[flbrewer]

Just an update...noticed this morning that the suspect bottles had a rim of something at the neck (ala a mini fermentor). Opened them up in the sink and they GUSHED. Guess I bottled too soon? I wonder if the 3 TBS of honey for the gallon batch was too much priming sugar?


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[dmtaylor]

You might have bottled before fermentation was 100% complete.  Did you check gravity several times over the course of 3-4 days?  You really need to do that and wait until the gravity stops decreasing before bottling.

3 Tbsp honey seems like the right amount for a gallon.  But if you lost a lot of volume due to yeast sediment and trub, and only had like 3 quarts of beer left to bottle, then 3 Tbsp might be too much.  How many bottles did you get?  And were they regular 12-oz bottles, or 16 or 22-oz?  That will give us a better picture so we can help more.

[Joe Sr.]

A ring around the neck of the bottle is often a sign of some form of infection in the bottle.  That along with gushing.  Could be the bottles weren't as clean as you had thought.

[HoosierBrew]

A ring around the neck of the bottle is often a sign of some form of infection in the bottle.  That along with gushing.  Could be the bottles weren't as clean as you had thought.

That was my thought.

[dmtaylor]

+1.  Yeah.  What they said is also very possible.

[erockrph]

A ring around the neck of the bottle is often a sign of some form of infection in the bottle.  That along with gushing.  Could be the bottles weren't as clean as you had thought.

While that is true, it could also be a krausen ring from renewed fermentation in the bottle. I wouldn't expect an infection to take hold to enough of an extent to cause gushing in under 2 weeks. I'd lean towards overpriming or bottling before hitting a stable FG.

[flbrewer]

A ring around the neck of the bottle is often a sign of some form of infection in the bottle.  That along with gushing.  Could be the bottles weren't as clean as you had thought.

Doubtful, I probably over-clean them and make sure they are in sanitizer prior to bottling.

[flbrewer]

A ring around the neck of the bottle is often a sign of some form of infection in the bottle.  That along with gushing.  Could be the bottles weren't as clean as you had thought.

While that is true, it could also be a krausen ring from renewed fermentation in the bottle. I wouldn't expect an infection to take hold to enough of an extent to cause gushing in under 2 weeks. I'd lean towards overpriming or bottling before hitting a stable FG.

Yes, it looked like krausen, hence my "oh s$%t" feeling and subsequent opening of them. I most likely pulled this out of fermentation too early as I smelled the cider smell when bottling.

[flbrewer]

You might have bottled before fermentation was 100% complete.  Did you check gravity several times over the course of 3-4 days?  You really need to do that and wait until the gravity stops decreasing before bottling.

3 Tbsp honey seems like the right amount for a gallon.  But if you lost a lot of volume due to yeast sediment and trub, and only had like 3 quarts of beer left to bottle, then 3 Tbsp might be too much.  How many bottles did you get?  And were they regular 12-oz bottles, or 16 or 22-oz?  That will give us a better picture so we can help more.

Great point...I ended up with just over (4) 22 oz. bottles, which equates to around .70 gallons. It may of been a combination of over priming and still fermenting that caused the gusher. I can say that just by opening I could tell there was way too much carb.

[ynotbrusum]

If merely overcarbed, you can still drink them and limit gushing by simply chilling them to near freezing before opening and then let them warm up after opening and before pouring...it may help a little.

[dmtaylor]

To deal with overcarbonation, assuming you don't have bombs on your hands, I would just pour your beer into a pitcher, allow to settle for a few minutes, then pour into a glass to help reduce your carbonation.

But if you have such high carbonation that you have potential bombs on your hands... you need to pop all those caps right now.  Here is the difference between bombs and non-bombs -- if you pop a cap and then a couple seconds later it begins to foam over, you'll be alright.  But if the second you pop the cap the beer leaps out of the bottle, your bottles might explode, which can be very dangerous!  I have experienced both more than once.  Bombs are really dangerous.  Gushers, not dangerous but just a pain in the rear end.

[flbrewer]

Just an update and a question here...since my last post with this issue, I brewed two more one gallon batches of different pale ales. After 2 weeks in the jugs, they both have a strong acetaldehyde smell! Really frustrating as I'm not sure if I'm under pitching these (using about 4 grams of S-05) or just pitching too warm (which I know I did with one of them).
Secondly, is there anything to be done? Rouse the yeast awake again or add more yeast?

[Jimmy K]

2 weeks of primary fermentation and the beer is still on the yeast? Acetylaldehyde should be reabsorbed by the yeast if stays in contact. Just let it sit another week.
 
You're definitely not underpitching with 4g of dry yeast. Warm fermentation could create esters, but I don't think you'd confuse those with acetylaldehyde.
 
Also, I tend to smell things off-gassing from primary that are not found in the final beer. Maybe the beer is fine but the headspace just smells like acetylaldehyde?

[flbrewer]

Yes, 2 weeks primary still on yeast.


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[morticaixavier]

give it another week and see if it's still there. at this point, if you can raise your temps to >72 that will help as well assuming it's acetaldehyde and not just some appley ester. acetaldehyde boils at 72 so if you can raise your beer above that temp which is safe at this point it will start to evaporate out.