All grain over carbonation

[Dutto]

I opened a couple of bottles last night that have been resting since bottling 2 weeks ago and they are way over carbonated. I bottle in plastic bottles, and I noticed that after just a couple of days there was alot of pressure in the bottle.
I've brewed this same ale before, a little more hops this time but the same grain bill. but, i did have to leave it in the fermenter for an extra week due to work commitments. 20 days total in the fermenter.
could this effect anything?? I would think if anything this should allow the yeast a bit more time to digest the sugars. the ferment was a pretty constant 18-20°c.
The brew has no off flavors, and is nice to drink. It's just I will only get to drink a half of each bottle if the whole batch is this carbed up.
I'm stumped.

 

[yankinoz]

Hard to tell what happened. What was the yeast? Did you bulk prime?

 

[Grok]

Bring your serving temp right down to almost ice, use a cold glass as well, it will help with slowing the rush of gas release from the beer.

 

[Dutto]

Hard to tell what happened. What was the yeast? Did you bulk prime?

Hey Yakinoz, I used 2 x packets of lallemand new england. and have used carbonation drops, 2 in each bottle, same as always??

 

[Dutto]

Bring your serving temp right down to almost ice, use a cold glass as well, it will help with slowing the rush of gas release from the beer.

I amaware of the cold effects on carbonation, and I'll give this a try, only I need to wait until I have cleared a few not so carbonated brews out of the fridge so I can bring the temps down. Thanks for your tip on the chilled glass, I hadn't considered this

 

[elmoMakesBeer]

Did hop remnants (the shredded vegetable matter - not the oils) make it into the bottles? I had a couple of batches that did, and plenty of gushers there. The suspended hop matter seems to excite the bubbles, so even if the beer isn’t over-carbonated the CO2 can come out of solution too quickly.
Of course, too much priming sugar in a bottle can lead to over-carbing.

 

[peter.b]

@Dutto You don't mention F.G.?? Did you bottle too soon before reaching terminal gravity??

 

[Grok]

I amaware of the cold effects on carbonation, and I'll give this a try, only I need to wait until I have cleared a few not so carbonated brews out of the fridge so I can bring the temps down. Thanks for your tip on the chilled glass, I hadn't considered this

Chill down a couple of bots in the freezer to see if its going to work for you.

 

[Dutto]

Did hop remnants (the shredded vegetable matter - not the oils) make it into the bottles? I had a couple of batches that did, and plenty of gushers there. The suspended hop matter seems to excite the bubbles, so even if the beer isn’t over-carbonated the CO2 can come out of solution too quickly.
Of course, too much priming sugar in a bottle can lead to over-carbing.

Yes it has, more so than previously. I noticed a ring of sticky hops matter stuck to the bottle at the top level of the beer in the bottle, maybe we're onto something. And, I've not really seen it in this large a quantity previously.
Is dispatching the beer into a second fermenter, and allowing a settle period before bottling a ting? I've considered giving this a go a couple of times, but just thought, well I really don't mind a bit of cloud or a bitter bite and flavour of hops in the last sips!

 

[Dutto]

@Dutto You don't mention F.G.?? Did you bottle too soon before reaching terminal gravity??

this is probably a little niave, but I've never measured sg, or fg. I have always just left it long enough and guessed a rough ABV.

 

[Dutto]

Chill down a couple of bots in the freezer to see if its going to work for you.

will do mate, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[peter.b]

If you are bottling, it's one of the golden rules to make sure your beer has finished before bottling, and F.G. is with a couple of points of the expected gravity. Kegs, not so much, as there is a valve you can bleed off pressure, bottles not so.

As a side note, I've heard after a while plastic bottles don't hold carbonation as they leak gas over time. As i've never used plastic i can't confirm, but others on here could.

 

[yankinoz]

Hey Yakinoz, I used 2 x packets of lallemand new england. and have used carbonation drops, 2 in each bottle, same as always?? yeast

After primary fermentation with a less attenuative yeast like Windsor, a contaminating yeast might chew up maltotriose in bottles. But NE yeast attenuates fairly well. Scratch that hypothesis.

 

[Will2233]

I have had the same issue, if I pressure ferment and and then prime the bottles with carbonation drops some times the beer already has some carbination.
Especially if it was in the fermenter for 20 days.
William

 

[Vini2ton]

I reckon you might have a wild yeast issue. In my early days I had the odd bottle gusher. It never tasted off or anything, just annoying. I only bottle in glass now and nuke the bottles with sod-per, then phos-acid prior to bottling. Can't remember the last gusher, so that's gotta be a good thing.

 

[Hangover68]

I've only had 1 batch of gushers which otherwise tasted fine, emptied the bottles into a sterilised FV then transferred to a keg, gassed and let sit and its all good.

 

[Grok]

will do mate, I'll let you know how it goes.

Did the chill down work for you?

 

[Dutto]

Did the chill down work for you?

Hi Grok
Chilled a couple down, until they had icicles inside the bottles, it helped, I got an extra half a glass. These are so fizzed up I found one that had even cracked a lid. somehow it still held pressure??
I cannot put the cause of this down to any 1 thing. There's been a few great suggestions here. and the cause could be any number of things.
I'm settling with a half batch of an otherwise good beer.
Thanks.
(I need a glass half full emoji for this one)

 

[duncbrewer]

As they are in plastic bottles freeze it solid, crack the lid open to let some gas out and reseal it. With crown caps and the right bottle opener you can ease the lid to degas a bit at a time if you are patient and have a very cold bottle.

 

[Matty Groves]

Being a bit of a contrarian here, but perhaps there’s a chance they’re too cold in your fridge…
I recently bought a new fridge which was set way colder than my previous one, and a couple of sparkling ales I made started gushing. And around Xmas time I had some little creatures pales in a different fridge which was also really cold and the same thing happened to them, and I doubt they over-carbed.

Just spit-balling here…