Fizzy brew

[stevezo]

With my latest brew, i did everything the same as i normally do except with
evey bottle i've tried so far, when i open them they are really fizzy, and keep frothing
until there's just about no beer left.
Does anyone know what would cause this, and if it will get any better?

[Lachy]

Sounds like you've bottled them before primary fermentation has finished. It's caught me out once with a pilsener that I made... it had sat at 1012 for three days. I bottled and primed as per usual, and when I tried a tester two weeks later... WHOOOSH! Aerosol beer.

It tasted fine, it's just that, you know, actually getting any in your mouth was kinda tricky. In the end I had to fill the laundry trough up with water and open them all under water to avoid wearing the contents.

The other possibility is that you may have caught an infection in your bottles. If the beer smells or tastes wrong, infection is a probability.

[warra48]

What Lachy said is right.
It could also be the cold winter temperatures have slowed down your fermentation, and you probably just bottled too early.
I'd be very careful of bottle bombs.

[Lachy]

I'd be very careful of bottle bombs.

I was amazed none of mine blew up... when I cracked them under water, they bloody well took off like rockets. Seriously, be careful - I'd recommend wearing gloves and eye protection just in case.

[stevezo]

It's only a slow kinda fizz, which basically keeps fizzing till there's no beer left. It's not a real big gush.
But the beer i've managed to get out tastes fine.

So there's no real hope of salvaging the batch? Should just dump and start again?

[James L]

it can sometimes be due to temp of the beer when you are bottling..

the colder the beer, the more carbon dioxide that is dissolved in the beer, hence why you dont add as much dextrose when botlting to a lager thats been fermenting at 10C (110g) compared to bottling an ale thats fermented at 20C (180g)...

even when i bottled a beer 5 days after creating it and it was still bubbling, i never had extreme fizziness... the only real drama i have had with fizziness has been priming amounts due to fermenting temps... (and the sugar not properly mixing in teh container when bulk priming).

also... how long do you wait for it to cool before you drink it? If you leave it in the fridge for about 4-5 days before opening and drinking, i find that the fizziness is a little lessv volatile when you open it... you could try this technique and pour hte beer into a wet glass to reduce foaming when pouring... that'll prolly help you get hte most beer out of your bottle without it turning to foam

[Lachy]

It's only a slow kinda fizz, which basically keeps fizzing till there's no beer left. It's not a real big gush.
But the beer i've managed to get out tastes fine.

Yeah, that's not an infection, and it doesn't really sound like overpriming or an unfinished primary. I think James L might be onto something with his suggestion.

[Boonie]

I had a batch just like that.

Mine was due to over-priming. I primed with sugar and some Schweppes Raspberry....yes it tasted pretty good after 3 Months.....anyway, the only way I could get the beer out without a massive head was to slowly pour the Longie into a jug very slowly and then pour it into the glass 5 Minutes later.

The Froth still went over the top of the jug, but it wasted alot less than pouring into a schooner.

Cheers

Boonie

PS...Yes I can see the irony of Fizzy Beer and using the Schweppes.

[2fast]

How did you prime the bottles...or should I say how much sugar per bottle.

[2fast]

It does sound like it was not fermented right out.and It just went nuts in the bottle

[stevezo]

How did you prime the bottles...or should I say how much sugar per bottle.

I just used 1 carbonation drop per 640ml bottle(i'm only new to brewing and haven't got into priming properly yet).
In my previous 2 brews i've found they came out perfect doing it that way.

Also i've noticed that the beer level in the bottles has raised slightly since bottling?

[stevezo]

it can sometimes be due to temp of the beer when you are bottling..

the colder the beer, the more carbon dioxide that is dissolved in the beer, hence why you dont add as much dextrose when botlting to a lager thats been fermenting at 10C (110g) compared to bottling an ale thats fermented at 20C (180g)...

even when i bottled a beer 5 days after creating it and it was still bubbling, i never had extreme fizziness... the only real drama i have had with fizziness has been priming amounts due to fermenting temps... (and the sugar not properly mixing in teh container when bulk priming).

also... how long do you wait for it to cool before you drink it? If you leave it in the fridge for about 4-5 days before opening and drinking, i find that the fizziness is a little lessv volatile when you open it... you could try this technique and pour hte beer into a wet glass to reduce foaming when pouring... that'll prolly help you get hte most beer out of your bottle without it turning to foam

I've only left the bottles in the fridge long enough to get nice and cold, so i could "test" them.
I'll try leaving some in the fridge for a few days and see how that works.

