Help; bottling **** up

[MarkBowie]

Hello everyone,

Due to a messed up house move my brewing equipment has been in storage since March so am just looking on in envy at everyone's brew write ups. So I went to where my beer is being stored (at my brothers) and persuaded him to move everything so I could get to some I had brewed last November time.

It had cleared up nicely in the bottle, I chilled it and opened it to pour. However, it went off like a rocket at I have had 3 do the same. They didn't taste bad at all, just obviously when they go off all the yeast and sediment mixes in. After nearly a year and tasting ok I'm assuming I can rule out infection and can pretty much bank on it being a newby bottling error with the sugar.

I'm hoping to be in the new house and therefore able to get brew shed up and running. What's the best thing for me to do with (what I think is) 30 something bottles of overprimed beer? I do have pressure barrels available.

 

[Leon103]

Could be all that movement. Pour into a jug first and you will be ok

 

[MyQul]

Wot leon say. I take it you chilling it first before opening the bottles?

 

[MarkBowie]

Hi, thanks for the replies. It has been at my brothers for the past 6 months and I chilled it for a couple of days once I got it so I tried to rule out movement. The problem with the jug is as soon as I take the cap off it seems to pull everything off the bottom of the bottle and come out the bottle as froth so all is left in the jug is yeasty froth.

 

[Leon103]

Hi, thanks for the replies. It has been at my brothers for the past 6 months and I chilled it for a couple of days once I got it so I tried to rule out movement. The problem with the jug is as soon as I take the cap off it seems to pull everything off the bottom of the bottle and come out the bottle as froth so all is left in the jug is yeasty froth.

The froth should die down and nothing wrong with yeast

 

[DoctorMick]

Could you crack the cap a little an hour or so before opening to let some of the gas escape?

 

[Duxuk]

I would imagine it's a wild yeast which has got in at some point in the brewing or bottling stage. Wild yeasts munch up those "unfermentable" sugars which would have added a little sweetness to the beer and produce a bit of extra alcohol and a load of CO2. They often take a while to do this.

 

[Cwrw666]

I usually find with gushers that when you pop the cap off there's a brief fraction of a second before it realises and starts squirting everywhere. So pop the cap and pour immediately into a 2 litre jug. You'll have 2 litres of foam and about half an inch of clear beer in the bottom but it only takes a few minutes for the foam to settle back into beer and if you're really quick you won't have any yeast in it.

 

[Duxuk]

I usually find with gushers that when you pop the cap off there's a brief fraction of a second before it realises and starts squirting everywhere. So pop the cap and pour immediately into a 2 litre jug. You'll have 2 litres of foam and about half an inch of clear beer in the bottom but it only takes a few minutes for the foam to settle back into beer and if you're really quick you won't have any yeast in it.

The colder it is, the better. Colder dissolves more CO2.