Too much yeast resulting in over-carbonation?

[papajcik]

I brewed the following recipe:
3 lbs Vienna Malt
2 lbs Pilsner
1 lb White Wheat
3 lbs Pilsner DME

Used 2 smack packs of Wyeast Kolsch style yeast. Brew date 5/21.

Fermented for six days in primary, bottled in 12 oz and 750 mL bottles using 4.1 oz of sucrose (I looked at various website to determine the right priming sugar weight). Bottled 5/27.

Two weeks later I had the first bottles and they tasted good. A tad over carbonated, but tasted good.

Over the next few weeks I had four of the 750 mL bottles explode in their boxes, but through last weekend the bottles still tasted good. Tonight, they taste bad and the 12 oz bottles are super-carbonated.

Where did I go wrong? Too much yeast? Too much priming sugar?

 

[Hex23]

Where did I go wrong? Too much yeast? Too much priming sugar?

That is a somewhat high amount of priming sugar, but I doubt the source of your issue.

Did you measure FG at all before deciding to bottle? Broken bottles are sometimes a symptom of not reaching terminal gravity before bottling (more sugar to consume).

Also the taste may be a clue. The bottles breaking might be ones that are contaminated/infected.

Now that they're conditioned, are you storing the bottles in a cool location? The colder the better. It will reduce any foaming upon popping the cap and will reduce the chances of bottle breakage.

I have had bottles become over-carbonated over much time (never exploded fortunately), and most of the time I've attributed it to an aggressive or alcohol tolerant yeast strain.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Over the next few weeks I had four of the 750 mL bottles explode in their boxes, but through last weekend the bottles still tasted good. Tonight, they taste bad and the 12 oz bottles are super-carbonated.

Where did I go wrong? Too much yeast? Too much priming sugar?

Maybe "None of the above".

If the beer actually tastes bad, perhaps that batch got infected.
Which can often explain an extraordinarily high carbonation level, as "bugs" can digest stuff that yeast quit on...

The primer charge seems reasonable, and having more yeast than needed isn't going to change the carbonation level (it's just going to leave a deeper pile on the bottom of the bottle).

So, if that bad taste is a clue, I'd say you got a bug in that batch...

 

[Takuie]

...Fermented for six days in primary...

I've had some batches ferment quickly, but never in 6 days. Sounds to me like you were not finished fermenting and when you added the priming sugar, it woke the yeast up again. Bottle bombs can be expected when bottling too early.

 

[midfielder5]

did you take a gravity reading before bottling ?
Based on the bottle bombs, seems the yeast were not 100% done in 6 days, maybe 80-90% depending on yeast type, aeration, fermentation temps etc.

and it sounds possibly infected (or green) if it tastes bad

 

[Takuie]

bottled way too early. Not infect, not bad, just green and still fermenting.

 

[hottpeper13]

2565, my house yeast, you must let it finish. I go 3 weeks primary and 4 weeks secondary(no cold storage area) then bottle. This stuff just hangs out, if you want quick Kolsch you need temp control for lagering. If any bottles don;t explode there will be huge sediment.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

bottled way too early. Not infect, not bad, just green and still fermenting.

yup this,you bottled 6 days after brewing? why? what was your FG?

 

[rekoob]

Agree with not long enough in primary. You bottled it before it was done fermenting.

Na Zdorovie.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Pretty much what everybody has been saying for the overcarbonation. You can not gauge fermentation completeness by time, only by specific gravity (unless of course you are giving it a ridiculous amount of time in the primary or secondary). The only way to know for sure is to take gravity measurements and when the gravity is consistantly the same reading over a couple days (the standard advice here is to measure, then measure again two days later and its done when they match). That way any priming sugar you add will be all that carbonates it.

Also think of your fermentation/conditioning temps - if you are low on the temperature range for the yeast you can make them sluggish and they will take longer. I actually like to (when I bottle) store a little warmer for carbonating and conditioning. I have noticed green beer flavors when I rush to drink a beer too soon.

When you say that they now taste bad, can you describe what the bad taste is? Knowing what you taste can help you determine what most likely is the cause. 5-6 weeks probably isnt long enough for a noticeable infection flavor to show up, but there are other possibilities. It could just be green.

 

[papajcik]

Thanks for all the replies. I looked back in my log and realized I had my dates wrong. Fermentation was 5/21-5/30. Gravity on 5/27 and 6/1 were both 1.020, so I thought fermentation was finished. I kept the primary The first bottles tasted fine, but the ones I opened last night were all nasty. I'm going to chalk this up to a bug and not enough fermentation time.