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Author Topic: Gusher vs. Infection  (Read 2941 times)

Offline flbrewer

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Gusher vs. Infection
« on: April 16, 2015, 01:45:02 pm »
My most recently bottled beer has been bottled for just shy of 2 weeks. I opened one today and it quickly poured over. I'm not sure if this is considered a gusher, but that's what it did. I then continued to open another and another...same thing. This was a very small batch that I made so not a total loss.

What signs would I look for to see if this was infected vs. over carbonated. I'm fairly certain my bottling bucket is calibrated but I've always struggled with mixing the priming sugar properly. I did check the gravity again on one of these and it was at 1.010. I have been guilty of possibly not letting the beers fully ferment out in the past. From what I've read I can't imagine a move of a point or two would cause this though.

Any thoughts?

To clarify, it was no where near this type of reaction...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWDLK133Cjo
« Last Edit: April 16, 2015, 02:04:37 pm by flbrewer »

Offline jtoots

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Re: Gusher vs. Infection
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2015, 01:55:27 pm »
I'd say taste and odor would probably be step 1...  was this batch palatable?


Offline flbrewer

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Re: Gusher vs. Infection
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2015, 01:58:17 pm »
I'd say taste and odor would probably be step 1...  was this batch palatable?

Smelled like beer! Taste was meh, primarily because it had a sh#t ton of hop sediment (forgot to add Whirfloc). Nothing about it was way outside of what I've brewed before.

Offline jtoots

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Re: Gusher vs. Infection
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2015, 02:07:51 pm »
how long did you give it to ferment, at what temp, and what's your priming sugar procedure?

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Gusher vs. Infection
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2015, 02:11:57 pm »
How many days between final gravity readings?

Offline Jimmy K

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Re: Gusher vs. Infection
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2015, 02:14:33 pm »
I did check the gravity again on one of these and it was at 1.010. I have been guilty of possibly not letting the beers fully ferment out in the past. From what I've read I can't imagine a move of a point or two would cause this though.
5oz of priming sugar will increase gravity by 0.003. So if the yeast fermented the priming sugar and also fermented the wort an extra 0.001, that's like adding 33% more priming sugar.
 
If it's infection, it will probably continue to dry out the beer and further increase carbonation. My gut feeling is that infection would take longer than two weeks.
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Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Gusher vs. Infection
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2015, 03:12:40 pm »
If there is a lot of hop sediment in the beer then the sediment may be forming nucleation points causing gushing.
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Offline flbrewer

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Re: Gusher vs. Infection
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2015, 03:22:31 pm »
how long did you give it to ferment, at what temp, and what's your priming sugar procedure?

In this case I had poor records, I accidentally deleted it in Beersmith. Typically I'll ferment about 7-10 days. The temp previously had been somewhat controlled with a cooler and water. I would normally ferment around 62-64. The priming sugar procedure was to use an online calculator to get the amount of corn sugar. Boil this for a few minutes and add straight into the bottling bucket and stir.

I believe on this one I added to the bottom of the bucket and transferred on top of it, probably didn't stir enough. Since every bottle was acting this way I suspect it was way over-carbed.

Offline flbrewer

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Re: Gusher vs. Infection
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2015, 03:23:00 pm »
How many days between final gravity readings?

I don't want to answer this as I may or may not have followed the three day rule.

Offline flbrewer

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Re: Gusher vs. Infection
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2015, 03:24:25 pm »
I did check the gravity again on one of these and it was at 1.010. I have been guilty of possibly not letting the beers fully ferment out in the past. From what I've read I can't imagine a move of a point or two would cause this though.
5oz of priming sugar will increase gravity by 0.003. So if the yeast fermented the priming sugar and also fermented the wort an extra 0.001, that's like adding 33% more priming sugar.
 

Wow, I had no idea, that is quite a bit more! BUT doesn't that priming sugar only temporarily increase the gravity? Once it's carbonated it's like it was never there and should return to pre-priming sugar levels.


Offline Stevie

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Re: Gusher vs. Infection
« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2015, 03:39:04 pm »

If there is a lot of hop sediment in the beer then the sediment may be forming nucleation points causing gushing.
My thought as well. Try keeping one cold for a week or two to let the hops settle out.

Offline flbrewer

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Gusher vs. Infection
« Reply #11 on: April 16, 2015, 03:40:39 pm »
Too late, dumped them. I did try a couple over the past few days and didn't have this issue when I chilled them before drinking.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Gusher vs. Infection
« Reply #12 on: April 16, 2015, 08:42:16 pm »
How many days between final gravity readings?

I don't want to answer this as I may or may not have followed the three day rule.
That's why I asked. 1 day to brew. 7~10 days fawning over it. Half a day bottling it. 14 days waiting for carbonation.  15 minutes to dump it. But somehow that few days between FG samples seems like such a waste.

Up to you, but I've learned to be patient especially when bottling

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Gusher vs. Infection
« Reply #13 on: April 16, 2015, 08:45:28 pm »
I did check the gravity again on one of these and it was at 1.010. I have been guilty of possibly not letting the beers fully ferment out in the past. From what I've read I can't imagine a move of a point or two would cause this though.
5oz of priming sugar will increase gravity by 0.003. So if the yeast fermented the priming sugar and also fermented the wort an extra 0.001, that's like adding 33% more priming sugar.
 

Wow, I had no idea, that is quite a bit more! BUT doesn't that priming sugar only temporarily increase the gravity? Once it's carbonated it's like it was never there and should return to pre-priming sugar levels.
Yes. It increases it then turns it into alcohol and CO2. But you have a cap on the bottle...