Gushing Bottles

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ivodevo

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Hi All,

I have had some gushing problems with 3 or 4 of the 13 brews I have put down since I started. The brews have all been partial mash brews, and seem to be fine in the first month or two after bottling, however once the bottles are a few months old, when I open the cap of the bottle the beer gushes out of the bottle, almost like a fountain.

I was wondering - could this be a bacterial infection? and if so - at what stage of the brew would it have been contaminated?

Sanitation is as follows:

fermenter and fermenting equipment:
- I use the starsan stuff from grain an grape (I don't think it is called star san, but it is something that is used in the dairy industry as a non rinse solution).
- I dilute the sanitation solution as per the instructions and put it in a spray bottle, then spray the fermenter and all equipment that comes into contact with the wort.
- Prior to bottling I use the same solution to spray the tap and the bottle filler
- I fill the sink with water with diluted bleach and rinse the bottles for 2 to 3 minutes in the solution and then rinse with hot tap water
- I boil the bottle caps for 5 minutes in a pot on the stove

Any suggestions or comments would be much appreciated.

Cheers
 
What does the beer itself taste like? Is it super fizzy?

Gushing can be infection, overcarbonation or it can be other things. One main cause is excess trub or hop debris in the bottle, usually from trying to get the very last bit out of the fermenter.

Dirty bottles, crud in the bottles etc are other causes. There's something that infects grain too that causes gushers but I think that's a long shot.
 
Gushing might be a sign of overcarbonation, how's your OG/FG checks looking, and how are you carbing the bottles?
 
just throwing this one out there,
could also be the beer isnt cold enough open a warm beer and it comes out to meet you

cheers: HBK
 
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