Slowly building micro gush in bottles

[ZachAttach]

Hi everyone

I've made ~10 batches of beer, and I've noticed a strange micro gush phenomenon across several batches, particularly the last few. After popping a cap on a homebrew bottle, I have to pour the beer into a glass within ~3-5 seconds or else I'll get a micro gush that makes the beer a yeasty fizzy mess, but not nearly as insane as a typical gusher. Just after opening a bottle, bubbles form from the settled yeast at the base of the bottle and will start to rise, and the rate of bubble formation accelerates to a point that after 3-5 seconds, the yeast gets agitated into the beer and a small amount of foam will lazily slide out of the bottle.

I understand that gushers are caused by over priming, infections, or a combination of the two. I've experienced the micro gush even in undercarbed beers, so I don't think it's a function of amount of priming sugar. Could this be a sanitization problem? I'm a little hesitant to chalk this up to an unwanted bacteria, since it typically seems like that leads to Krakatoa gushers, yet I have these fairly impotent gushers. Has anyone experienced this before, and can anyone provide some suggestions for things to try/troubleshoot to fix this persistent problem?

Cheers!

Zach

 

[worlddivides]

I've noticed that a lot from beers with Brettanomyces in them, both homebrewed and commercial. You'll open the bottle or can and foam will very slowly start to rise. I'm not sure why beers with Brett do this and I'm not necessarily saying that's the cause of your "micro gushers," but I have noticed this extremely often in beers that contain Brett. I haven't seen this phenomenon in sour beers with Brett that have been aged for a certain period of time, so it might have to do with residual sugars the Brett is fermenting? Anyway, just an idea.

 

[ZachAttach]

I've noticed that a lot from beers with Brettanomyces in them, both homebrewed and commercial. You'll open the bottle or can and foam will very slowly start to rise. I'm not sure why beers with Brett do this and I'm not necessarily saying that's the cause of your "micro gushers," but I have noticed this extremely often in beers that contain Brett. I haven't seen this phenomenon in sour beers with Brett that have been aged for a certain period of time, so it might have to do with residual sugars the Brett is fermenting? Anyway, just an idea.

Oh that's interesting, I've had very few (maybe only 1 or 2) Brett beers before, so this is new to me. I've had the same poly carboy bucket for years, so maybe there's some sinister yeast hanging around in a scratch here or there that aren't getting killed by the sanitizer. Seems unlikely, but a good idea for some hail mary troubleshooting.

 

[hotbeer]

Degas a sample or let it go flat and check the SG. If it's lower than your FG, then consider that infection is a likely culprit. If the SG and previous FG is about the same, then something else is probably at work.

I brewed a batch once where some bottles had been used for a sour beer. Random bottles would gush when opened and most all the contents would be lost leaving just a couple gulps in the bottom. The SG of those gushers was 1.001 maybe lower since I didn't get them completely degassed.

If the beers do taste decent, even if sour, you might try getting them really cold prior to opening. I found that for a 12 fl oz bottle, I could put it in my refrigerator freezer for 30 minutes and then pop the cap and pour into a glass. Though by the time I started doing this, I only had a couple bottles left. So I'm not positive on whether it was worth the effort for the drinking experience of them.

Really cold beer has little flavor, IMO.

 

[maryc27182]

Hi Zach, I had a similar situation when beerstone was starting to build up in my bottles, back when I was a beginning brewer. I wasn't always rinsing out my bottles immediately after pouring a beer, and that seemed to accelerate the formation (plus I may have also had gunk accumulating on the bottom of the bottles.) So: how are your cleaning your bottles?

 

[ZachAttach]

Hi Zach, I had a similar situation when beerstone was starting to build up in my bottles, back when I was a beginning brewer. I wasn't always rinsing out my bottles immediately after pouring a beer, and that seemed to accelerate the formation (plus I may have also had gunk accumulating on the bottom of the bottles.) So: how are your cleaning your bottles?

I'm so glad you shared your experience because I've never heard of beerstone, but it seems like a probable candidate.

As you suggested, I haven't always rinse homebrew bottles out after a pour. It might be a day later depending on the circumstance. When rinsing out the sedimented yeast, I'd typically just rinse it out several times with hot water, then just store it open. Prior to bottling, I've just filled all the bottles with hot Star-San solution, then pour it out. I've never done any mechanical cleaning or used any other cleaning product on the bottles.... I just checked some of my empty bottles, and there isn't an obvious bio-film or buildup that I can see, but I'm sure lots of bottle problems can lie beyond what the eye can see.

It looks like people recommend PBW for removing beerstone from a few searches. When you removed beerstone from your bottles, what did you find worked well for you?

 

[maryc27182]

It looks like people recommend PBW for removing beerstone from a few searches. When you removed beerstone from your bottles, what did you find worked well for you?

I think the typical beerstone cleaning regimen is an acid soak followed by an alkaline cleaner (and I've seen literature saying do the alkaline cleaner first, then the acid, but I only tried the former.) I used a solution of citric acid powder in water to soak, scrubbed vigorously with a bottle brush, then followed that with PBW/hot water, and more scrubbing. It took a couple of batches of home brew before I knew I'd gotten all my bottles cleaned, but the micro-gushers stopped. I think if I had used a stronger acid, I wouldn't have had to scrub as hard, but if I remember correctly, I just tried to find something acidic that I had on hand. (I've used Bar Keepers Friend on beerstone in my kettle, but did not try that for the interior of bottles, but it should work, too.)

Since then, I've managed to not get beerstone in my bottles by rinsing the bottles immediately after pouring, and then making sure I brush the bottles and rinse them within a day or so. If I have a feeling I won't get to them quickly, I fill the bottles with water to soak. Periodically, when I get energetic, I'll soak the empties in hot water and PBW, then give 'em a good scrub, but I do not do that for every batch now that I found that rinsing the bottles immediately after a pour seems to prevent a lot of issues. Good luck, and report back!

 

[SFC Rudy]

Clean your bottles with a brush. Beer stone and other crap builds up after awhile.

I got lazy once and would only rinse after the pour, sanitize then refill. After awhile I started getting gushers, especially the longer they were in the bottle.

One bottling day I had some nasty bottles and I was using my brush in a drill to clean them. Decided since I had the stuff out to clean my “clean” bottles. I was amazed at how dirty the cleaning solution got. And no more gushers. So I’m back to scrubbing bottles, but I’m not wasting beer due to gushing.

 

[hotbeer]

I have made it a habit after emptying a bottle to put a inch or so of water in it and then shake the bottle well and pour out the yeast and sediment I've loosened. Then I fill the bottle a third to half full of water and let them sit till I'm ready to clean the bottles with dish soap and a bottle brush. That might be several days later when they accumulate.

I noticed that once they've drained well, I have to turn them upright to let all the water evaporate out. Otherwise the water vapor just condenses on the inside of the bottle. Air with water vapor is less dense than dry air. So it needs a upward escape route.