Gushers again

[Sandimas]

It seems that I post a thread on this every summer: my bottled brews are gushing again.

But there's a difference this time: I've kept back some bottles from earlier in the year and it's only the beer brewed in summer that is gushing, a brew from January is perfectly fine still. And it's only some bottles from a batch that are gushing, not every one. So I assume some wild yeast was in the air and got into some of the bottles, the kitchen gets very hot so I have to open the window during brewing, plus I live out in the countryside. Does this sound like a reasonable conclusion? I often say that I'll stop brewing June-Aug but I always get tempted back to brewing a few.

 

[An Ankoù]

I'm not so sure. If I open some of my mild, for example, it begins to swell up and bubble over the lip of the bottle. Sometimes it can be quite marked. it seems to happen with milds and stouts rather than paler beers. If I put them in the fridge overnight and then let them warm back up to drinking temperature (12-15C), it tends not to happen. I've had proper gushers with wheat beer where the yeast seems to nibble away at the residual complex sugars if it's kept too long. In this case, it's like Vesuvius and up to a third of the beer can be lost. I've started putting my wheat beers in swing-top bottles, using a bit less priming sugar and I've changed my yeast from WB-06. I haven't had the problem since. As for brewing in the summer, it's a question of keeping the fermentation temperature down or of using a yeast that ferments warm.

I should say that swing-tops allow you to discharge the excess gas and quickly reseal the bottle.
Another thing that can lead to gushing is detritus from dry hops- especially pelleted hops- making its way into the bottle.

 

[Cwrw666]

Easy fix: in summer just brew hoppy pale ales that are at their best when drunk young. Mine are at their best after about a week in the bottle.
Got the same thing happening with a pilsener I brewed a while back. I assume it's just the warm weather getting the yeast to munch on the more complex sugars left after fermentation was over.

 

[Sandimas]

Easy fix: in summer just brew hoppy pale ales that are at their best when drunk young. Mine are at their best after about a week in the bottle.
Got the same thing happening with a pilsener I brewed a while back. I assume it's just the warm weather getting the yeast to munch on the more complex sugars left after fermentation was over.

That was my assumption too. I store my beer in the garage which can get quite hot in summer, this year I brought it into the house during the short heatwave: whilst still warm, it wasn't as hot as the garage.

Yes I think I'll just brew hoppy ones in summer from now on. In fact I did, and they're in the fridge, but I had some left-over winter stock - obviously not trying hard enough to drink them.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Another explanation…?

Wild fungi growing on cereal crops can contaminate the grain with proteins called hydrophobins which are thermostable and so survive through to the finished beer. These are surface-active and lead to the creation of large numbers of nano bubbles at the interface of your beer and the CO2. When you open the bottle, because of the drop in pressure, the nano bubbles rapidly expand and can erupt from the top of the bottle.

The question though is why are you affected every year and I’ve never had the issue. Is there a plausible explanation based on where you get you grain or how you store and process your grain?

 

[Sandimas]

Is there a plausible explanation based on where you get you grain or how you store and process your grain?

Malt Miller now, although I have used others in the past. Stored in sealed containers in the wardrobe, and used fairly quickly: I order enough for 5-6 brews and brew every 2-3 weeks.

Wouldn't explain why only some of the bottles from the same batch were gushing? And yes I do get this every single year, and always in summer and never in winter. I have strong beers brewed in winter 2 years ago that aren't gushing, but beers brewed in late May this year that are. It's a manageable situation but I'd just like to know why, I'm meticulous with sanitation.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Wouldn't explain why only some of the bottles from the same batch were gushing?

That’s true, it would be all or nothing.

 

[chopps]

Is everything else about your bottling process absolutely identical, bottle to bottle? Bottles cleaned at the same time, in the same way? Sanitised at the same time in the same way, batch primed with well dispersed sugar? Caps all sanitised together?

Might not be any of these things. My point is, think about all the possible variables involved, if you have hit and miss bottles.

 

[jof]

I also have gushers now & blame the high temperature.
It effected 2 batches, brewed about 6 weeks apart in the spring.
Both are ales, bulk primed using 40-50g of sugar in 20-21 litres, so should be fairly low carbonation.

Both batches were fine before that hot spell. I need to switch from storing in the shed to the garage next year & see if that fixes the problem.

 

[Wynne]

Malt Miller now, although I have used others in the past. Stored in sealed containers in the wardrobe, and used fairly quickly: I order enough for 5-6 brews and brew every 2-3 weeks.

