Something wong.

[Jmorrise2]

So opened up my second attempt from a kit. The top literally flew over the fence. Beer frothed for like 5 minutes. One even spouted like a geyser of froth. Leaving only a third bottle of liquid. Tastes and smells kinda like beer. I bravely drank one glass worth. Threw up an hour or two later. Any ideas? My first try with a kit turned out wonderful.

 

[FromZwolle]

your beer is over-carbonated, pretty simple.

 

[FromZwolle]

finding out why might take a little investigating.

likely causes:

too much priming sugar
the beer wasn't finished fermenting when you bottled it
some kind of infection got into the bottles.

 

[FromZwolle]

so...
how did you measure the priming sugars, what kind of sugar did you use and what size batch of beer?

Did you check the final gravity of the beer to make sure it was done? Also, knowing the general recipe or kit would help see where it should have ended.

Any ropiness, sour, or vinegary flavors or aromas?

 

[Jmorrise2]

Thanks

 

[grampamark]

This sounds like an infection. Over carbed beer won’t make you lose your lunch. If the beer looked, smelled and tasted OK on bottling day, the cause is probably bottles that weren’t properly cleaned and sanitized. Making sure there is absolutely no crud in the bottles and then sanitizing them is kind of a big deal.

 

[Jmorrise2]

Thanks, I was so aware of sanitation warnings I slipped up somewhere

 

[FromZwolle]

This sounds like an infection. Over carbed beer won’t make you lose your lunch.

the yaking is a red herring. 'infected' beer is very often lacto or aceto, both of which are quite popular in many foods and beverages (I.E.-would not MAKE you puke) You can easily end up emptying your stomach just from too much fizzy in your tum tum or even psyching your self out thinking you drank something ucky.

 

[FromZwolle]

*not at all saying the beer wasn't infected, that's something to look into.

 

[Reneauj62]

+1 for FromZwolle
Two things: Too much carbonation and then you psyched yourself out.....

 

[ncbrewer]

The rest might still be carbonating and could turn into bottle bombs - be real careful with them. They could explode in storage or when you open them, so take the necessary precautions.
(Edited for typo)

 

[zacster]

One reason I stopped bottling,,,

 

[day_trippr]

Well...that doesn't address the issues that could persist into kegging.

I bottled for years. It doesn't take talent, just the ability to read a hydrometer, measure out primer, and execute the same sanitation practices required when brewing to any package type destiny. I switched to kegging because kegerators and keezers are cool and for me less work than bottling, not because I had grenades going off all the time and switched to metal to avoid them and ignore the causes...

Cheers!

 

[FromZwolle]

Well...that doesn't address the issues that could persist into kegging.

I bottled for years. It doesn't take talent, just the ability to read a hydrometer, measure out primer, and execute the same sanitation practices required when brewing to any package type destiny. I switched to kegging because kegerators and keezers are cool and for me less work than bottling, not because I had grenades going off all the time and switched to metal to avoid them and ignore the causes...

Cheers!

indeed.

in fact, i'd much rather have a couple infected bottles vs a whole spoiled keg.

 

[zacster]

If it is an infection that causes the foaming, you have a much greater chance of missing something with 48 bottles to fill. With a keg you can just be more thorough cleaning and sanitizing the entire thing at once. Doing just that is on my agenda for tomorrow with 5g of lager in the fridge in the carboys. I need to put it on gas and let it carbonate and by the time it reaches serving carbonation I'll start tasting.

If it is still fermenting in the bottle, it'll foam, in the keg it'll also foam but you can burp it and let it settle.

Anyway, however you enjoy it is good. There are lots of ways to do things.

 

[MikeCo]

I keg my beer but will always bottle some styles if I want them very highly carbonated or I feel the style is best suited to bottle conditioning, or I want to age them a while. I don't see packaging as an area where you need to choose one method or the other. As day_trippr said, bottling doesn't take talent, you just need to follow a process.

Thoroughly clean and sanitize bottles.
Accurately measure amount of beer to bottle. Don't trust the volume markings on a purchased bottling bucket.
Use a priming sugar calculator to determine the needed amount of priming sugar. I usually use Northern Brewer's.
Weigh priming sugar with a scale (do not measure by volume).
Prepare priming solution and mix evenly into beer.
Bottle and cap.

I add fresh yeast if the beer has aged a long time or if it's fairly high alcohol.

 

[FromZwolle]

If it is an infection that causes the foaming, you have a much greater chance of missing something with 48 bottles to fill. With a keg you can just be more thorough cleaning and sanitizing the entire thing at once. Doing just that is on my agenda for tomorrow with 5g of lager in the fridge in the carboys. I need to put it on gas and let it carbonate and by the time it reaches serving carbonation I'll start tasting.

If it is still fermenting in the bottle, it'll foam, in the keg it'll also foam but you can burp it and let it settle.

Anyway, however you enjoy it is good. There are lots of ways to do things.

agree to agree, sanitation is key no matter what your system looks like!

 

[NGD]

So opened up my second attempt from a kit. The top literally flew over the fence. Beer frothed for like 5 minutes. One even spouted like a geyser of froth. Leaving only a third bottle of liquid. Tastes and smells kinda like beer. I bravely drank one glass worth. Threw up an hour or two later. Any ideas? My first try with a kit turned out wonderful.

@Jmorrise2 Just curious if your second kit had any added fruit or late/secondary additions. I once inadvertently made a strawberry cream ale sour because I neglected to disinfect the strawberries. It bubbled up like a mofo out of the bottle, but it turned out great. Glad to uear your okay. You may want to release pressure on those bottles ASAP.