Bottling day experience - yeast rockets?

[Riverevir]

About a week ago, I bottled an IPA from a NB kit (dead ringer). Some folks helped me understand the IBU calculations and I learned a good bit. I brewed another kit (porter) last night and things went pretty well and I'm happy to have a second larger kit under my belt.

With that said, my curiosity has me wanting to ask some more experienced folks a few questions.

I dry-hopped the IPA in the primary and went from having an airlock to simply a lid with no holes. The seal was good, and I have a 5 gallon batch in a 7 gallon fermonster, and the dryhop happened after the krausen fell out. Fast forward 11 days and a little family chaos and I was ready to bottle.

I had a long week prior and decided to go with conditioning tablets from brewers best that my LHBS carries. I didnt want to mess with bottling bucket and transferring as I didn't have time to get tubing to safely transfer and was worried about oxidizing the beer. After taking my hydrometer sample, I realized it would likely help to crack the lid of the fermenter for a bit better flow from the spigot on my fermonster.

Cracked the lid and lit the fuse on what I can only describe as a yeast cake firework show. My previously calm beer was shooting tiny yeast/trub rockets from the bottom layer to the top. After 30-45 minutes it settled and I continued along, but I'm now curious if this is typical of what happens when a fermenter becomes unsealed? If so, would I have had to wait before racking it to a bottling bucket? I've never had it happen LBK that I used before this batch, or at least I've never noticed the way I could through the fermonster walls.

IMO- Waiting for beer to bottle condition is way harder than waiting on a beer that is still in the fermenter...

 

[Soyben]

I believe you carbed your fermentor. By sealing your fermentor with no vent all the CO2 was held in your primary and you carbed up your beer. I recently had a batch of bottles do the same about 10 to 15 seconds after popping the cap the rocket takes off blowing the yeast up into the beer. Remember there is still a good bit of fermentation going on after the krausen drops.

I would expect your bottles to be over carbed as well since you had a higher than normal level of disovled CO2 in the beer that went into your bottles prior to bottle conditioning.

 

[Riverevir]

Thanks for the response and the short term heart attack. Panicking I went down to my basement to crack one fearing that it was overcarbed only to find it was... ok? Carbonation may have actually been a bit low, but no off flavors and considering I am only a week since carbonating being lightly carbed is not a surprise

 

[flars]

How many days after your specific gravity readings confirmed final gravity had been reached were you getting ready to bottle?

 

[beermanpete]

This is not typical behavior. As Soyben said, the beer was carbonated due to the blocked airlock. At least the beer did not foam and overflow the fermenter when you opened it. You need to keep the airlock open during fermentation and aging. If the krausen or hops block the airlock you need to use a blow-off tube instead of an airlock. In the event this happens again you should let it sit overnight to allow the yeast and trub to resettle and let the carbon dioxide dissipate from the beer before bottling.

 

[Riverevir]

After gravity reached its target, there was another 14 days before I bottled. Between the time I unsealed the fermenter, added the dry hops+sealed it, and the day I went to bottle the gravity reading did not change much if at all.

If this happens again? I sincerely hope my brain isn't stupid enough to f this up again. I guess I better drink quickly...

 

[beermanpete]

Maybe I misread you original post. Did you use a lid with no holes and no airlock, or did the airlock get blocked with hops?

 

[Riverevir]

Lid with no holes and no airlock after I dryhopped. However while all signs of active fermentation were happening, it was bung with an airlock for the first 9 days.

 

[beermanpete]

Got it. Perhaps the temperature of the beer increased after you sealed it. This would explain the gas pressure and the behavior you experienced. Next time, leave the air lock in place or use the solid lid but don't snap it down tight. This will allow the pressure to vent as needed.

 

[Riverevir]

Sorry but does that mean you don't think I carbonated the fermenter as noted above by soyben? Just trying to determine if I should be drinking these quick to avoid bottle bombs... thanks all!

 

[Soyben]

I think Pete is saying that perhaps a rise in temperature forced more CO2 out of the beer while it was sealed. CO2 is less disolvable in warmer liquids. I don't believe it would have required a rise in temp I see my yeast cake bubble frequently when I bottle. But a temp increase would have certainly made it worse.

Sorry for the panic induction, I would just open one fairly regular like every couple days or so after they are conditioned if you start to notice the carbonation getting higher, chill them that should slow it down. I have never used the conditioning tablets so I don't know what their target volume of CO2 is. I would geuss it is a medium level so brewers friend recommends 2.2 to 2.7 volumes for an American Ale. If your beer only had an extra couple tenths of extra volumes of CO2 and the conditioning tablet targets 2.4 you could be ok. Of course all bottles will not condition the same so if you are at the upper limit some may be fine and others not.

 

[beermanpete]

Yes, I agree with Soyben, you definitely carbonated the beer in the fermenter. As for bottle bombs, it does seem safe to assume you will have a higher carbonation level than intended. Since it has already been in the bottles for a week the priming sugar is likely all fermented out and the final pressure has been reached. Chill one or two for a few hours and test for carbonation, taste, and so on.