Problems with Big Beer carbonation

[razyrsharpe]

i have brewed 3 batches of big beers in 2014-15. All three have resulted in explosive foaming and bottle bombs. Obviously my priming calculator is inadequate for the task. The last batch was in the primary 2.5 months (a honey red ale aiming at about 9%abv), the carb calculator gave me a range of 2.2-2.7 units of carbonation for the style and the amount of (table) sugar to use, and it resulted in what i described above. My question is: Can i simply bottle the beer without using priming sugar and still get carbonation? i think my yeast are still active enough to do it without priming. Is this a thing? If it is, how do i go about it? thanks!

 

[specharka]

i have brewed 3 batches of big beers in 2014-15. All three have resulted in explosive foaming and bottle bombs. Obviously my priming calculator is inadequate for the task. The last batch was in the primary 2.5 months (a honey red ale aiming at about 9%abv), the carb calculator gave me a range of 2.2-2.7 units of carbonation for the style and the amount of (table) sugar to use, and it resulted in what i described above. My question is: Can i simply bottle the beer without using priming sugar and still get carbonation? i think my yeast are still active enough to do it without priming. Is this a thing? If it is, how do i go about it? thanks!

Quite simply, your beer isn't done fermenting yet if you're getting bottle bombs. Big beers require good yeast management and temperature control practices to ensure the yeast has fully attenuated. What were your yeast pitch amounts, fermentation temperatures, and finishing gravities?

There are options for bottling outside of using priming sugar (parti-gyle and force carbing), but I wouldn't advocate attempting them yet. Yeast viability alone will not carbonate beer; there has to be dissolved sugars for the yeast to consume.

 

[pdxal]

Partigyle isn't a method of priming, but kegging and force carbing is one way around your problem.
The other thing that comes to my mind, though, is infection.
If your gravities were stable over the last several days/weeks of fermentation they probably were done fermenting and you either added too much priming sugar or developed an infection. Look up gusher infections.
If you did have an infection, your bottled beer that gushed would be at a lower gravity than it was at bottling after you let it go completely flat.

 

[slym2none]

Congrats on sticking with bottling! Ignore all the "you should keg" posts, and there should be some good info out there for you.

 

[day_trippr]

All you need is enough tiny spunding valves to fit all the bottles needed to package the batch.

Otherwise, the proposition is risky. While I imagine if one had every aspect of their brew and fermentation process down to the proverbial T, there's still so much "jitter" in yeast behavior I don't think a high-quality end result is possible. Even assuming the batch doesn't grenade, you have the whole flat-to-overcarbed thing looming large. Bad juju...

Cheers!

 

[didinho]

My big beers are mainly barley wines, with the purpose to age for years.
I usually put 1-2 grams per liter for priming: I don't want the beers sparkling, but just a hint of carbonation. Anyway it happens that some bottles get overcarbed after years. I degas botttles moving the cap gently with a bottle opener until I hear the 'fssst' sound and wait few more months.
It can be also a very slow infection that never touch normal beers but working during months it eats unfermented sugars producing more gas than wanted

 

[specharka]

Partigyle isn't a method of priming, but kegging and force carbing is one way around your problem.

It's what all German breweries have to do to stay within the guidelines of the Reinheitsgebot. They add gyle to fermenters, carbonate and push through a filter into a bright tank and bottle thereafter.

 

[pdxal]

It's what all German breweries have to do to stay within the guidelines of the Reinheitsgebot. They add gyle to fermenters, carbonate and push through a filter into a bright tank and bottle thereafter.

You're thinking of krausening.
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/exploring-the-german-technique-of-krausening/

Partigyle definition:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/parti-gyle

You can carbonate with gyle, but it isn't called partigyle.
Here's a HBT thread about it:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=116653

Cheers.

 

[Yooper]

i have brewed 3 batches of big beers in 2014-15. All three have resulted in explosive foaming and bottle bombs. Obviously my priming calculator is inadequate for the task. The last batch was in the primary 2.5 months (a honey red ale aiming at about 9%abv), the carb calculator gave me a range of 2.2-2.7 units of carbonation for the style and the amount of (table) sugar to use, and it resulted in what i described above. My question is: Can i simply bottle the beer without using priming sugar and still get carbonation? i think my yeast are still active enough to do it without priming. Is this a thing? If it is, how do i go about it? thanks!

I say this all the time, but I HATE those priming calculators.

I would say using .75 ounce of corn sugar per finished gallon would be right for priming this batch. How much did you actually use for priming sugar?

 

[specharka]

You're thinking of krausening.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/exploring-the-german-technique-of-krausening/



Partigyle definition:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/parti-gyle



You can carbonate with gyle, but it isn't called partigyle.

Here's a HBT thread about it:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=116653



Cheers.

Ha, that's what I was thinking of. Cheers!

 

[pwnshop]

i am in the same boat. this year i have had 4 or 5 GREAT brews totally ruined by carbonation issues. Generally the issue has been that the beers have all turned out flat, but in the last two batches I tried to rectify that and ended up with gushers.

Truth be told, while I don't mind bottling and would prefer to have bottles I am starting to figure out how i can build a kegerator that doesnt look ugly and can fit in my apartment without taking up too much space and looking like ****. Once i figure that out I'm switching over. Those priming sugar calculators all suck.