Gusher bug?

[Noetikon]

I am having a consistent problem with some of my beers getting excessively foamy as they age. My first thought is a gusher-bug in my system, but I'm wondering if there could be other causes here.

- I bottle condition all my beer. On some of them, after about a month or two, the beer begins to foam up in the neck of the bottle, and eventually the beers will foam over: they don't "gush" in the geyser sense, but foam comes out of the bottle, and when I pour it pours all foam. It is a very tight foam, not the large soda pop bubbles characteristic of gusher bugs. But it gets really carbonated and the entire beer pours out as foam. I haven't noticed any drop in the body or flavour of the beers, even after 3 months, but that may not be long enough to notice that effect of a bug.

- Not every batch has the problem. 80% of my bottled beers are fine. But I've had enough do it that it's a cause for concern. The ones in question were mostly fermented with different yeast, some repitched, some from a fresh vial. In one case I split the same beer into two secondaries (to dry hop differently) and bottled at different times: one was excessively foamy/gushing; the other perfectly fine.

- I replaced all my bottling equipment. But one of the two latest batches is beginning to show signs it will be excessively foamy: it's starting to foam up in the neck of the bottle after opening. (I cannot recall, though, if this was bottled before or after I replaced equipment.)

Could the fact that some of my beers get super foamy be caused by something else or do I have a gusher bug in my system? If its a GB, what else can I do besides replace equipment? Could the bug be in my carboys? If so, how do you kill this bug in a carboy?

[Klickitat Jim]

How are you determining that the beer is done and ready to bottle?

How are you priming it?

[Noetikon]

How are you determining that the beer is done and ready to bottle?

How are you priming it?

1) I never bottle sooner than 2 weeks after pitching, and I use my hydrometer over that two week period to make sure it's done. After fermentation has slowed down, I bump up the temps to 72-74F for two to three days. I did think of this as a potential cause (not being completely done).

2) I use corn sugar that I get from the Bulk Barn and Beersmith to calculate the amount needed, and adjust for temperature of the beer at bottling.

[brewinhard]

What is your cleaning and sanitizing regiment like? When was the last time you purchased new siphon hoses, sample thief, racking cane, etc?

[Noetikon]

What is your cleaning and sanitizing regiment like? When was the last time you purchased new siphon hoses, sample thief, racking cane, etc?

I use, religiously, StarSan at bottling. I have one dedicated bucket for bottling that I fill up with StarSan (as per the directions), soak everything in there for about 5 minutes, empty it and use the bucket for bottling. And spray down everything with SS again (including the mouth of the carboy). I don't scrub my bottling equipment afterwards with PBW or anything, but I thoroughly rinse it all with hot water after I bottle.

I have just replaced all my bottling equipment, but not my wine thief or auto-siphon (just my tubing, bottling wand, racking cane, and buckets). That might be the culprit. I was just wondering if there could be other causes besides a gusher bug.

[Klickitat Jim]

How many times do you check final gravity, and how many days apart.

Yes beer can be all done in 14 days. Or 21, or who knows.
When bottling it extremely important to know that its all done. Or, to know for a fact where it will finish. For an average carbonation (about 2 volumes co2) you add about 1.003 gravity in priming sugar. So, imagine what happens if you think your beer is done at 1.013, and you add another 1.003, and bottle it, then it finishes out at 1.010. Thats 4 volumes, not 2.

So assuming everything else is spot on, I suspect your beers arent hitting terminal gravity before you bottle.

Fyi, when I bottle condition I always wait an extra few days past terminal gravity just to be certain.

[Ozwald]

Are you measuring your corn sugar by weight? 2 ounces on a scale instead of 2 ounces in a measuring cup.

[sweetcell]

2) I use corn sugar that I get from the Bulk Barn and Beersmith to calculate the amount needed, and adjust for temperature of the beer at bottling.

i hate to reply-and-run, but: there is a school of thought that the temp used in priming calculators should be the highest temp at which the beer fermented, not it's current temperature.

so according to your process description, you should always used 72 or 74 as your temp since this is the max your beer fermented at.

i can elaborate on this later, gotta run...