tastes as good as it looks!

 

[BrewingTravisty]

Hope it tastes as good as it looks!

Tastes really good! Just has a slight hint of sulfur in the aroma, which it didn't have before I bottled it. I think next time I'll give it an extra week in primary to 1) make Damn sure it's fermented out lol and 2) to clean up more. Other than that it tastes really good, though I expected more banana considering I did a triple decoction and fermented at 68-70°f with 3068.

I thought about taking this recipe next time and doing a hybrid IPA hefeweizen with citra and Amarillo, keep the 60 minute addition low and do most of it late addition and hopstand. It already has a nice tartness to it that I think will lend nicely with those hops.

 

[GHBWNY]

Tastes really good! Just has a slight hint of sulfur in the aroma, which it didn't have before I bottled it.

Yeah, wheat malt tends to be a little "eggy" until it totally ferments out and gives way to that great breadiness. You may already do this, but when I pour I leave about an inch in the bottle, swish it around to pick up the yeast and dump it in the glass. Not too many beers that benefit from doing this, but I recommend it with a hefe.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

Yeah, wheat malt tends to be a little "eggy" until it totally ferments out and gives way to that great breadiness. You may already do this, but when I pour I leave about an inch in the bottle, swish it around to pick up the yeast and dump it in the glass. Not too many beers that benefit from doing this, but I recommend it with a hefe.

Yeah, I do the same thing with my hefes, I've never done it with any other style though. The egginess isn't too strong, it's just there enough to annoy me lol I'm sure now that it's bottled it won't go away will it?