What happened?????

[hungryhippo]

I brewed my first all grain batch a while back. A bock beer.

I kept it in the primary for about 18 days at 15 degrees celcius.
I had it in the bottles for about 3 weeks.

I tried to open one the other night, and it foamed all over the place. Foam just kept coming. There was pretty much no beer left in the bottle.
So I opened another. Exactly the same thing. Opened one more. Same.

I'm using the coopers PET bottles 740ml. And using 2 coopers sugar drops per bottle.

Is this a case of me trying the beer too early? Or did I not let it ferment long enough? Or did I screw up somewhere else?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ayoungrad]

Did you take SG readings and note stability over 2-3 days before bottling?

I don't use tabs but isn't one tab recommended and not 2?

Did you sanitize everything from post-boil onward?

 

[RedGuitar]

My first guess, having never made a bock, is that you bottled too soon. Bock is a lager, and I believe lagers need to sit and, well, lager for at least 6 weeks before bottling.

 

[Brewchitect]

I've never used "coopers suger drops" but it sounds like too much priming sugar. Did you check the gravity once a day for 3 days to see if it was finished? It could also be an infection, but most likely too much sugar or wasnt done fermenting. It wont improve, only get worse until the bottles explode. If you put them in the fridge it will slow it down. When you want to drink one, just stand it up in in a caserole dish, open it, let it foam everywhere, wait a few minutes then poor the caserole dish into your pint.

 

[hungryhippo]

Wow, that was quick!

The gravity when I pitched the yeast was 1050. After about 2 weeks it was 1019. I checked it again after a week and it had not changed.

Everything was well sanitized.

 

[BeerChef17]

i think i remember seeing 2 drops per bottle before so thats fine. But the issue is likely incomplete fermentation like everyone else said. At least you dont have bottle bombs

 

[hungryhippo]

Thanks so much for the prompt replies!!!

Yeah, I was a little worried about incomplete fermentation. But the gravity stayed the same for a week.

I have another lager fermenting in the basement. It's been 3 weeks so far. Maybe I'll leave it for another 3?

Thanks again!

 

[ThatGuyRyan]

1.050 to 1.019 doesn’t seem right. What was you FG supposed to be per the recipe? Seems like fermentation stalled out and you had too much leftover sugar and with the carb tabs you are now over carbonated. You should have tried to get the fermentation going again to finish up before bottling. I would put them in a plastic tub or something water proof in case they end up being bottle bombs. Have you tried opening a warm and cold one to see if they both go volcano on you?

 

[KayaBrew]

740mL bottles are about 25 ounces, so 2 carb tabs seems about right. At 1.019, your FG could have been a little high, I think that's where your problem is.

 

[flabyboy]

"At least you dont have bottle bombs"

yet!!!