Wouldn't explain why only some of the bottles from the same batch were gushing? And yes I do get this every single year, and always in summer and never in winter. I have strong beers brewed in winter 2 years ago that aren't gushing, but beers brewed in late May this year that are. It's a manageable situation but I'd just like to know why, I'm meticulous with sanitation.

An interesting paper on gushing:

https://www.researchgate.net/public...CjC6Y3vKu2-6cw1Gj9Hw&origin=publicationDetail
I’ve had similar experiences to you @darrellm with batches brewed over Summer gushing when opened at Christmas but, in my case, this has been consistent across each affected batch.

 

[The Baron]

Possibly the newer beers have more easily re-activated yeast (newer so not as dormant)and the warm weather is making them start and chew through any remaining sugars. The older beers yeast has probably stabilised more so do not re-activate as readily.
just a thought

 

[foxy]

Is everything else about your bottling process absolutely identical, bottle to bottle? Bottles cleaned at the same time, in the same way? Sanitised at the same time in the same way, batch primed with well dispersed sugar? Caps all sanitised together?

Might not be any of these things. My point is, think about all the possible variables involved, if you have hit and miss bottles.

Agree with chops I had a similar event with 350 ml bottles not all, just a few, every 350 ml bottle has now had a good alkaline clean. Something I used to do with every bottle without a problem.

 

[chopps]

Possibly the newer beers have more easily re-activated yeast (newer so not as dormant)and the warm weather is making them start and chew through any remaining sugars. The older beers yeast has probably stabilised more so do not re-activate as readily.
just a thought

I thought the same, but …

And it's only some bottles from a batch that are gushing, not every one.

Wouldn’t an overexcitable yeast affect all bottles the same, assuming the same priming, same cleaning, same storage?

 

[The Baron]

I thought the same, but …


Wouldn’t an overexcitable yeast affect all bottles the same, assuming the same prining, same cleaning, same storage?

Maybe look at carbonation method is all the sugar dissolved fully if using a bottling bucket maybe.
So many variables just need to go through each process and make sure it done exactly the same from bottle cleaning to priming to storage

 

[chopps]

Agree with chops I had a similar event with 350 ml bottles not all, just a few, every 350 ml bottle has now had a good alkaline clean. Something I used to do with every bottle without a problem.

:) same here.

Maybe a bit obsessive but this is my process. I don’t deviate. If I get a problem it’s easier to identify if everthing is the same

After drinking, every bottle gets a hot rinse to get any crud out. Then 1/4 teaspoon of percarbonate and hot water tap to the brim. Leave overnight.
Rinse with cold water checking for any percarbonate chalk around the opening, and store upside down until needed.

On bottling day all caps needed are in a bowl of starsan.

I make a 2L jug of starsan and line up 20 bottles. Each gets approx 100ml and a gentle shake and inversion. Tip back into jug for the next 20 bottles.

Sanitise bottling bucket, sanitise tap and all hoses and bottle filler.

Gloves on. Sanitised.

And then I can start filling.

edit : and always batch primed and properly dispersed. I don’t try to weigh out sugar doses for each bottle.

 

[The Baron]

I hardly use bottles but when I do I religiously rinse them straight away to remove any yeast/crud while it is easy to do so

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

It's probably not the answer, if it doesn't happen with every brew, but it might be interesting to mark the bottles that do produce gushers.

Edit: If those bottles produce gushers in the next batch, maybe don't use them again.

 

[andrewrjones]

I had the same problem and I eventually tracked it down to poor mixing when batch priming, so some bottles had more sugar than others. Since I’ve changed that process it’s been fine.

 

[jeg3]

Another thing that can lead to gushing is detritus from dry hops- especially pelleted hops- making its way into the bottle.

I have this exact phenomenon in a Mangrove Jacks Irish Stout kit. Some bottles gush, some don't. My research (30 bottles in) suggests the gushers have hop debris.

 

[Sandimas]

I have this exact phenomenon in a Mangrove Jacks Irish Stout kit. Some bottles gush, some don't. My research (30 bottles in) suggests the gushers have hop debris.

Are you sure it's hop debris? My gushers have debris too but it's not from hops, I don't dry hop anymore due to the suggestion it can cause gushers. My gushers have produced a load more CO2 and the by-product is that debris, a bit like the stuff you get at the bottom of a normal bottle-conditioned beer but much, much more of it. In fact, if you hold my bottles up to the light, you can identify the gushers before you open them due to the amount of extra in the bottom.