AT-JeffT
Well-Known Member
Welp, Its been a nearly a year of trying to figure this out. I have finally figured it out.
The solution was simply a pure oxygen set up.
The issue was under attenuation due to under oxygenation. For whatever reason shaking the bucket fermentors wasn't giving me enough oxygen for healthy fermentations. Upon bottling the small amount of oxygen pick up was enough to restart fermentation in the bottles, thus overcarbonating the beer usually to double normal volumes.
Trouble shooting process:
I first confirmed that the problem wasn't bacteria/infection related. A keg that was allowed to get warm for weeks exhibited the cidery/tart/overcarbonated off flavor. I relieved the pressure from the keg for multiple days. Eventually the tartness disappeared and the beer tasted as it should(a first!), albeit a little old.
Knowing now that the issue was overcarbonation due to reattenuation in the bottles, I could explore the factors that effect fermentation. At this time I also started incubating bottles in warm rooms of the house (~80F) to force any possible overcarbonation issues. I tried the olive oil method of "oxygenation" and found this to solve my issues. I purchased an oxygenation system shortly after that and have been issue free since.
The solution was simply a pure oxygen set up.
The issue was under attenuation due to under oxygenation. For whatever reason shaking the bucket fermentors wasn't giving me enough oxygen for healthy fermentations. Upon bottling the small amount of oxygen pick up was enough to restart fermentation in the bottles, thus overcarbonating the beer usually to double normal volumes.
Trouble shooting process:
I first confirmed that the problem wasn't bacteria/infection related. A keg that was allowed to get warm for weeks exhibited the cidery/tart/overcarbonated off flavor. I relieved the pressure from the keg for multiple days. Eventually the tartness disappeared and the beer tasted as it should(a first!), albeit a little old.
Knowing now that the issue was overcarbonation due to reattenuation in the bottles, I could explore the factors that effect fermentation. At this time I also started incubating bottles in warm rooms of the house (~80F) to force any possible overcarbonation issues. I tried the olive oil method of "oxygenation" and found this to solve my issues. I purchased an oxygenation system shortly after that and have been issue free since.
