Bottles Overflowing When Priming

[Joshisgood]

Hey guys just started bottling my last brew using dextrose to prime, and the bottles keep foaming up and overflowing as soon as I tip the dex in or if I put the dex in first I end up with 3 inches of foam at the top of the bottle. Anyone know why this is happening or what I can do? Cheers

 

[Batz]

Hey guys just started bottling my last brew using dextrose to prime, and the bottles keep foaming up and overflowing as soon as I tip the dex in or if I put the dex in first I end up with 3 inches of foam at the top of the bottle. Anyone know why this is happening or what I can do? Cheers

Are you using one of those bottle filling things that fill from the bottom of the bottle?

 

[Greg.L]

This happens when there is still a lot of dissolved co2 in your beer. The dextrose crystals provide nucleation points to form co2 bubbles. Sounds like you are bottling a bit early, or your beer started refermenting a little bit. You would be better to wait awhile to avoid bottle bombs.

 

[Joshisgood]

Are you using one of those bottle filling things that fill from the bottom of the bottle?

Yep, same as I've always used and never had a problem, just as soon as the sugar comes into contact with the beer it foams up and out of the bottle

 

[Batz]

You have checked the gravity readings I suppose ? Sounding a bit like Greg has it covered.

 

[Joshisgood]

This happens when there is still a lot of dissolved co2 in your beer. The dextrose crystals provide nucleation points to form co2 bubbles. Sounds like you are bottling a bit early, or your beer started refermenting a little bit. You would be better to wait awhile to avoid bottle bombs.

Sg was steady for a few days, been cold conditioning a couple weeks, started bottling straight out of fridge, if I let it warm up a bit would that help?

 

[boingk]

THats the carbon dioxide gas in solution in your brew latching onto the nucleation sites provided by the fine dextrose powder and coming out of solution.

I recommend plain white sugar for priming as it does not usually do this. If there is a small amount of water left over from cleaning the bottles then the white sugar gets wet and forms a slurry. This slurry does not usually foam up anywhere near the amount that dextrose powder does.

Cheers - boingk

 

[Joshisgood]

Cheers guys I might leave it a couple of hours to warm up and hopefully some c02 wil come out of solution

 

[Greg.L]

Warming it up should tell you if its still fermenting. If the co2 goes down you're probably ok, if it gets worse then you should leave it longer. Hydrometers aren't accurate enough to show if you still have residual sugar. Does it taste at all sweet?

 

[Joshisgood]

Doesn't taste sweet, at about 10c now and still foaming, I'll just have to wait and see how it goes. If it doesn't get any better I'll leave at room temp for a couple of days and see what happens

 

[Chiro]

What temp was the brew when bottling?

 

[going down a hill]

If it has finished fermenting you could bulk prime.

 

[wvbrewer]

I prime using the bulk method. Boil a few cups of water ans desolve 5 oz of dextrose for a five gallon batch. Dump the priming water/sugar mixture in your bottling bucket, and rack your beer on top of it. It should mix well but a gentle stir won't hurt it none.

 

[DanIAm]

Instead of adding the sugar to the beer, add the beer to to the sugar...

I had the same issue, resolved by putting my priming sugar into all the bottles and then filling with beer.

 

[muthead]

Instead of adding the sugar to the beer, add the beer to to the sugar...

I had the same issue, resolved by putting my priming sugar into all the bottles and then filling with beer.

That seems like quite a laborious method? Why don't you just boil the required amount of dex in 500ml / 1 litre of water and add to bulk priming vessel? Surely doing that would be quicker than priming each bottle?

 

[Fodder]

I've tried both bulk priming and bottle priming and the time and effort of bulk seems to out weight the ease of a teaspoon of sugar into each bottle.

1 funnel, 1 teaspoon and away you go. Get the whole lot done in no time.

I find it easier than having another vessel to clean (both before and after use), boiling & cooling water, adding sugar and then decanting this into the vessel. But thats just me, YMMV...