Bubbles rising inside the bottle of a bottle-conditioned beer

[GregoryShmegory]

In a Golden Strong Ale that has recently been bottled in belgian cork bottles, I see bubbles rising from the bottom, headed to the surface. Is this something I've never noticed, where the CO2 is first filling up the head space before it is absorbed into the beer, or is the gas escaping and leaving me with a flat, potentially oxidized beer?

 

[emjay]

In all the bottles?

 

[GregoryShmegory]

In the two bottles I have that are upright. My friend has the rest but they are on their side. He reported no leakage thus far.

 

[Felixio]

Did you use real cork or the plastic cork shaped stoppers? What size cork did you use?

Edit: I just rethought this, if the corks were leaking, then the bottles on their sides should start seeping beer, not CO2. You should be fine.

As I understand it, the head space fills with CO2 as the bottle pressurizes. It's a combination of chilling and pressure that cause the beer to absorb CO2 before opening. (Those with more experience will correct me if I'm wrong.)