[scooter75]

I just brewed a lager, fermented for 2.5 weeks at 10 c and then lagered in bottles at 4 c for a month. Opened one tonight and just about lost all the beer out with a big gush. Any thoughts welcome, primed with 2 drops, not bad tasting, no infection that i can tell.

[Bum]

What was your recipe and FG, scooter? If you bottled a bit too early it won't matter how much you primed - you'll still end up with too much sugar in there. If this is the cause there's a chance you'll be losing some of those bottles to explosions - especially if I'm reading you rightly and these bottles have never been over 4C? Other than that beers with a gusher infections often just taste like beer - at least in commercial beers, never had one in my own, touch wood.

[speedie]

could also be wild yeasts in your brew
common term its a gusher

[earle]

Bottling too early sounds like a distinct possibility. Also, try opening another bottle to rule out that the first one you tried was just an isolated dirty bottle causing infection. Sounds like you need to be careful though.

[warra48]

I wonder if the brew was fermented right out after 2.5 weeks at 10ºC, before lagering at 4ºC?
The lower lagering temperature would have mostly sent the yeast to sleep.

What were your SG readings at the various stages of your process?

[scooter75]

Thanks for the responses guys. Looking over brewing notes realising that have become a bit slack. No SG or FG taken as I gave it away after doing a heap of pale ales that were ticking over nicely. Also did not keep real goo dnotes. REcipe was Sharles (spp) European Lager Kit, 500 LDME, 500 Malto-dextrin, 30g Hallerteau (20g at 10mins, 5g at 5 mins). I think you're right about the early bottling. I remember taking a reading and thinking it was high but not worrying as it had been wrong when we pitched it. The pitch water was mistakenly hot so when I took an SG it was temp affected and so I ignored it. We cooled overnight (possibly allowing infection) and pitched in the morning when temp OK. From there no SG readings taken as I could not be stuffed, did not check when bottling as had been over a couple of weeks. Will check another couple but if all doing same thing I think its onto the garden for it. It tastes damn good, so it will be a shame. Take away lessons for me:
* Take better notes
* Don't underestimate difference between ales and lagers
* Make sure real clean
* Don't stuff up with putting hot water in in place of cool
Don't get too pissed while brewing (this I suspect may have been a major contributor here

Anyhoo, appreciate advice, cheers

[Smabb]

Had a similar problem with my first ever attempt with a lager yeast. I remember the gravity readings were high but i just couldn't believe it hadn't finished (in retrospect it had stalled). This led to a number of events such as "the great bottle explosion of 2005" and "the mega head beer" which I had to pour into these huge german steins i happened to have, to have any chance of drinking.

[Planner]

It's only a slow kinda fizz, which basically keeps fizzing till there's no beer left. It's not a real big gush.
But the beer i've managed to get out tastes fine.

Bringing back to life an old thread.
A couple of weeks ago I opened a stubbie (6 months old) that only fizzed quick enough that you had to drink quick to control it. When washed there were 3 visable "spots" on the inside of the glass, obviously I hadn't washed it well enough. Oh well a lesson learnt without much harm done.
Then about 2 weeks ago I opened a bottle that slowly emptied itself while being held over the sink, different batch (first AG), about 3 months old, I again put it down to a dirty bottle as it was close to 3 months old and none of the others I had drank had behaved like this. Last Friday night I opened another of the 1st AG batch and got a similar result, slow fizzing until there was next to no beer left. The salvaged beer tasted fine albeit a bit cloudy, no doubt due to the sediment being disturbed.

I don't think it's infected, well not by taste anyway. The ferment was for 15 days at about 14-16deg, a bit low, but the recultured CPA had handled this before and the FG was as expected, 1047 - 1011.

Would bottling on a cold night have affected priming rates greatly? I don't usually CC and always use carb drops. It was bottled late at night when the ambient would have been around 4-5deg, beer maybe 8-10deg allowing for the cooling of the thermal mass overnight.

Might have to drink the rest of these off ice to get the temp real low.