Effect Of Too Much Headspace?

[bennyc]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I've noticed something recently with a couple of my old bottle conditions beers: (i) a brown ale/porter/something-or-other which I brewed six months ago; and (ii) an APA, brewed five months ago (I know I should have finished this by now). Both were bulk primed and bottled in stubbies and longnecks. When bottling, I always fill the liquid to the top of all the bottles (stubbies, longnecks) with the bottling wand, as per previous posts above.

Over the last month, I've been finishing off a couple of longnecks and stubbies of each beer. The longnecks of the brown ale have gushed when I've opened them, and the APA has been more carbonated than it was several months ago. The stubbies are still carbonated as they have always been. I'm 99.9% there haven't been any infections in any of the beers.

So any ideas why the longnecks are more carbonated? Does this come down to a headspace differential caused by the bottling wand displacing a disproportionate amount of liquid as between stubbies and longnecks?

Either way, I've learnt a valuable lesson - drink my beer quicker!

Ben

PS This is the closest thread that I've been able to find that discusses this idea. It isn't really a problem with most of the beers that I brew, but I'd hate to waste good beer going forward, especially the ones that I intend to age...

 

[manticle]

I always leave a bit of headspace in the neck of my bottles. CO2 is being produced so a little space won't lead to oxidation (at least as far as I'm aware).

 

[Nick JD]

+1 on Manticle's advice. I leave the bottles uncapped for a few minutes so the residual carbon dioxide fills the headspace in the bottles. Put your ear to the bottles - they are fizzing off still.

Re: cooling beers for pouring - it takes a few more hours to cool a longneck than a stubbie. If you have slightly overcarbonated, that's no problem ... so long as you go 4 degrees or a little less. Try opening another longneck after 24 hours in the fridge.

 

[bennyc]

Hmmm - this wasn't exactly what I was getting at :huh: I'm not worried about oxidation; the longnecks had been in the fridge for several weeks; and there was definitely headspace in both longnecks and stubbies (that left over by the displacement of the bottling wand). I'm more just curious as to whether anyone had any ideas as to why the longnecks were gushers while the stubbies were fine...

Thanks

Ben