Strange carbonation/gushing bottles?

[bsr141]

Hi All,

I recently brewed and bottled a Pale Ale (3 weeks in the carboy, about 2.5 in the bottle). I opened one tester bottle after two weeks to see how carbonation was coming along...it was close but not quite there. I opened a second bottle a few days later and it proceeded to gush a bit. At first I chalked it up to an infection (it's happened before) but this instance was a little strange.

For starters, even after the initial gush, whenever I poured the beer into the glass, I got a ridiculous head...even if I only poured in enough for a sipful. The beer in the glass tasted flat, but otherwise OK. When I sipped from the bottle, it tasted fully carbonated but had a distinct rubbing alcohol flavor. Even after 45 minutes, it still gushed up to the rim of my glass when I poured it.

Has anyone dealt with this before? Is it infection? Over-carbonated? Something else all together? I'm hoping its unique only to that bottle and not a batchwide problem. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[twistr25]

Sounds a bit like overcarbonation and maybe not fridging it for long enough. How much of what priming sugar did you use?

Side note, if you used the same bottles that you previously believe you had an infection in, it likely returned.

 

[TastyAdventure]

Make sure you add your priming sugar solution after the first quart is racked into your bottling bucket. That gives a good mix, then I like to *gently* give it a thorough stir to make sure the mix is great. I've had several batches where some are pretty flat and some are over carbed. I blame an poor distribution of sugar

 

[sweetcell]

Side note, if you used the same bottles that you previously believe you had an infection in, it likely returned.

bottles can be sanitized. glass is smooth, nowhere for bugs to hide.

however, i'd be extra careful with formerly infected bottles. i would make sure that the sanitizer has sufficient contact time with the inside of the bottle. for star san, that's 30 seconds.

 

[beerkench]

I had something similar happen due to me making the priming solution too thick and not letting it cool. It mixed badly resulting in some gushers. The taste from the gushers was also bad due to much of the sugar being turned into alcohol.

 

[bsr141]

Thank you all for the input.

Based on what you all have said, Over-carbonation might be the culprit. I added the priming sugar solution to my bottling bucket and racked the beer on top of it. Coincidently, the bottle in question was one of the last to be filled, and came from the dregs of the bucket. So if improper mixing was the problem, it would make some sense as to why that particular bottle was ridiculously carbonated.

I tried another bottle after leaving it in the fridge a bit longer. Tasted great and did not exhibit the same issues. Hopefully I can avoid the problem next time around.

Thanks again.

 

[SDJay]

I have had bottles turn into gushers after 8-10 weeks or more in the bottle. They are fine for the first month or two, with no off flavors or foaming, then when I grab a bottle to see what an extra month or two of bottle conditioning will do to it I end up with almost all gushers. (beer stored at 55 degrees F after 3 week bottle conditioning @ 70). Happens with porter and APA's. Seems odd to have an infection take that long to show up. I hit expected FG on all the batches, and added priming sugar to style using Northern Brewer calculator. Anyone have thoughts?

 

[sweetcell]

I have had bottles turn into gushers after 8-10 weeks or more in the bottle. (... )

Seems odd to have an infection take that long to show up.

not odd at all. if its a brett infection, or certain wild sacchs, it could take that long for them to chew through the residual sugars that your brewer's yeast left behind.

i've had brett beers become overcarbonated after 6 months. critters can be weird.

 

[unionrdr]

In the op's case, I'd say they just didn't get enough fridge time. I like at least 5 to 7 days in the fridge. Highly carbed wheat beers will do that, even after a week or two in the fridge.