Beer Forum

I brewed and Irish draught ale from NB and fermented for 10 days. On day 7 the fermentation stopped and I let the temp rise from 68 F to 72 F over 20 hours. I then primed with muntons kreamy x. Let carbonate at room temp about 72 f for five days. Opened a bottle and it gushed like crazy! I put one case in a mini fridge and the other left in the box in a shower stall with closed door. WTF!? HELP!

derffy3 wrote:I brewed and Irish draught ale from NB and fermented for 10 days. On day 7 the fermentation stopped and I let the temp rise from 68 F to 72 F over 20 hours. I then primed with muntons kreamy x. Let carbonate at room temp about 72 f for five days. Opened a bottle and it gushed like crazy! I put one case in a mini fridge and the other left in the box in a shower stall with closed door. WTF!? HELP!

Derffy3,

I can't really give you a definite answer without more info. Did you take OG and FG readings? What yeast did you use? Did you use the appropriate amount of Kreamy X? Did you chill the bottle that gushed?

Your hydrometer readings are key here. Even though it "looked" like fermentation had stopped, the yeast continue working. It's possible that you didn't reach your targeted final gravity yet and had too much yeast remaining in solution. Even if you did reach your target, you may have bottled before enough of the yeast flocculated.

The bottles in the mini-fridge might be okay, but be sure you open them over the sink immediately after removing from the fridge. If they are over-carbonated and have a chance to warm up, you're f...ed.

I put the whole bunch in a walk in cooler at my diner. They are over carbonated and I tried on last night and had to repour it to bleed off some of the fizz. I didn't take an OG to FG reading and not sure how to do that. This is my second batch. I very much believe that it hadn't fully attenuated and priming sugar was added too soon. Will have to get a hydrometer or refractor and learn to use it. thanks for the help.

Just from the details you gave, my first thought is that you bottled too soon. 10 days is pretty short from brewing to bottling.

All that lack of bubbling indicates is that it is time to check your gravity. After only 10 days the yeast is most likely still working and just not producing much gas. In addition to eating more sugar and producing gas, the yeast is also busy at that time metabolizing the esters produced during fermentation. In short, you will get better tasting beer if you let it go for another week after fermentation seems to have stopped.

At this point there is not a whole lot you can do. The big thing to do is keep the remainder of the batch cold if possible. Some folks have had good results from chilling the bottles way down, uncapping to release pressure and then recapping.

Wayne