Overpriming/Uber Fizzy!

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DamsideBrew

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Afternoon folks,

I've only done three all grain brews so far, but I've had the same issue twice. I've used the all grain kits from Get-er-brewed. The Citra single hop turned out really really well, but the IPA and a different IPA kit I had done previously were so fizzy that they erupted out of the bottle once they were opened.

Process to brew for all:

Brewed BIAB following the recipe.
Fermented 2 weeks until constant FG
Batch primed with sugar (calculated to give 1.5 vols CO2 for all)
Bottled
Conditioned for 2 weeks
In the fridge for 2 weeks
Opened
Cleaned up!

I had wondered whether I hadn't mixed the sugar properly (I add it to a bottling bucket then add the beer on top) but all the bottles seemed the same.....

My thoughts so far: Overprimed, not finished fermenting or not mixed the sugar in properly.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!
 
Only just done my first AG, but have done a fair few extract brews and so far no problems. Did have one kit beer that turned out rather lively:doh:
For what it's worth i boil my sugar and cool it then add to my bottling FV before syphoning the beer onto it.
1.5 vol is not that high, mine vary from 1.9 to 2.1 depending on the beer,perhaps i have just been lucky!
 
If the FG was stable then fermentation should have finished. My thoughts are that these bottles are "gushers" from improper sanitation.
 
Your method seems pretty sound. I normally bottle between day 14 and 21, but generally they are finished by day 14, in fact I did one 5 days ago and just dropped the hydrometer in, and seems it's done. What were the FG of the brews 1010 or lower?

There is one other possibility - infection, which will chew on the non-fermentables and produce far more CO2 than priming would. And AG brews are a bit more susceptible as you have a longish cooling stage before pitching the yeast.

There is one way to test this: try a bottle in 2-3 weeks time. If it gushes more than before, it's an infection because the fermentation will just keep going and going, if it's the same as before then it's something else. I've had a few infections in my time and generally they occur in summer (lots of wild yeast and bugs about) with AG brews.
 
1.5 vol is a very light carbonation so it certainly shouldn't be erupting on opening. I carbed my last batch to 2.8 vol and it doesn't overflow. How much priming sugar did you add?
I don't think you're bottling too soon, 2 weeks should be plenty long enough for most yeasts. If it were a mixing problem then it would only affect some of the bottles. Another possibility I'm afraid is infection. Do they taste ok?
 
Hi All,

Thanks for the replies. The FG's were 1010 and 1012 so seemed pretty low. I haven't noticed them getting even fizzier as time passes but I've not been looking out for it. I would also say that they tasted OK, they weren't ground breaking but totally palatable, what sort of flavours should I be looking out for with an infection?

I cleaned all the bottles with oxy cleaner, then sterilised with star san prior to bottling. Would there be a problem with the FV? Again, this is cleaned with diluted bleach, then star san before adding the beer.

As for amount of sugar.....my note taking has let me down with that one! Just says 1.5 x CO2 with sugar. I boiled the sugar in a bit of water and let it cool before adding it to the bottling bucket (again bleach and star san) before adding the beer. I'm wanting to brew again soon and don't want to end up with eruptions again!

Thanks All!
 
Could you have got any hop debris into your bottles? They can cause nucleation points for CO2 and can cause gushers. I know the GEB citra kit uses hop teabags, which would explain why it was fine.
 
To be honest, you seem to be doing everything right.

When were these brewed? If infected, I find the excess CO2 appears before the off flavours, which can take 3-4 months to appear but you'll know when you taste them :sick:
 
How long were the bottles in the fridge for before you opened them? I did a dead pony clone and I had a couple of bottles gush on me. Both hadn't been in the fridge very long where as the ones which didn't gush usually had at least 24 hours in the fridge.
 
They were in the fridge for about a month, I work 3/3 week shifts so it's easy to chuck them in the fridge to clear ready for when I get home. I used safale US-05 both times for the yeast, mash time were both 60mins at 67C. The first one was brewed about 4 months ago, nd the second around 3 months.

Assuming that I likely have an infection what's the process to get rid of it? Bleach everything or do I need a new FV? The bottling bucket I use was a new addition for the second one (with a bottling stick).

Great conversation so far, thanks for your input!
 
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